Post surgery thoughts

I do *not* agree that most issues occur due to mesh in mesh based repair. There are a dozen things that can go wrong. Among them are

1. Skill of surgeon (I put this as 1 since it matters THE MOST). If you chose a wrong surgeon (aka hammer in hand in my example) it could be troubling. Once the surgeon opens the IH area, ASK FIRST if (s)he knows how to fix unexpected things that can go wrong. Suppose the surgeon cuts up and finds that the hernia is large, extending to some nerve blah blah which was not expected, would he still fix or would he close up and say sorry I could not fix it? You know surgery is not like taking a MRI test where you find the test very claustrophobic and walk out without doing it and without losing anything (I did this once). So I chose Dr. Goodyear since I read reviews, talked to people emailed and bombarded a gazillion questions to each email I could find and asked one local surgeon in KY and another Urologist in KY about these things.

2. Do you have any allergy to certain things like latex, plastic etc? Better find those before you go for surgery. It is hard but better late than never and suffer later. No question is too small or too silly to ask. If you do not ask it is NOT THE DUTY OF surgeon to let you know ahead. Surgeon would even assume you have no allergies.

3. If surgery went wrong and you ended up in pain, how would you prove it is due to mesh? No surgeon will admit it. Unless another surgeon opens the wound and tells you that the original surgeon royally screwed up you won’t know. Even if at all the second surgeon tells you, would you be willing to sue the first surgeon and will the second surgeon come to court and give testimony? It is a VERY long shot and would not work. Even if he does that, lawyer can screw this up by asking, how would you prove that the first surgeon really did not put sutures correctly and what makes you think that the mesh did not move blah blah and you know how an attorney can twist and turn everything in a court room (and why so many doctors – particularly in NV state – give up their practice due to lawyers). LOL. I have heard that an obgyn was sued 22 years after delivering a baby since baby (now a man) developed some problem which was connected remotely to how the baby was delivered. How does that sound? Would the obgyn even remember what tools she used 22 years ago? This is like suing McDonald for selling food cheap (and arguing that’s why I became obese.)

4. Not all foreign material will cause trouble in body. There are people who live with bone implants (rod inside leg or elsewhere) and there are people who live with heart valves. These materials do come in contact with blood flow and need anti clot drugs rest of their lives or most of their lives. Compared to that this mesh is NOT directly in contact with the blood flow. So mesh is not everything that is a problem. But it is possible and the misconception of mesh is really somewhat exaggerated IMO.

5.We tend to blame mesh because we know it is a foreign body but if the surgeon is good, how are the other people doing OK? Well mesh may have some problems in some people who are allergic but did they test all these before surgery? I have heard that there were some cases of putting plastic mosquito net as mesh in India and the patient was fine.

6. Dasarda worked for some people and they are happy too and even I wanted to get that done but after talking to people I decided not to go for it. The reason is that the Dasarda technique borrows tissue from another location and attaches it for IH as repair tissue. Since my IH is in family occurring to my dad, brother uncle etc, a friend asked me to consider this – it appears I am genetic to this disorder, so if I get this Dasarda done, the pelvic floor is likely to break elsewhere due to the genetic weakness. I agreed since it looked good point to me.

7. Before going to Dr. G in PA I spoke to him on phone and my biggest worry was this – would there be blocked bladder and would I be NOT able to go to bathroom? My worry came because I read on Internet that in some cases the guys could not pee due to blocked tissue or whatever. Dr. G asked me on phone if I had ever any issues with bladder. I had none. So his question was “why would you worry?” Immediately after surgery within 10 min (they gave me cookies and soda to drink after my morning fast) I went to bathroom and while coming back it hit me how silly I felt about the bladder problem. I never had any problems.

8. I wrote all my silly questions or whatever (sometimes repeatedly) and asked Dr. G all those. He was more than happy to answer every single question and that too with authority. I felt comfortable to put my sensitive parts in his hands since he does these surgeries every single day – at least 2 or 3 per day. He is not a “general surgeon,” mind you but a hernia specialist.

Remember one thing. IH is because of HOLE IN PELVIC FLOOR. If a surgeon can fix it with medication, he will be more than happy to do it. It is simply not possible to fix that way. And Surgeon is NOT FORCING You to have surgery to make money. It is YOUR CHOICE. Surgery should IMPROVE YOUR qualify of life not surgeon’s bank balance. If you think you believe all these will happen, opt for surgery. but if you think that you can live with pain and never want to have surgery, so be it. My father never had surgery and never lifted heavy stuff after he was told of the IH. He died with it and never complained since his IH never progressed badly. My brother suffered for it over 25 years and could not even lift a milk can (refused to lift). I was told to be careful (watchful waiting in 2008) and waited till 2014 and had surgery. Once I had surgery (only on the right side) and recovered my brother had surgery (both sides) and lamented later “How I screwed my 25 years and suffered!!). He is fine now and has no complaints. I am OK doing well.

And to quote Indiana Jones in his movie series, “Choose Wisely” from which cup you want to drink to eternal life. the guy there with long sword will tell you if you have “chosen wisely” or “chosen poorly.” 🙂

Finally Internet is a great thing to get information but overloading that info into your brain can sometimes be dangerous. I did overload all this info and then decided to close everything and went to Dr. G. I am very happy I went to him. So far no worries. If in future something goes really wrong, so be it, I will take it up as God throws it to me.

Thanks