I had the first of my two surgeries on Jan. 26. Original estimated time: 3 hours, pre-surgery estimated time: 4 hours. Real time: 5 hours. The surgeon says he found me bloated, so first he and his assistant had to get rid of the gas in my guts. The low anterior resection and the vaginal flap, which they ended up doing as 3 layers, went basically as planned. They unfortunately found that the fistula was much closer to the sphincter than expected, giving no margin at all, so they had to be extra careful when cutting. He had planned to use part of my omentum to set a barrier between the vaginal wall and the colon, but since I'm rather thin, it ended up not being possible, so they used a biological mesh. They sent the whole of what they resected to the lab for a biopsy; it's so big, they still don't have the results.

I was set on a clear liquid diet (clear apple juice, chamomille tea, chicken broth, jelly), then told I could also drink Ensure Max. I was very bloated. The pain diminished at first, then grew again, so much so that I had a vagal malaise (fainted) on Jan. 31st, in the presence of the surgeon and two residents. He stopped all food and put me on parenteral nutrition with a modified schedule for a medication helping with bowel movements. Anesthesiologist later said my intestine was paralized.

I got better and stronger with the parenteral nutrition, so on Feb. 2, I had the second surgery for the coloanal anastomosis. Again, due to the lack of margin for the sphincter, they had to use an unusual suture technique. They did it in an hour. They sent the cut part to the lab too.

Noon Feb. 3, I was allowed clear liquids again, still with parenteral nutrition. Noon Feb. 4, I was allowed to start limited solids: nothing that can cause gases, low-residue foods, no dairy products. So for now: fish, chicken, some red meat, eggs, little ham, white bread, white rice, potato, pasta, apple, pear, and carrots on the menu. I've lost almost 5 kilos (11 pounds).

Feb. 7, I was sent home with my abdominal drain still in. The skin of my butt cheeks is extremely irritated from the bowel movements, especially the left side because I have a bulge on the right side of the anus that pushes everything left. I try to keep it aired as much as possible, since the creams for that tend to keep humidity in.

I have to be extremely patient because I have no control of my BM. I can be hours without any, then I can have 10, 15 or more BMs in variable quantity in a row. I still have frequent gases. It's frustrating to have no warning and no control.