When I was preparing for my procedure I went down the rabbit hole of reading about others experience with the surgery. All I saw here and on other websites were horror stories and it made me almost reconsider going through with the procedure. As I’m writing this I’m 14 days post op and very happy that I went through the procedure. Short background - I’m a male in my mid 30’s and have been dealing with hemorrhoids since I was in my mid 20’s. I would have lots of bleeding during bowel movements and pain/discomfort afterwards. I’ve tried different diets, exercise, etc and nothing seemed to work long term, I would still get flair ups often. I had two hemorrhoids rubber-banded about two years ago and that helped for maybe 9 months or so but they ended up coming back. After talking to my doctor about options he recommended I go see a Colorectal surgeon which got me to where I’m at today. I had 3 hemorrhoids removed during the surgery and the entire procedure took less than an hour. I was back home in 3-4 hours from the time I left for the procedure. Day 1 - 4 was pretty awful, not going to lie about that. I would say 8/9 out of 10 pain for the first 2-3 days. I was given some opiate pain meds which really helped especially with being able to get some sleep. I also took a good amount of ibuprofen which helped with the swelling. Icing the area and taking showers/sitz baths also helped a lot. Walking and standing a little here and there also seemed to help with some of the swelling. By day 5 I was actually starting to feel better. the pain was manageable, I could walk around a bit more and was just starting to feel more normal. Each day from there was better and better. It’s day 14 for me and I’m virtually pain free (minus during bowel movements). I haven’t taken any pain meds in 4-5 days and the last time I took the opiate med was on day 4 (tried to get off those ASAP to avoid constipation). The doc told me to still take it easy for another few weeks so I’m not fully back to normal activities but I’ve been pretty active in terms of walking, taking the kiddo to the park, etc. A few this to watch out for/consider. Fiber supplement, if you’re not taking one, start now. Really helps with bowel movements. Get off the opiate pain meds as quick as you can to avoid constipation. I ran into that problem, had to take a laxative on day 5 and the bowel movement was awful and very painful. Pooping will hurt but it’s manageable and you will get through it. I’m still having some pain during bowel movements but nothing like the pain during the first one or two. To leave it here, I’m very happy about the procedure and glad I did it. Did it suck? Yes, the first week was awful but I’m sitting here today with no bleeding hemorrhoids and minimal to no pain/discomfort which seems to get better everyday. Cheers!