In Reply to: Re: Embarrasing skin tags posted by From Josie on October 19, 2000 at 11:19:51:
Josie...
Yes, the order of these posts is confusing. LOL. And I'm sure there is someone out there who has had a hemorrhoidectomy, and I would surely love to hear from them as to their experience.
Actually, my surgery will be under general anesthesia, as in put out like a light, rather than under a local anesthetic. I'd rather not have any memory of it, ya know? For some this surgery is done under a local, sometimes an epidural.
There will be stitches. There will be a couple internal hemorrhoids removed and the skin tag, and she said she would close this "loosely" with stitches. There's a very good blood supply to this area of the body, and it's expected to heal quickly. Unfortunately, it is also a very sensitive area, loaded with nerves, and so it's gonna hurt. The first week's worth of BM's is going to be very unpleasant, I've been told, so that's not something I look forward to. You're given plenty of pain meds and stool softeners for this.
As far as recurrence, I think the key is to prevent hemorrhoids in the future. There's plenty of advice on this board about that, about the right kind of fiber to add to your diet and drinking lots of water, etc. I plan to follow that advice, because I'm sure this will be an experience I won't want to repeat!
I've been reading up on hemorrhoidectomy on the Internet. There's a study out of England that shows that patients treated with a post-op course of a certain antibiotic, metronidazole, had less pain and were back to work sooner than similarly situated patients given a placebo. I plan to mention it to my surgeon and see if I can get that.
I'll keep you posted on what happens. I wonder if they'll give me a donut to sit on. LOL!
Susan