perianal abscess drained

hi guys.
okay so i just had my second perianal abscess drained in two weeks, (im trying to get back onto remicade nextweek)
the first one was fairly standard...it was quite close to the surface, so they opened up the fistula tract and put a seton on.
now this one that i had drained yesterday was quite deep so they surgeon used a different approach that i havent had done before so am looking for some advice on what to expect the next feew weeks.
the surgeon opened up the tract that tunnelled through to the deep abscess cavity, however instead of putting in a drain, the tract was packed tight with bandage throughout the tract. he said this is so that the fistual will heal from the inside out.
now the tricky part is, every day i have to have a nurse come to my home, remove the current packing, and re-pack the tract.
yesterday in the hospital this was brutally painful,
i was wondering,..does it get less painfull as it heals?
to me is seems like everytime they unpack and re-pack the fistula it will be as though it was brand new, since the packing is preventing healing from the outside.
they told me that everytime they pack it they'll be able to put in less and less bandange because the fistualy will be closing up from the inside.
any experience and advice on what to expect during the next couple weeks would be great.
my last fistual with the seton healed up quickly and the pain lasted for only about a week.
i feel like this method will be quite diffferent.
thanks in advance
cara

Sounds similar to my wound that had "tracks" branching off of it. If they don't wet the packing well before removing, the bandages may stick and it can be painful. Sometimes they are soaked with drainage, but I always made sure I had a bottle of sterile water near by. Malibu is correct in saying you should always take a pain pill about a half hour before you're scheduled to have your dressings changed, it will take the edge off. I had wonderful nurses, they used to be so careful and hated it when they hurt me.

I eventually started using a wound vac, and it seemed that the sponges were a little easier to cut and shape and pack than the gauze although they still had to shove them in with the big, wooden end of the sterile Q-tip type things. I don't know if you could use a wound vac in the perianal area though a good nurse could probably figure out a way to do it, but they're supposed to really cut down on healing time.

I would imagine once the wound gets narrow enough you'll have to quit packing and hope it heals. My worry was that one of my tracks wouldn't heal the entire way and I'd have an abscess.

I also had this done. It was quite painful for a while. I sat on a donut pillow for a few months. The only thing different was that instead of repacking everyday, the doctor told me to pull out about an inch or so a day until it was completely out. It's been almost a year and I still have a little hole there. Still hurts when Im having a hard time going to the bathroom. I guess I really can't complain, it's better than living with the pain of the abscess.

Hi Caras  I have had so many, I can't count them, and yep it get better, just hang in there. I always requested lots of pain medication befor they removed or changed any packing, and made sure I had plenty after. If your Dr. wont give you pain meds, look for a new Doc, their is no reason to have that much pain. Remember if you don't ask , they wont give...

I took at least a couple months to start getting back to normal. They packed it wil this string of gauze stuff after the surgery and left a little tail that I just had to pull out a little bit at a time. Once it was gone, I just had to keep up the sitz baths for a couple months.