Four Years, Four Surgeries, and Everything I Wish Someone Had Told Me

Fistula Surgery

Four years ago, I found a bump that turned out to be an abscess. My doctor drained it, patched me up, and sent me on my way. Nobody mentioned the word "fistula." Nobody explained what might come next.

That was the beginning of a process I was wildly unprepared for.

Important: This content reflects personal experience and community-sourced tips, not medical advice. Every fistula case is different. Always discuss treatment decisions with your colorectal surgeon or gastroenterologist. What worked for one person may not be right for your situation.

Here's what happened next

A general surgeon performed a fistulotomy, one of the more common procedures for anorectal fistulas. I was told it was straightforward. I went in expecting a rough few days and a quick return to normal.

The reality? The recovery knocked me flat. And the hardest part wasn't the pain. It was the total lack of practical information. Nobody told me how to do a sitz bath properly. Nobody explained what wound care would actually look like day-to-day. Nobody warned me that sitting in a normal chair would become a strategic decision.

I figured it all out on my own, one desperate late-night Google search at a time.

Then the surgery failed.

The real education started

After the failed fistulotomy, I found a colorectal surgeon, something I wish I'd done from the beginning. He confirmed the first surgery hadn't worked and, because of how things had healed, we couldn't just redo it. The anatomy was too complicated now.

What followed was a crash course in the reality of complex fistula treatment: a seton placement, then fibrin glue (which worked, briefly), then the fistula came back, then another seton, and now I'm preparing for an advancement flap procedure.

Each step taught me something new. Not just about the medical side, but about the logistics of living through it. The products that actually help, the daily routines that make recovery manageable, the conversations you have to learn to have with your boss, your partner, yourself.

Why I'm writing this

Throughout all of it, the thing that frustrated me most was the information gap.

The medical sites gave me anatomy diagrams. The forums gave me horror stories mixed with outdated advice. What I needed, what I think a lot of us need, was someone who'd been through it handing you the practical playbook: what to buy before surgery, how to set up your bathroom, how to sit at a desk for eight hours when sitting is the last thing your body wants to do.

That's what this site is. Rear View Recovery is the resource I wish had existed four years ago. Every recommendation comes from real experience. Every article answers the questions your surgeon doesn't have time for.

I'm not a doctor. I'm just a guy who's been doing sitz baths for way longer than he ever expected and has opinions about portable bidets now.

And if you want a weekly email from someone who gets it, no fluff, just practical tips and the occasional dark humor about a condition nobody wants to talk about, sign up for The Weekly Recovery Check-in.

You shouldn't have to figure this out alone at 2 AM.