I had a THD surgery almost two weeks ago
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I had a Transanal Hemorrhoidal Dearterialization (THD) almost two weeks ago and this has been my experience so far:
I woke up after the procedure shaking from the intense pain. My nurse asked me my pain level from 1 to 10, 10 being worst and I said 10. She promptly injected two big doses of Demerol which quickly alleviated my pain. I fell back asleep and when I awoke I was moved to the recovery room where I was put on a reclining chair and given some graham crackers to snack on. I felt so drowsy from all of the medication that I fell asleep for about another 3 hours until one of the nurses woke me up gently saying "good morning!". She told me to go the bathroom and try to urinate. I couldn't urinate. She took me over to one of the recovery beds and said that they would perform an ultrasound on my bladder to see how full it was. It was half full, so urinating normally should have been easy. The nurse said that the bladder often "falls asleep" from the local anesthesia. She asked the doctor if she should put in a catheter and he said he wanted her to,as they would not allow me to drink anything or discharge me until I could urinate. I went to the bathroom to try urinating on my own in a last minute effort to avoid a catheterization but to no avail. So I told her I was ready and one of the LVNs dabbed my penis with iodine and inserted to catheter as i screamed a little bit from the horror of it, not to mention the discomfort and burning sensation as he drained my urine. I confess, however, this being my first catheter ever, It hurt less than I anticipated. Once I was drained, the catheter was removed and the nurses said congratulations and offered me drinks and more snacks. My post-operative meds, Percocet and Valium, were brought to me as I prepared to leave. My friend picked me up from the hospital and when I got home I immediately took 2 percocet, 1 valium, 3 bisacodyl, and 3 Tablespoons of Mineral Oil. I fell asleep for a while and got up a few times to pee. It wasn't until the next day that I started to feel the urge to have a bowel movement. I had the sensation that I needed to go badly but only gas and anal leakage was coming out. By the third day I was feeling very bloated and uncomfortable, having to run to the toilet frequently but still only having gas and fecal leakage. I passed the gel foam pack while having gas. However I was getting nervous about having no bowel movement for 3 days and feeling so bloated, so I decided to go to the Emergency Room as a precaution to be given magnesium citrate and an enema to finally relieve myself. After a few attempt to flush my rectum with the enema liquid, I squatted and eveything came out. I felt relief like you can't believe. I went home and took a shower. All the while, I was taking my pain percocets and managing the pain to a level of only mild discomfort. After a few more days of being on percocet and taking laxatives to combat the constipation it would otherwise cause, I switched to ibuprofen, four of them at a time as needed. Yesterday, I had a bowel movement and saw one of the sutures in the toilet, which apparently is normal. My pain at this point is not totally gone but minimal. It feels like my hemorrhoids are gone but I won't be sure for a few more weeks I think. It still hurts when I laugh or cough. My surgeon said that I would be completely healed in two months. So far, I'm very happy that I've had this surgery after being irritated by my hemorrhoids for years. I wish I had known about THD years ago! The temporary pain and discomfort has been well worth it so far. Tell me about your experience or ask me any questions you might have.
0 likes, 18 replies
KMSanDIego h73920
Posted
I had THD Surgery Sept. 20th 2021...Please Read Before you have this surgery!
Most important take-aways if you can't read the whole thing:
Pre-Op: I was worried about constipation complications so I started a mainly liquid diet 2 days before my surgery. Per my surgeon I did not do any colon cleanse but did 2 enemas at home the morning before the surgery. I also started taking flowmax 2 weeks before the surgery and had enough to take for 2 weeks after to prevent urinary retention. Those pills work great! I was worried about the anesthesia since I had never had general or been intubated before, so I asked the anaesthesiologist to give me anti nausea drugs (Zofran) and not to use NO2 which he did and I had no problems. When we got to the OR I was surprised they tied down my arms out to the side just before knocking me out. I don't remember anything after that until recovery. My surgery took about an hour and a half and I was a little woozy and dizzy for a bit but actually recovered faster than I thought.
