Hemorrhoid, abscess, or something else?

Recently, I've had incessant rectal pain that could not be diagnosed by two doctors and an MRI. Had exploratory surgery where the colo-rectal doc removed what he said was an old hemorrhoid that looked like it had burst and a small polyp. He said neither should have been causing the pain that I was describing.

I still have pain (about 5 days from surgery), but it is different and feels like surgical pain, not the ridiculously strong ache/pressure I was feeling before. But now I have a new problem - I have profound pain right outside my anus and there is definitely a smallish, soft lump there. It's sort of almost blocking the exit, but not.

Is there a way to discern if this is a hemorrhoid or abscess or something else? It's very painful, but not quite as bad as my pre-surgery pain. I would love to be able to slap some prep-H on there an at least get some relief.

Also, does anyone see any issue with putting some OTC Lidocaine cream on there in the meantime just to try to take the edge off? I'm mildly concerned mostly because I just had the surgery.

Thanks.

For the 1 person who was playing along... it was something else. I got an infection at the site of one of my incisions. I'm actually fine with this result as I thought it was an abscess or something else that might require additional surgery. Just a course of antibiotics and hopefully, I'll be done with this for a while.