I know this isn’t my usual content, but I like to document things here, especially in the hopes that it could help someone else. First and foremost, I want to make it clear that I am not a medical professional. I am simply sharing my story, what I went through and how I coped. Some was by trial and error, some was advide from medical professionals and some was by doing my own research. Please always consult with a trusted medical professional before you decide to have surgery or what recovery plan to follow after surgery.
I decided to use the picture above because this was the exact moment that I first had hemorrhoids and they became thrombosed, and I was in excruciating pain while 8 months pregnant, traveling to Hot Springs and working with their tourism board, working, shooting and hiking. I was taking pictures and trying to do my best working while I was very pregnant lol. Until the pain hit. I had no clue what it was but knew that I was in terrible pain. I called my obgyn and she confirmed that I had a thrombosed hemorrhoid. It was the first time I ever had one. I didn’t even know what a hemorrhoid was previously or that pregnant women were susecptible to them, that I shouldn’t strain and that I should take a stool softner to stay regular. I actually had to google what is a hemorrhoid. Well, let’s just say I know all of that now.
When I first started having all these issues when I was 37, I googled so many things and could find very little on hemorrhoids, thrombosed hemorrhoids and a hemorrhoidectomy. Hopefully my story will provide some insight and maybe even help someone else. I also wanted to link all the products that I ordered before my surgery to help with recovery. They were definitely life savers and helped to feel comfortable so much.
On May 20, I went into Memphis Surgery Associates to see my doctor, Dr. Katz. My hemorrhoids had started to get worse and were hurting more on a daily basis instead of just a weekly basis. They had also already become thrombosed 3 times just in 2025. Previously they became thrombosed twice a year, which is incredibly painful for about a week. I thought I was being proactive since I could tell they were becoming more inflamed and large regularly. Fast forward to June 6, just 2 weeks into summer break with the kids, and I was in excruciating pain. My hemorrhoid became thrombosed again, and they became even larger, about the size of a golf ball. This went on for 3 weeks. I had just spent the last 2 weeks going on bike rides, lifting furniture, carrying the kids all over the place for summer fun, working out at barre and strength training at home. Basically I was overdoing it and just making my already bad hemorrhoids worse. At this point, I was ready for relief, and I couldn’t imagine spending my life like this everyday at only 41 years old. I had just spent 20 months getting in the best shape of my life. It was time to work on other things now.
I had already lost 50 pounds, increased my daily step count to 13,000 steps, drink about 100 oz of water a day, don’t eat sugar or gluten or any high glycemic index foods and get 30 grams of fiber a day. I was also adding one capful of Miralax to my water daily. I was doing everything that was recommended, and they just kept getting worse. Surgery was my only option at that point, and I needed it sooner rather than later.
That’s when I called the doctor back and told them I needed to move my surgery up to as soon as they could get me in. The soonest they could do surgery was on June 26, so I tried to get by for 3 weeks in pain, and it was rough. I had 4 large hemorrhoids on my left side that would prolapse several times each day, which causes a lot of pressure and inflammation. It is the worst pain I have honestly ever felt before, and I had been feeling it off and on for almost 5 years at this point.
I cried almost all day long for 2 days, called the doctor over and over while out of town, laid in the bed awake for 2 days and constantly took showers to relieve the pain just a little. It was terrible. Definitely much more painful than any of my deliveries. A week later the pain was gone. Thank goodness! And I went on with life. Fast forward to delivering Grayson, and the hemorrhoids came back and multiplied from all the pressure, straining and pushing. And that was the beginning of this journey. After healing from childbirth, the hemorrhoids weren’t that bad. They were actually just more of an annoyance. They would prolapse occasionally, but they were very small and not painful. So I went on with life. I didn’t even realize that I was constipated and should be having a bowel movement every day. That and a hemorrhoid banding gone wrong let to more hemorrhoids and much larger ones. At this point they were too large for banding, and they were starting to hurt and affect me several times a week.