Post-Op: My surgeon injected local blocks and inserted numbing gel into the area so I only had 5/10 pain in the 24 hours after the surgery. When that wore off the pain went up to 7-8/10. I had asked for Tramadol instead of oxycodone because Tramadol is not as addictive or strong and one pill every 6 hours managed my pain as long as I stayed lying on my stomach. My first day urinating was difficult so I'm glad I took the flowmax. I was taking 2-3 stool softeners/day and miralax, and eating lightly (soup, scrambled eggs, dry toast, cereal). I took 2 warm baths each day.
My surgery pain started to reduce by day 3, but I was becoming constipated and the pressure from the constipation on the sutures and what I would later learn was a completely obstructed anal sphincter become unbearable on days 4 and 5 - no sleep, no eating, writhing in pain so ended up in the ER weeping in agony! They gave me delaudid which took the edge off but not completely. I was admitted to the hospital and had to stay for 3 days on heavy laxatives and pain meds. I was only released after 2 days of violent diarrhea and almost no sleep. I came back home on day 7 and now have to stay on milk of magnesia and miralax every day for another week and a light diet while the swelling decreases.
Drug350 KMSanDIego
Posted
Damm. I had my open hemorrhoidectomy for stage 3 internal hemorrhoids and a mucosal prolapse and I was expecting it to be a million times worse. I woke up post-op in unbelievable pain. So much so they had to give me 4 loads of fentanyl, 3 loads of Toradol, 3 loads of Oxycodone and I was still squirming in pain. My wife had to leave the room because she said it was so uncomfortable to watch me tearing and squirming like that she couldn't take it. They than gave me 2 doses of Ketamine and that finally helped ALOT. Within an hour, I was stabilized and feeling no pain. My surgeon used both a "short acting" and a "long acting / Exparel" local anestitic throughout my wound down there and pudential block. I walked to the bathroom, urinated without any problems and than walked out of the hospital. The Exparel was now kicking in and I couldn't feel a thing down there for around 60 hours. It was WONDERFUL. I ended up working out for 2.5 hours that night and mowed the lawn and worked out again the following day, Friday. I still had zero pain. Couldn't feel ANYTHING down there. But come Saturday afternoon, the Exparel started to wear off and I started to really feel pain by Saturday night. Sunday and Monday were pretty miserable and I was taking straight Oxycodone every 6 hours. But by late Tuesday, I felt a lot better and Wednesday I no longer required any pain med's and haven't since. I've was taking Dulcolax and Colace but hadn't had a BM for 3 days. So I drank a full bottle of Magnesium Citrate and still didn't "go". Finally I took several doses of Milk of Magnesia and finally, Sunday Morning I had my 1st BM since surgery. I had to push a bunch to get it out and it freaking hurt like hell, but once this hard stool came out, everything just flew out as a loose stool. I was never so happy to have a loose, watery, stool in my life. It was done quickly and wasn't as bad as expected. To be honest, I would've gone back to work last week, about 6 days post surgery if it wasn't for this deep, wound that goes from inside my anal canal to about 3/4 of an inch outside my anus. This deep wound is from the mucosal tissue that needed to be excised. This still hurts and is taking some time to heal. I'm still able to mow the lawn and work out but my job is physically challenging and I couldn't go back to work yet. But overall, my hemorrhoidectomy and mucousal prolapse surgery was wayyyyyy easier than I ever imagined.
Bab7763 h73920
Posted
hi. thank you for sharing your experience. i had THD surgery 10 days ago. for something that is classed as non invasive, i felt VERY invaded and the post op pain was REAL.
what I am struggling with is lower back/coccyx pain that's not eleviated with paracetamol or anti inflammatories. it was the first thing i felt in recovery and has been a constant.
I'm on still on stool softeners (as the musculoskeletal pain is too much when I'm not taking them). I'm not swimming yet...and i love swimming 😦
has anyone else experienced similar and how did u manage this?
Thanks
B