Last Thursday I went as a day case to the hospital for the anal stretching to see if it would ease some of my loo problems. The worst part of the day was the waiting for over two hours for my turn, my fault completely but in my nervous state I forgot to take any sort of reading material or even my Suduko book. The nurses were extremely sympathetic but said after Covid they keep nothing lying around. So I went in circles, reading every single pamphlet and leaflet and notices on the walls!
I saw the registrar before I went through and mentioned my haemorrhoids, and she said that until they looked she didn't know whether they would be injected, banded or cut away. Well, I sat and thought about it and completely lost my nerve. I had been thinking if I am going to be in pain anyway I may as well have them done. But my daughter had hers done and was in agony with the incisions so I called the nurse and asked that they just be left alone. So I went through, I certainly wasn't in there long, and when I was back and conscious the registrar saw me again and gave me a dilator. I was in pain, but not excessive, they had dosed me up prior and during the procedure and I had a supply to take home. My husband is away and I am staying at my daughter's and that night I was fine. Friday I felt distinctly unwell, and Saturday I couldn't lift my head off the pillow. I don't think this is connected to the procedure at all, I think it was some sort of virus I had picked up but I had such a high temperature my daughter slept in beside me she was so worried. Fast forward a couple of days and I am almost back to normal. But it does mean that because of being unwell I haven't started using the dilator so with much gritting of teeth I am going to try later today. Loo visits have been much the same as before but later in the day, although now accompanied by excessive wind. So the jury is out as to whether this has helped or not. The follow-up appointment to see the consultant came through the day after the procedure and is on 4th January, so I will see what he says. This is the consultant that offered me a stoma, who never rushes me when I see him and I have great trust in him. What is interesting is the young (actually most of them look young!) oncologist I last saw looked really shocked when I told her about his offer and said that's a huge step, that if I didn't get on with it it may be difficult to reverse. But her reaction, I think, bore out the fact that many oncologists are not totally aware of the ongoing problems that some people suffer after radiotherapy.
Anyway I'll keep you posted!
Morning Irene, I just wanted to mention if you use the tamanu oil I advise that you mix it with a nice carrier oil like almond oil or the like. Good for wrinkles too they say 
. I agree we have some lovely contributors to this group and I would miss them if they stopped coming on here. Hope you are feeling a bit better today.
Hi Irene i do hope you are continuing to recover well.and the procedure is successful - you need to go on that Indian trip with your friends 
I've had the banding procedure for haemorrhoids and it wasn't too bad but that was before anal cancer so can understand your fear of going through with it..
You were one of the first to reply to my first post on here when first diagnosed and terrified. You made me feel so welcome and was so reassuring. The same with every one of my questions and worries and all our members posts our lovely Irene is there to make us feel better.
We are here for you like you are for us Irene.
Big hug coming your way
Carole x
Oh I’m sorry Irene that sounds so painful. And demoralising not seeing any improvement. You were so kind when I thought I had vaginal stenosis & I was hopeful for this procedure for you. Hope they can find a solution for you
Virtual hug
xx
Hi Ninka
I just thought I’d add something about the vaginal dilators as I had to use them after cervical cancer treatment. I never got up to the biggest size and didn’t even attempt it. I used the 2 smaller ones only, and that was ok. The main thing that I was told was at least to use something! So long as I was making sure I was using them regularly I was told that would be fine-just inserting and moving it around to stretch everything. I don’t see any need to go through the pain barrier personally if it’s too difficult. I took one look at the biggest one and just thought, no-not happening….and it never did! 
Sarah xx
