How is surgery safely performed on the rectum and its connected piping?
How do you sanitise the area to prevent infection? If you get surgery on the rusty sheriff's badge, how does it not get infected the next time you lay an otter egg? Do they connect a colostomy bag in that case, to give it time to heal?
You can get a lethal infection from a paper cut if the right (see: wrong) bacteria get into it. Short of piledriving a snooker cue coated with hand sanitiser, I don't know how a filthy corridor of doom like the excretory system can be kept free of bacteria after Dr. Bussy Torn MD has been rooting around in there with his weed whacker.
Surely antibiotics aren't enough on their own to prevent infection? Anywhere else in the body, sure, but the chucklet waterpark is like ground zero for biological malevolence. It would be like wearing nothing but a steel showercap to keep mosquitos from biting you.
What dark arts are surgeons invoking here?
A similar question was recently asked on asklemmy. Caveat: there were many probably more informative answers there as there likely are here. However, I'd like to reiterate my answer:
I am not qualified to answer this, but I did once see a similar question asked on Reddit. The best response I saw was from a commenter whose name I can't remember, else I would credit them.
That commenter said that his infant daughter had required an operation on her rectum. The commenter asked the surgeon how the surgery site could possibly not become infected and was told "the asshole knows how to handle shit."
That answer seemed reasonable to me and I probably will never forget it.
That's not a very nice way to talk about the surgeon...
It seems likely that the parent, rather than the surgeon, is the asshole most likely to deal with the site!
Our assholes are kinda crazy. The nerves can tell the difference in solids, liquids and gasses. Think on that! (I know, we've all made mistakes.)
I mean, yes, but you're still expected to keep the site as clean as possible. It doesn't mean the body just has it all figured out.
I had surgery not on my asshole but close to it, and I still had to change the dressing once a day, wash it gently, and spritz it with a disinfecting saline solution.
My experience in this matter is limited to the removal of a pilonidal cyst, so like you, near but not involving the rectum. My responsibilities were similar to what you describe. Nothing you say seems false to me (nearly a complete idiot on the subject); I think the surgeon in question was just saying that the area is more forgiving than might be expected.
But again ... I am not an expert, barely even uneducated on the matter; I'm just relaying someone else's memorable experience. I hope no one takes my quote as medical advice to disregard open wounds in the area!