Prolapse bowel surgery: What was your recovery like?

I see you've joined Mayo Clinic Connect recently, @cc510, so welcome.

When I was being examined for a vaginal prolapse after things "fell down" after my last baby's delivery, they also found I had a rectocele. So, included in my repair package, so to speak, was a repair for this. I had no known symptoms of this and was rather surprised to learn about it.

After this surgery, I felt a bit tight in the anal area, but it felt normal in a few weeks. I did feel absolutely terrified trying to defecate for the first time after surgery, as I recall (this was 2012). I remember I was so worried I would blow out my stitches. The nurses in the hospital were reassuring, and it went fine with no stiches getting blown out.

Are you going to visit with a doctor from Stanford? Are you having symptoms from your prolapse?

I am going to have a defecography test to get a better idea of what's happening. I was diagnosed with ulcerative proctitis at age 18 and the doctors don't know why but by the grace of God it it now gone completely but because I had it for 40 years or more it has healed but scar tissue is there.

I have lived with a prolapse for 26 years and never had a problem until I underwent a very minor surgery at Kaiser to remove a small bump on the outside of my anus that, in my opinion, should have been shot with something to numb it and then removed. Instead, excuse me, but I had a quack of a doctor that put a needle inside my colon and I ended up with a rectal stricture that as I would push down to try and defecate the stricture would tighten up and get smaller, but I pushed and pushed for a year to get things out of my rectum. I finally took matters in my own hands and read up on how to soften tissue in the rectum and long story short I opened up the stricture myself but am now left with this very loose tissue where stool is constantly getting stuck and when I try to remove it digitally I feel it floating around behind the tissue. It's an awful feeling because constipation occurs and rocks eventually come out little by little.

I am thinking about surgery but am so scared I would end up worse and I just don't think my psyche could handle it. If I did do it, I would want to fly wherever I would need to go to the best surgeon possible.

Anybody had anything to comment would be helpful...

@baz can I ask how you're doing after this procedure? I am going to Stanford in a week and really am completely terrified. I am wondering about the biologic graft versus mesh. Thank you.