WorriedAthlete

Hi. Not sure where to begin. First of all, thanks to everyone who has shared their often very painful stories of their rectal problems. It has been sort of reassuring to know that others suffer in silence for long times before dealing with them. Super embarrassing subject for me to deal with, but have had hemorrhoids for years. Now a constant "stage 3," in that they almost always prolapse outside the anus and have to be pushed back in after going. Bleed fairly frequently, but some of the naturopathic oils and ointments do help with that. Just can't seem to get them down below the size of a couple of grapes sticking out. Other than that, no real intestinal problems. I eat really well (fiber, vegetables and fruits, fish, some deer and elk, not a lot beef). No heartburn, virtually no indigestion. Had a colonoscopy in Dec. '03 and it came out totally clean (my dad died of colon cancer at 47, and I'm now 44, so watching the ol' pipes more closely). I'm fairly fit otherwise (bike, ski, snowboard, raft, kayak regularly as well as just general exercise). I grew up on a farm, worked 5 years in the oilfield (super-strenuous lifting, etc) and 12 years running river raft trips and doing construction (again, lots of off-balance grunt-lifting, etc). These damn things are a constant nuisance and source of worry, discomfort, and extreme embarrassment.
With all that said, reading all the threads about people's experiences with hemorrhoidectomies has me REALLY reluctant to see any doctor about getting them cut out. Is there anyone out there who has had the newer "PPH" stapling procedure done that can give me the long-term feedback on it? There is one person out there who keeps saying "don't do it" in their threads because their mother had such a bad time with it. That's not first-hand enough for me. Other threads I've read seem to be too recent to be able to give feedback from, say, a year or more post-operative. I am absolutely terrified of ending up with the wrong doctor that wants to just go in and cut them out after reading everybody's stories of complications, loss of bowel control, and severe pain even months later. It makes me think mine aren't so bad after all, but I know it can't be good for me to constantly have them popping out and getting shoved back in once or twice a day (it sucks, especially the cleanliness issues). I am just at a loss as to how to proceed. For one thing, the closest city that lists a doctor who does the PPH procdure is 260 miles from where I live. I am just trying to find some people who have truly had positive results, either way, and there don't seem to be too many on the board here. Any responses welcome, and thanks for taking the time to read this. I know it's a little long, but have been hesitating a long time to get this off my chest.