My Hemorrhoid Surgery: Candid Details You Won't Find Online (Avoid Reading While Eating)

Someone said that on my WeChat public account I always like writing about refined subjects, and would never publish anything detrimental to my image. For example, I once answered a question on Zhihu about what hemorrhoid surgery felt like; surely I would never post something like that here.

That is not the case. Some Zhihu answers are written off the cuff without much thought. Unless readers respond to them, I generally do not republish them on my public account. It has nothing to do with my image.

Still, I think hemorrhoid surgery is worth writing about. After all, it is a practical problem many people face, and I do have some experience that might help.

I. What Does Having Hemorrhoids Feel Like? What Are the Symptoms?

Hemorrhoids develop from none to some, from small to large, and from few to many. Our understanding goes from ignorance to initial awareness, then grows deeper as the condition worsens. Our attitude goes from dismissiveness to concern, from early indifference to eventual helplessness.

At first, I simply noticed that sometimes after using the toilet, a little lump of flesh would protrude from my bottom. It did not hurt and soon went back in by itself. I knew then that I had hemorrhoids, but they seemed no big deal and did not affect my life.

Later, the lump appeared more often, grew larger, and took longer to retract. Eventually I frequently had to use my hand to push it back in. I gradually got used to the sensation of having hemorrhoids behind me, but still did not take it seriously. I was busy and had no time for little things like this.

Before long, I suddenly noticed that I often bled when using the toilet. I also discovered that my bottom was better at detecting spiciness than my tongue. At the time, I found that rather amusing. As someone from Sichuan, my tongue had long grown numb to spicy food, but every time I took a shit, I could judge more accurately how spicy my previous meals had been.

Later, the bleeding increased. I developed the habit of going home every time I needed the toilet and showering afterward. Meanwhile, I began searching online for treatments, started doing anal contraction exercises daily, and added the “xx Shi” hemorrhoid cream everyone on Zhihu was praising to my shopping cart.

Last July, I was working in Chengdu. My hemorrhoids were already severe, but Chengdu made them worse, and the lifestyle there practically ruled out any possibility of spontaneous recovery.

One day, blood sprayed out when I used the toilet. After showering, I found I could barely walk and really could not keep working.

When my boss learned about it, he enthusiastically shared his own experience of hemorrhoids and recommended a hospital's colorectal department, supposedly the best in the world at hemorrhoid surgery.

So I went to the hospital for an examination.

After a digital rectal examination, a pretty female doctor said in surprise, “You're only in your twenties. How has your anus become this eroded?”

It seemed surgery was unavoidable.

II. What Is Hemorrhoid Surgery Like?

I do not want to recount every detail of the operation in diary form. In fact, I did keep a brief daily “diary” at the time. Send “痔疮日记” (“Hemorrhoid Diary”) to this public account to see my daily records—valuable firsthand historical documents. (Avoid reading while eating.)

I will mention only a few things that left a strong impression.

1. The colorectal department has both male and female doctors and nurses, and patients are not divided by sex for treatment. If you are male, a female doctor may openly stick a finger up your asshole for an examination. Before surgery, a female nurse examines you, then without warning shaves off the hair you have kept for decades with a razor. Just before the operation, with many doctors gathered around, a female doctor thoughtfully instructs you, “Hold your balls in your hand. We're about to begin.” I consider myself thick-skinned and have experienced northern Chinese bathhouses, but as an innocent young man, I still found this surgery quite a shock.

2. The day before surgery, you get an enema: saline, possibly with something else in it, is injected into your anus, and you hold it for several minutes to empty the bowels more thoroughly. I have somewhat forgotten how it felt then, but looking back now, there is actually a pleasurable sense of fullness. Could this be the joy of being a bottom?

3. During surgery, your legs rest on fairly high supports, with your buttocks facing forward. Supposedly this is the same position women use in childbirth. Then comes anesthesia—general anesthesia. Soon after it was administered, I lost consciousness before I could even react. When I woke, the operation was over, and I felt only a faint burning in my bottom. It was quite a strange sensation.

4. For several days after surgery, you eat liquids and soft foods such as rice porridge, oats, milk, and lotus-root starch. I think you have to be able to poop before gradually returning to normal meals. But I was not hungry in that situation anyway, partly because I received daily intravenous infusions and did not lack nutrition, and partly because all my attention was on poop.

5. Intravenous infusions begin on admission and continue daily, so an “indwelling needle” is used. Its soft tip can remain in the hand for an extended time, hence the name. Not only fluids but also the anesthetic are administered through it. The advantage is avoiding a new needle puncture every day. The disadvantage is having a needle in your hand around the clock. Although it does not hurt, it always feels psychologically uncomfortable.

6. Before and after surgery, all my energy and anticipation each day centered on pooping. Before surgery, every bowel movement was painful. The general principle of hemorrhoid surgery is to tie off the hemorrhoids at their roots, cutting off their blood supply so they gradually die and fall away naturally. After surgery, I initially ate liquids and could not poop for several days. Later I could, but only a little each time. Sometimes I passed bloody material, possibly dead hemorrhoid tissue; sometimes thread ends, perhaps from the ties around the hemorrhoids. In short, I worried daily: had the surgery failed? Was my bottom going to be ruined?

7. A few days after surgery, we slowly became able to walk. With nothing else to do, everyone paced the corridor like ducks—or more exaggeratedly than ducks. Wearing long gowns, we took a step, paused, and waddled crookedly with grimacing faces. Fellow patients chatted. Our conditions, their severity, the dates of our operations, and our recoveries were all different. The colorectal ward had men and women, old and young. Some said more and more young people were getting hemorrhoids; others said they had seen people undergo hemorrhoid surgery twice.

8. I have forgotten the cost, but it seems to have been around 10,000 yuan. Social insurance could reimburse part, as could commercial insurance. What shocked me most, however, was hearing later that someone back home had hemorrhoids removed in the township for only a few hundred yuan. China's circumstances really are complicated.

III. What Did This Surgery Make Me Reflect On?

My “Hemorrhoid Diary” stopped on the eighth day after surgery. Presumably things were no longer serious after that, and I turned my attention elsewhere.

For several months afterward, there were no aftereffects except that I seemed less able to hold in a bowel movement. Previously I could wait several hours; afterward, only ten or so minutes.

Otherwise, everything was fine: smooth bowel movements, a clean and comfortable lower body, no fear of spicy food, and a greatly improved quality of life.

Now, more than half a year later, even my ability to hold it seems to have returned. Perhaps the difficulty at the time was simply dietary.

Looking back, I think diet had the greatest effect on my hemorrhoids. I used to love oily, salty foods and sometimes drank alcohol. My mouth enjoyed them, but my bottom could not cope.

Chengdu has so much delicious food, especially spicy food, and I could not control my appetite. That was why my condition worsened there. Fortunately, it also had a very good colorectal department, which balanced things out.

I now rarely eat spicy food and hardly drink at all. My current rule is: Sichuan food occasionally, Hunan food absolutely never, and alcohol only when necessary. There is no helping it: my anus is too fragile to take any more abuse.

Finally, I hope readers will learn from my example: control your diet and exercise more. These two things can basically curb the development of hemorrhoids. If you find they have become severe, seek medical care promptly. Do not delay or buy medicine to treat yourself. The later you leave it, the more surgery costs and the more you suffer.

After this hemorrhoid warning, what will you do?

• A. Eat a light diet from now on and cherish my little bottom
• B. Pay attention occasionally—I still want hotpot
• C. Whatever happens, happens; life is short
• D. Start anal contraction exercises as prevention