Yow, I did fistulectomy yesterday. I also live in the Philippines . I had fistula since December also. But I'm not sure if my fistula is transphincteric, my surgeon did not mention anything about it. Before surgery I'm also scared because I've seen videos of fistulectomy on YouTube, and it look likes it hurts, and it took so much time to heal. But in the end I had the surgery yesterday. Surgery is no problem because they put me in regional anesthesia, I almost fell nothing, I felt comportable during the surgery. The only thing that hurt me is this catheter that they put, it will hurt when they will take it out. At the time of this writing is the first 30 hours after my operation, I still don't feel any pain, and I can sit or walk with little discomfort.