That leads me to today, June 26, surgery day. I had to arrive at the hospital at 7:00am. The surgery was supposed to be around 10:0oam. When I arrived, they quickly got me checked in and into my room. Then the waiting began. I’m not going to lie, the waiting was terrible. I was getting more and more anxious as time went on not knowing exactly when they would take me back. I actually debated on putting on my clothes and going back home because I was too scared. Yes, that’s the truth. The day before I had to be on a liquid diet, so I only had 1/2 a cup of black coffee and just water all day. So on surgery day, I hadn’t eaten in almost 2 days. I couldn’t drink anything after midnight, and I had to do a cleanout that night too. I took 4 cap fulls of Miralax to clean out my system around 6:00pm that night, but nothing happened. I didn’t have a bowel movement at all. I was getting a little worried. Fast forward to the next morning, and it definitely had kicked in. It’s a good thing the surgery was delayed because I was still working on getting cleaned out up until they took me back for pre-op. They took me back at 1:30pm, and they began surgery around 4:00pm. I was in pre-op for about 30 minutes and got to talk to my surgeon and the CRNA and anesthesia. I told her I was definitely getting nervous, so she gave me something in my IV to relax me. She also gave me a scope patch to help combat nausea that anesthesia can sometimes cause. I asked for Exparel because it can stay in your system for up to 72 hours and will keep you numb and feeling less pain. But the hospital I was at doesn’t use Exparel. If you have that option, definitely ask for it.
After they got my IV going and wheeled me into the room for surgery, I don’t remember anything after that. I was out. I woke up in the room with a post-op nurse talking my ear off while I was just trying to sleep lol. They had done a nerve block, and I couldn’t feel anything down there and on my back side. It was incredible. I could feel no pain at all. I tried to remind myself that this would only last around 8+ hours and tried to prepare myself for when the pain would kick in. They discharged me about 6:00pm and Matt drove me home. He had to help me in and out of the truck. Even though I couldn’t feel the pain, I had to be careful because I could really hurt myself by overdoing it because I couldn’t feel anything.
The doctor told me it was really important to drink lots of water each day, take plenty of stool softeners to make bowel movements soft and regular and to walk some each day. He also told me that he removed 4 large grade 3/4 hemorrhoids on my left side. They were all connected to each other, so he left some skin bridges between them so as to not take away too much skin and tissue. He also left all 4 as open wounds internally to heal. Stitching them could cause complications. He put a foam bridge in my anus and then gave me a pad/gauze for the blood. He told me the foam bridge would come out when I had my first bowel movement and not to worry about it.
Day 1 – I got home and of course did some dishes and laundry and walked around the house some. I know, I should have skipped the dishes and laundry, but I felt great. I didn’t go upstairs, bend down, strain or lift anything heavy. I finally went to bed the first night feeling good, but not feeling tired yet. I took my pain meds – hydrocodone, tramadol and gabapentin and one large cup of water with Miralax in it. Hydrocodone was every 6 hours, tramadol was every 6 hours and gabapentin was every 8 hours. He also prescribed me And I applied the lidocaine ointment every 6 hours. I also made a protein shake that night to eat. Before having the surgery, I decided to cut out all dairy a week prior. I also decided to go on a liquid diet after the surgery to help with the bowel movements and healing process even more.
Day 2 – This was my worst day so far. The nerve block wore off in the middle of the night and I was asleep instead of taking my pain meds. I had not had enough to drink or eat for days. I was dehydrated and hungry. My blood sugar was low, my blood pressure was low. I felt weak, in pain and nauseous. I was also having rectal spasms, but I honestly had been having them for 3 weeks straight before the surgery, and they didn’t feel nearly as painful after surgery. Pre-surgery, they felt like a contraction, but in my rear. It took everything just to walk the few steps to the toilet to urinate. I felt so dizzy like I was going to pass out. I was even starting to see stars, so I sat down on the toilet and couldn’t urinate. I had been urinated just fine the entire day before, even after surgery, so I didn’t expect this to happen. It’s very common to have urinary retention after anesthesia, but I thought since I had been going fine, I was already past that and wouldn’t have an issue. I was wrong. I was drenched in sweat and then started having tremors. This is also very common after the anesthesia. I laid back down in bed after midnight and finally fell back to sleep. I woke up several times through the night feeling a full bladder, but I still couldn’t use the bathroom. I called the doctor first thing on Friday morning, and they told me to go the ER to get a catheter. Lucky for me, all my family are nurses. My sister came over, gave me a catheter and got everything going again. Before she left I was able to urinate on my own and didn’t have any more problems after that. That afternoon was the best I felt since the nerve block wore off. I took 2 capfuls of Miralax and 1 teaspoon of Metamucil, ate a protein shake, soup and unsweetened applesauce. I was happy I was able to eat more than the day before and drink more too. That afternoon I had my first bowel movement, and it was honestly a complete surprise to me while I was sitting in the bed. It was so soft, liquidy that I didn’t even know it was coming. Your muscle don’t quite work right at this point, so it hurt to push or strain, and if you are hydrated and taking stool softeners enough, the liquid will just come out. I was honestly happy about this. I remembered after having Grayson how my first bowel movement after giving birth felt like I was using the bathroom and discarding razor blades from my bowels. I had ripped with both deliveries, so urinating and having a bowel movement for the first time was enough to almost make me pass out. Same as with a thrombosed hemorrhoid, you almost pass out going to the bathroom and then pushing the prolapsed hemorrhoid back in. The soft bowel movement was amazing. It was day 2, I had my first bowel movement, and it wasn’t bad at all. I ended up having 2 bowel movements this day, stop taking the tramadol and cut the hydrocodone pill in half. It was really important for me to stay on top of the pain, while also trying to see how much I could tolerate and reduce the pain meds since anesthesia and narcotics cause constipation, and that was the last thing I wanted. Sleep shirts, mesh panties and gauze pads were my best friend. I highly recommend the gauze pads over regular incontinence or period pads. These are much softer and more comfortable and easier and quicker to use. You will definitely have some bleeding and discharge daily for weeks.
