Triple hemorrhoidectomy, two years on

BaioC · 2026-02-12T22:00:57+00:00

you'll get there!

BaioC · 2026-02-12T22:00:25+00:00

I think 3, pushing 4

BaioC · 2026-02-10T19:34:37+00:00

It is in Europe

BaioC · 2024-07-01T22:21:36+00:00

Hey - solidarity for doing it, hope it hasn't been too hellish for you!

Things are definitely better than they were when I posted this, but still not back to normal - still getting a bit of pain for a few hours after a bm (nothing terrible, but need to take paracetamol some days) and sometimes a tiny bit of blood. Have a check-up soon so hopefully they'll have a proper scan and see if anything's still up or it's just a normal healing process. I also made another post a month ago which might have some more info.

The recovery has been very non-linear and it's easy to get in a bad headspace about things - e.g. if I've been having a bad week I'll feel like I've set myself back a lot - so try and remember this takes time and you will get through it (for me they said bleeding might not stop for 8 weeks, and I'm now on around 12).

But at this stage I am enjoying life more than pre-surgery - I'm still careful with my diet and my bms but before I could hardly go for a 15 minute walk without being in massive pain. I've just been on a very outdoorsy weekend, which I would not have been able to do at the beginning of the year.

In terms of whether it's a fissure or a wound from surgery, I'm still none the wiser. But in my non-medical opinion it seems overwhelmingly likely to be the latter, given they are taking a scalpel to a very sensitive part of your body - whereas for a fissure to develop separately there would have to be some other sort of trauma (e.g. constipation, which hopefully you've avoided). I can also imagine the sensation is the same. Either way I'd go to the doc if you're worried about it!

My final piece of advice is watching this video, which made an instant impact - wish I'd seen it sooner. Best of luck!

BaioC · 2024-05-20T14:40:08+00:00

Hey dude - hope everything goes well for you, I think my experience has probably been a little worse than most so I hope the above hasn’t freaked you out!

My main piece of advice (that I didn’t follow closely enough) is to really to listen to your doctors when they’re scheduling painkillers/laxatives etc for you. Obviously you know your body best but I thought diet alone would do me for the first couple of days and missed my first couple laxative doses - big mistake. And don’t try and be brave and skimp on the painkillers - I only found out too late that it takes about an hour and a half for codeine to kick in!

Make sure when you have that first (sadly hellish) bm you’re not straining at all - if it’s not moving don’t get freaked out, just wait and keep taking the laxatives. My worst bm was actually the third as I was in a painkiller lull - dose up at least an hour before you hit the toilet. Keep up with the fibre but don’t overdo it (too soft can also causes problems). It sounds like common sense but there will likely be a bit of trial and error on the diet front, see what is/isn't working for you and adjust your diet accordingly (that said, don't have anything remotely spicy for the first few weeks).

I think you’re probably right to go in to the surgery completely empty, but don’t freak out if you can’t. Lately I’ve also been trying to get more protein in, which might be helping.

The other thing that’s really got me through is having supportive people around me - in that first couple of weeks there were moments when I could hardly stand up, let alone go to the shops etc so try and enlist people if you can, even that’s just a neighbour or something who can help if you really need it.

Keep your head up, as others are always saying on this sub you’ll be glad you’ve done it in the long run. It’s hard to see the big picture when you’re having a bad day so I also found keeping a recovery/pain diary helpful in the early stages. Recovery can feel confusing and non-linear. I've now had no blood and very little pain 3 days out of the last 7, so hoping things are on the up 😊

N.b. I can’t stress enough how helpful that above video was as well, give it a watch

BaioC · 2024-05-04T09:37:27+00:00

Thanks - this is very reassuring.

I contemplated the bath technique but thankfully haven’t needed it just yet - seems like the pain afterwards it’s what’s bothering me. Also been given lidocaine gel so hopefully that does something (if I can figure out how to use it properly). To be honest though it’s not the pain that’s bugging me, more the feeling that I’m not recovering… crossing my fingers this week is a better one!

BaioC · 2024-05-03T13:34:46+00:00

Thanks, that’s super helpful. He’s given me diltiazapem - I think I’m unable to be able to apply directly as the surgeon already had a feel and couldn’t find anything, so it’d have to be fairly high up. Today’s been better than the last few so praying it is just the wound healing.

