I've had my j-pouch for 8 months. I had lived with a large anal tag for 5 years and debated whether or not to continue living with it, since i had such a rough time with j-pouch recovery and heard horror stories about anal tag removal. The tag was bothersome and made the area hard to keep clean. 2 weeks ago I had it removed.
the day of the procedure, i was really nervous and took a vicodin beforehand. the dr. injected lidocaine directly into the tag, which hurt like a m****f****. after that I felt some pinching and tugging. they left the wound open. It was over in about 3 minutes. i saw the tag afterwards and it was the size of a kidney bean. good riddance!
i strolled leisurely to the car and took a seat in the back thinking to myself...."that wasn't so bad". but 15 minutes later, the lidocaine wore off, and holy hell i was in excruciating pain! screamed and popped another vicodin. when I finally arrived home i ate soup and crackers and crawled into bed. the first day i saw some blood/mucus in the toilet. it felt like someone was constantly pinching my a$$, and not in a good way
. i was sore for about 5 days. pooping hurt too. I took sitz baths and applied aloe vera after every BM (didn't want to touch calmoseptine yet!). I took it easy the next few days. That's pretty much all I did for recovery. i had increased frequency since it hurt to evacuate and i had to make multiple trips.the first week, the wound was swollen and there was a hard lump...it almost felt like another skin tag was forming. the dr. said this was normal and due to adjacent swollen tissue.
2 weeks later, and i feel much better! it will probably be another 2-4 weeks before things completely heal. my bum is nice and smooth and i am happy i went through with it.
i have to thank Dr. Garza for her excellent work. And Dr. Beart for giving my my pouch.
hope this helps someone thinking about anal tag excision. if done by a reputable colorectal surgeon, i think it's worth it.
thanks to suebear and jan dollar for their support throughout the last 8 months
best to all