Day 3 – Next to the first half of day 2, this was my worst day. I used my sitz bath continuously, I took a bath and a shower. They will be your best friends, and honestly they already had been for years. If you are taking a bath or shower, I highly recommend this pillow lounger. It is amazing. When you’re sore after surgery, it’s amazing how hard a tub or shower feels to your body/bottom. My insides felt like they were going to fall out whenever I stood up or tried to walk. Getting comfortable was impossible. I had a headache. I believe the Metamucil bloated me, so then I had a huge distended belly with gas. Passing gas really isn’t fun when you just had rectal surgery. That’s something I never thought I would openly talk about, but it’s the truth. I had 3 bowel movements this day, and one was large. They were all soft, but I think they irritated the open wounds and caused me to feel more pain that day along with the bloating. I continued with the same amount of reduced pain meds, and honestly didn’t feel like they did much this day. I felt sore, bloated, inflamed, and could feel throbbing and heaviness in my bottom.
day 4 – I slept the best this night, 9 hours of sleep and woke up feeling pretty good. I started with 1 cap full of miralax and eventually added 2 more. I didn’t take any more metamucil, hoping that would help with bloating. I was definitely bloated this day, but not quite as bad as the day before. I felt pressure on my bladder and my rear, soreness from the bruises and a lot of tenderness on the open wounds that were trying to heal. I drank plenty of water and started with a protein shake for the day. I used Truvani protein powder that only has monk fruit in it with no sugar or artificial sweeteners in it, almond milk and pb2 powder for more protein. I also had another applesauce pouch. This gave me 44 grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber so far. I wanted to up my fiber intake as much as I could, but doing it too quickly or too much can also cause gas, bloating and diarrhea. Overall I felt okay on this day, better than the previous days, but the bloating and pressure just didn’t feel good. I was hoping it would pass soon, I would have a good bowel movement and not be constipated. My pillow lounger came in this day, and I was really excited to use it in the tub and see if the warm water helped to relieve some of the bloating, and the pillow would help make the bath more comfortable. Fast forward to the afternoon and I finally had a large bowel movement. It was not liquidy like it had been the previous days, but it was still soft (thank the Lord.) At this point, I am not sure that I have any dignity left, and I honestly want to provide you with a true account of my experience. I walked to the bathroom to get my lidocaine, and I had a bowel movement while standing up. That is what happens when you take Miralax to soften your stools and help you go, and you don’t have control of your rectal muscles from surgery. I immediately felt so much better. There was some burning and pain that I felt, but at least the pressure was gone for now. I immediately hopped in the bath, and the pillow lounger is definitely a life saver. Highly recommend! I ran the hot water, added some epsom salt and soaked for 20 minutes. It was the best I had felt in days. A couple hours later I had another soft bowel movement, but it was much smaller. Since miralax is a stool softener, I am sure it is helping to clean me out. But I would rather go than get constipated. The main pain is centered around bowel movements, bloating and gas. Aside from that, I feel okay most of the time. Something else I have noticed at this point is that both your gluteal muscles and abdominal muscles play crucial roles in keeping you upright and maintaining good posture, so without being able to use your gluteal muscles very well and while feeling bloated, you will start arching your back (like when you’re pregnant) and start having some back pain. Just wanted to mention that so you’re prepared.