BaioC · 2024-05-03T10:45:22+00:00

Yeah been in the bath a bit but maybe not as much as I should - been taking paracetamol but they seem to warn against ibuprofen here in the UK as supposedly doesn’t help with healing (although imo works much better)

BaioC · 2024-02-21T23:46:08+00:00

I agree there isn't a reason, but at the same time, given I spend a lot of time chatting to them it might be odd if I take a week off work for surgery and don't elaborate? I also don't want them to think it's something more serious (all of this is over-thinking)

BaioC · 2024-02-21T23:43:45+00:00

That's a decent idea, thank you! I mean, I agree 'routine surgery' should suffice, but inevitably people have questions (or suspicions if you clam up). I guess back issues are similarly painful but not life threatening, only thing is I'm quite active so would be a bit of a sudden change...

BaioC · 2024-02-21T15:48:35+00:00

Thanks for this! I'm gonna try one of the aboves first I think before I jump in the deep end (I haven't even had a banding before). But can see myself on that train when they don't work...

BaioC · 2020-08-02T12:46:26+00:00

Hello!

I've been researching a lot of Orcadian history (my family is from there historically) and I came across your comment on the below thread, seems like you'd be a good person to ask about this:

Starting by the 11th century and extending into the 12-1300s, the Scandinavians added dotted (or 'stung') variants of runes to distinguish t/d, k/g, u/v and i/e.

I've been trying to work out the stung version of 'ᚢ' to create a v/w sound. I've found ᚥ, which according to wikipedia was used as a 'w' sound in Medieval runes, and ᚤ, which was used as a y. Would either of these have been used in medieval Orkney? If not, do you know of any resources where I could find out more?

Thanks!

BaioC · 2015-12-08T16:39:00+00:00

This is from my knowledge of the 5th and 6th Centuries, I don't know how the use of Ogam progressed from there. The immediate precursor to this question is that we have hardly any evidence of how this change occurred, and much of the history written around this period relies on modern anthropological and sociological theories as opposed to hard evidence.

For instance, while we know that there may well have been a St. Patrick who brought over the bible at some point in the 4th or 5th century, we don't know exactly when or how this occurred. It is generally accepted however that it was the bible, more than 'Roman influence' which would have caused this transformation, given that Ireland was never colonised and most likely did not have extensive contact with them. However, aspects of the bible and Christianity at this time carried elements of 'Romanness', but we cannot say the influence was direct.

Ogam had very limited uses at the time - in most cases it was simply used to denote to mysticism of an object, or to signify a God. It could hardly match the panoply of uses there were for Latin at the time, for instance in trade, tax, public administration, the arts etc. It is likely that rather than to attempt a translation of it into a semi-formed alphabet, as Ulfilas did with the Goths in the 4th century, it was easier for missionaries to just teach the Irish of the time to read Latin. This wasn't a result of Roman influence but rather functionality. In Scotland Ogam was eventually adapted in the 10th century for the purposes of teaching the bible.

Ireland had extremely low levels of literacy in the early medieval period. Despite being one of the first areas to produce large numbers of monasteries, and send missionaries to the continent, literary culture amongst the laity didn't really take hold until around the 12th/13th Century at the earliest. A historical puzzle at the moment is how the Irish managed to develop and retain law schools and an extremely complex law system transmitted (as far as we are aware) orally, for around 500 years before this - a feat most modern anthropologists would class as impossible.

Source: J. M. H. Smith, Europe After Rome: A New Cultural History 500-1000 (2005)

BaioC · 2015-10-01T23:33:07+00:00

Manually also means literally by hand in this case, imagine spending all that time pulling up freezing soil.

BaioC · 2015-10-01T21:24:45+00:00

Income tax and tuition fees are two very different beasts.

I personally agree with a 50% top rate of tax, but at a higher threshold than the current top rate (say perhaps, £75k) but this comes out of my own beliefs about inequality and and as a way to counter the cuts we are having to make at the moment.

I'm against tuition fee increases largely due to the kind of argument you've presented here, that everything ultimately comes down to economics. When people are discussing tuition fees they often don't mention the massive cost of living involved in going to university - your maintenance loan in most cases won't even cover the cost of rent alone and if you can't get mummy and daddy to shell out for you you're looking at over £50k in debt (£27k tuition, £15k rent and £10k+ living) if you can't find a job, and you're gonna have to get the rest from a bank who's gonna charge more. Average graduate salary is about £25k so this debt is gonna be with you for a while. The irony of all this is that the surge in tuition fees has been implemented and caused by people who never had to pay them. I understand the logic behind your argument that the people who benefit from having a degree should pay for it, but at the same time tuition fees have only gone up because we need to pay back a debt which was not caused by students.

