Coping With Fistulotomy

My abscess didn’t end up being septic, thankfully, but was still some of the most intense pain that I have ever experienced.

I want to thank MW for writing the following paragraph: ” One problem, abscesses are hard to numb under a local depending on the severity. Mine didn’t numb. I told the physician assistant that I could feel the first cut and he said that it was just pressure…I KNOW PRESSURE AND THAT WASN’T IT! Then the second cut (now I’m about to die). Then he decides to look for a fistula by shoving his finger down the incision. I have now blacked completely out waking to my husband yelling at the guy. He is asking him if he is almost done because I am not ok! I’m only telling you this because if you are going to have a perirectal abcess drained under a local, which at times does take, be very aware that they may be hard to numb and speak up! I only sat through it because I was already in so much pain and figured the sooner I got it over with the sooner I’d be on my road to recovery. Nope… ”

I had a similar experience where I was treated to surgery under local anesthetic for an abscess and a fistula. It was the most horrific experience I have ever had. Like MW I figured that getting it over with was worth the pain. But there is no expressing how painful it is taking needles in your anus. Furthermore the procedure itself was painful regardless of the freezing.

Everything was done at a clinic and the assistant was telling me to stop breathing so quickly and heavily. She said I’d throw up if I didn’t slow my breathing down.

When the procedure was over, I felt as if I had just been in a fight. Like adrenalin was coursing through me. It turns out that they gave me epinephrin for some reason. Luckily I could think enough to ask for something in case I ended up in pain. Which I did (and how).

I won’t get into the details of how shocked I was to be in the amount of pain that I was after the local wore off and I ended up being driven home by my mother in rush hour traffic (stop and start) with the shakes due to the epinephrin apparantly. I felt like I was in a WWII or Vietnam movie shaking and in pain like I had just been blown to bits by a landmine.

Like MW I hoped everything was over, but lo and behold I have an appointment for a fistulotomy February 21st 2008. To finish the job that the first Dr. started as well as deal with another fistula that came about after/he missed.

Some advice to anyone that has to go through this:

1. ask your doctor questions

2. deal with a doctor that will answer them for you

3. avoid getting a procedure done under local anesthetic

4. change your diet. don’t just go with stool softners. cut out bread, dairy and meat. I’ve been having this problem for 2 months and it’s really helped.

5. remember that you are not a wimp. this experience has been really, really painful

One last thing, for some reason I ended up with diarrhea a while after I got home. The first bout was not fun at all, but when I needed to go the second time I was passing bile which was intensly painful. Keep some Pepto Bismol handy in case you end up with diarrhea.

More advice: if you are male, have a container handy that you can urinate in from bed. Walking is difficult and if you can pee in a jar you can pass most of the day without standing. The exception to this is when you have to have a bowel movement.

Get a cane to lean on when you walk. They are like $10 at Wall Mart. Mine helped me get around a little easier.

Finally, I had discharge for a month before I got checked out. I thought I had hemmeroids [[hemorrhoids]] and didn’t get examined. Go to your doctor if you are experiencing pain and / or discharge. Don’t be embarrassed as I was. It might save you a part of the experience that I have had / am having.

Good luck to anyone else going through this.