Day 5 – Since I had stopped taking the gabapentin the day before, I woke up feeling a little more pain than normal. I didn’t sleep quite as well or as long either. I think I slept about 6 hours. I immediately got up and had 11 large bowel movements all spread throughout the day. I am assuming that is still due to the 3 cap fulls of miralax the day before. I woke up much less bloated, but with more pain and more gas. I immediately took a bath with epsom salt each time and felt a little better. I am still continuing on my liquid diet in small quantities to avoid a hard, large or painful bowel movement, taking the same meds and plenty of water (at least 100 oz. a day.) I started this morning by taking a colace first instead of taking my usual miralax. Colace is just a stool softener and not a laxative, so I’m hoping it will still make the bowel movements soft, but maybe not clean me out quite as much. I know miralax can also sometimes bloat you, and colace isn’t as likely to cause bloat. Just a warning, if you can’t take meds on an empty stomach, colace is one that always makes me nauseas unless I have food in my system. I made this mistake this morning while I was still half asleep and quickly sucked down 2 applesauce pouches to hurry up and get food in my system so I didn’t feel so sick for so long. I am still walking about 5,000 steps a day and making sure that I get up occasionally to walk, stretch and move. I called the doctor this morning to make sure it was okay to stop taking the gabapentin, and they said they was just fine to stop taking any narcotics if I could tolerate the pain. 3 days after surgery, I was only taking acetaminophen and using lidocaine cream. I can definitely feel more pain without the prescription meds, but I can tolerate it. I only took 1 250mg colace this morning. By the end of the night, I had 10 soft and large bowel movements, so I’m definitely glad I didn’t take more than 1 colace. It might be from my liquid diet or still the miralax from yesterday still playing into effect. I am definitely hoping that tomorrow leads to still soft bowel movements, but much less than 1o. Every time I would immediately get in the bath or shower, and that helped so much. By the end of the day, most pain just centers around feeling a little bloated when I get up to walk like I need to use the bathroom and then immediately after going. All in all, it isn’t too bad. I just have to walk a lot and then stay near the tub/toilet/shower. I ate a little less today, but the thought of going more than 10 times didn’t sound very pleasant to me. I also started having a throbbing tailbone pain on this day that kept me awake most of the day.
Day 6 – I got much more sleep this day, but overall this was my most painful day next to day 2. I had 7 bowel movements throughout the day. I feel like I lived in the shower all day. And afterwards, my bowels would burn and throb and hurt. I was still having tailbone pain, but it was slightly less this day. Since I was having so many bowel movements, I took only 200 mg of stool softener this day. Overall the pain just lasted about 3 minutes after each bowel movement. I was tired. And honestly I was over it this day. The pain still wasn’t the worst it had been, but it was just an exhausting day I think. The positive thing was that I had slightly less anal spasms and only 7 bowel movements. I did have more gas though. Right before I went to bed, I FINALLY started feeling better for the day and was able to get plenty of sleep. I got in about 5,000 steps this day and the previous days.
Day 7 – My best feeling day in a while for most of the day. Overall, one of the toughest things to navigate is to figure out how much stool softener/laxative you need to not get constipated. That is definitely the priority, but it takes so much trial and error. And everyday can be so different. I had tried calling my nurse several times the day previously to ask about if I could alternate ibuprofen with the acetaminophen, but I didn’t hear back from her all day. I finally got a call back from another nurse later that night who told me that I could alternate them every 3 hours. Yay, so I started doing that at 11:00pm on day 6. Fast forward to today, I had taken 3 doses of ibuprofen. My tailbone/nerve pain was feeling much better at this point. I woke up and had a more solid bowel movement, but it was still soft. All was good. I ended up walking over 10,000 steps on this day. I was feeling really good. Come afternoon, I had a second bowel movement, and it was very small but still more formed and soft. It hurt a little more which is expected with more forms bowel movements. I actually ended up eating more this day than I had any other day because I felt so good. I had 2 scrambled eggs for breakfast, a protein shake with 3 cups of protein in it (basically like 3 protein shakes) and 5 oz of strawberries in it, 4 applesauce pouches, 3 figs, 10 oz of blackberries and then 2 fried eggs for dinner. I had over 33 grams of fiber this day. Shortly after, I started feeling constipated and started getting a little frustrated. I had so much water (100 oz) and so much fiber and plenty of soft/liquidy foods. I did add in more solids, but I also took 2 stool softeners. I didn’t understand why I was randomly getting constipated. So I added a cap full of miralax to my water. I only had to drink a couple sips. I was running a bath when it just hit me and I had a bowel movement immediately, no stopping it. I immediately felt so much better afterwards. No more full/constipation feeling. When I went to clean up the mess though, I realized it was almost all blood clots. It was a lot of really big blood clots. I had a bowel movement of almost all large blood clots. At this point, I stopped the ibuprofen because it can make you bleed more. Previously I had not been bleeding much since day 3. This was making me bleed too much. I went back to just acetaminophen. I went to bed feeling good and got a pretty good 8 hours of sleep. I got in over 10,000 steps this day.