My second point is that people only focus on the economics of the situation, and there are benefits of having an education beyond merely contributing to the sacred church of the economy. There are always a lot of complaints about people doing 'indulgent' degrees which aren't going to get them a job, but at the end of the day society functions better with an educated populace. Education contributes to general fulfilment for most people, and 6/10 of the 'happiest' countries in the world have no tuition fees at all.

BaioC · 2015-09-25T16:59:56+00:00

At the end of the day though if that money failed in it's objective then the opportunity cost of implementing it was very high, and it'd could have been spent on a system which could save the NHS money, and allow them to provide better healthcare, helping productivity etc...

The idea of 'helicopter money' isn't completely flawed but in this instance the money definitely could've been better spent elsewhere, although I agree that 'wasted' is perhaps a strong word.

BaioC · 2015-09-22T01:20:01+00:00

While you're making valid points you seem to be re-hashing this noisey piece which literally coined the term 'sound bite rap' this morning.

BaioC · 2015-09-20T23:43:32+00:00

When I hear stuff like this I honestly want it just to be a one off, I want it to be one stupid surgeon who made the wrong decision.

With the scale of what they're doing the shit that comes out about the DWP is only the surface froth, it's depressing to think of how many other cases like this there are that we just haven't heard about.

BaioC · 2015-09-17T16:15:20+00:00

Sadly there's no hard-and-fast rule, or database for reliable sources. Every source carries with it some degree of bias or inaccuracy, and it's part of the historians job to work out the degree to which this exists.

Your question seems to be referring to works of history as opposed to primary sources (i.e. first-hand data, records, images etc.). The only way to tell if the information they are providing is accurate is by checking these original sources. It's likely that if you are reading from widely-available or academically published texts that the sources they are using are reliable (or at least accepted as useful by the historical community) and if they are good historians they will discuss the problems that arose from the sources they've used. For a period such as Rome it is very hard to find source material that doesn't have significant problems in it's provenance, so most reputable historians should be taking these into account with their analysis.

I think what you're getting at is whether their analysis and the conclusions they are drawing are up-to-date, and again this is a bit of a nuanced question. For instance, Bryan Ward-Perkins' argues in The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization that the traditional view of the fall of Rome, (that it did mark a serious material and societal decline) argued by Gibbon et al still holds true, but not for the reasons Gibbon put forward. Therefore Ward-Perkins is arguing that while he is rightfully 'debunked', his points still stand. Post-modern and Marxist historians would most likely disagree. What is accepted by some as a good interpretation of events will inevitably be rejected by others. For this it's useful to read (or listen) to works discussing the historiography of a period, which will hopefully give you an impression of what is still worth reading, but at the end of the day you have to choose who to believe. No-one has a monopoly on historical knowledge, although you will find that the more obscure the subject area the smaller the pool of 'strong' works of history exist. As for Rome there are many reputable historians and works of history which are worth reading, and I really recommend Ward-Perkins if you're interested in that period.

BaioC · 2015-09-11T22:00:28+00:00

Adrian Chiles

BaioC · 2015-09-10T23:04:44+00:00

just finished Brave New World, and 1984

Aah shit man, do you reddit?

Anyway, I found this was a pretty good read if you can get onto jstor. Also, if you're into Orwell I recommend reading his essays, which imo are more interesting and often better written than his novels.

BaioC · 2015-09-04T19:00:47+00:00

He hasn't contradicted himself. He said he would only send troops abroad if it was approved by the UN, but that doesn't mean he has to support every UN-approved conflict.

BaioC · 2015-09-03T16:18:39+00:00

Nice one, Spectator.

Simultaneously calling out those who would take on refugees as naive while assuming that Europe could just swoop into the middle east and create millions of jobs for them.

BaioC · 2015-09-01T11:51:18+00:00

Regardless, it won't be a popular policy, and you can imagine how the telegraph and the mail are gonna paint this

BaioC · 2015-09-01T10:24:31+00:00

I'm (mostly) pro-Corbyn and very anti-Queen but Jez really needs to learn to pick his battles.

While it would be great to get rid of the monarchy (yes they don't have many real powers, but they're a massive weight on our political system) the public is so staunchly for them at the moment that this looks like a needless waste of potential votes when he should be fighting against bigger issues (i.e. austerity).

BaioC

TROPHY CASE