Day 8 – Even though I slept well, I woke up feeling more tailbone/nerve pain which was probably from stopping the ibuprofen, but it’s worth it to not bleed so much and have complications. Right now my biggest pain is the tailbone/nerve pain, pain while having a bowel movement and pain for about 30 minutes after a bowel movement when everything is inflamed/swollen from said bowel movement. It just an annoying, constrant throbbing/dull pain, but I’m trying to just keep my mind busy. My first bowel movement of the day came just shortly after waking up. This is usual. The moment I get up, get moving, get some water and an applesauce, I usually have to go to the bathroom. I took 2 250 mg of stool softener this morning. My bowel movement was soft but more formed today too which is good (even though it hurts more), and did have about 1/2 the consistency of blood. A couple hours later I had a second one with hardly any blood in it. 2 hours later I had a third one with basically no blood. Yay, stopping the ibuprofen worked. The third one was runnier though, but it could be that more water, apple sauce, miralax from last night or stool softener from this morning was timed perfectly and kicked in. It’s hard to really know. I got in 7,000 steps this day.
Day 9 – I slept good again this night and woke up feeling pretty good. I did wake up with a little bit of stomach cramping and gas, but I figured it might be the stool softeners or my warning that I need to have a bowel movement. I had hardly any tailbone/nerve pain this day. I immediately got up, took my 2 colace with water after some apple sauce and then had a soft but formed bowel movement within an hour of getting up. I started stretching out my acetaminophen by 5 hours instead of 4 since I was feeling pretty good. A couple hours later I had a second bowel movement. I took baths both time afterwards, and that immediately helped with the internal and external swelling that is normal. I only took about 15 minute baths and felt back to normal. I finally felt up to a trial run of leaving the house this day. I left and stayed gone for a couple hours and felt pretty good overall. It was a little strange driving and sitting in a seat again though lol. A little uncomfortable, but not bad. I got back home and used my heating pad most of the day. I still felt pretty good. I ate a good amount of food today. 3 eggs, 2 protein shakes, plenty of fruit for fiber and a ground chicken burger patty. I got almost 35 grams of fiber. I thought I had to use the restroom again but I didn’t, so I took another stool softener just to be safe. With traveling in 2 days, I figured it would at least be good for that since traveling can lead to constipation. Today ended up being a really great day all day. I got in 10,000 steps.
Day 10 – I had a few good days, so of course today just just an okay day, but that’s expected sometimes. I did sleep well and got plenty of sleep. I woke up and immediately took 3 colace after some applesauce and water. I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom, but I couldn’t. I felt again like I needed to a couple hours later, but again, I still couldn’t go. A little frustrating for sure. I added a cap full of miralax to my water and had a soft but formed bowel movement within 30 minutes. This is all in the afternoon though. Shortly after I had another small bowel movement. I felt a little better, but not great. I still felt like I needed to go more, but when you have internal swelling, sometimes it just makes you feel that way. So it’s hard to know if you have to go or not. I decided to decrease my fiber today since I was having a hard time going to the bathroom. I also didn’t eat quite as much today because I didn’t feel quite as well. I spent 2 hours with the girls at the doctor this morning, so my tailbone was killing me when I left from just standing and feeling constipated. All in all, it wasn’t a terrible day. It was just hard with 2 of 3 sick kids and being constipated this morning. I am hoping for a much better day tomorrow.
Overall, I really want to share my overall experience and not sugar coat it. If you have went through vaginal childbirth, ripped during childbirth or had hemorrhoids with childbirth, this will not feel much different to you. If you have had thrombosed hemorrhoids before, this pain isn’t as bad in my opinioin. If you have large prolapsed hemorrhoids that won’t go back in and are grade 4, this pain and discomfort will feel about the same as what you’re already feeling. What I’m getting is at that you have already felt this pain most likely. Sometimes, and maybe oftentimes, you have felt more than this pain. You will feel relief not having inflamed hemorrhoids after this surgery. The pain and healing process is hard, but it is definitely doable. And if you have experienced the above before, dare I say, it won’t be quite as painful as what you’ve already endured. I know it seems scary, but I am so happy I finally had the surgery done. I really wish I would have done it sooner, but the kids were too young at that point, and my doctor wouldn’t agree to it, knowing that I am the sole caretaker of the family. He was right; I needed to wait, and at this point, I had no other choice but to get it done. Honestly that thrombosed hemorrhoid in June was a blessing, because it pushed me to go ahead and have the surgery so I could start living pain free soon. You will get over to the other side of this surgery, and you will feel so much better. You’re stronger than you think. Good luck and reach out if you are going through this and have any questions or need a support system. = )
