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Hi everyone
I went to my GP to request for an MRI. I gave him a copy from Dr Towfig’s protocol for MRI. His initial request 2 weeks prior were denied by my insurance due to lack of proper reasoning for MRI need. Hopefully with his refiling for MRI with my insurance with the proper language it should be approved. I need some feedback on the following:
Out of desperation and with no help from my surgeon I went to the local urgent care to get some x-rays of my pelvic area to see what was going on. I was surprised to see on the x-ray that my surgeon has used 13 helical titanium tacks. The clinical notes says 3 were used to fixate the mesh. There was no mention in the report about the number of tacks used to close the peritoneum. The report only said the peritoneum was closed with tacks. So I counted on the x-ray and it turned out to be a total of 13. Is that not a lot of metal in my body ? Is this normal to use so many metallic tacks for a small hernia on a thin patient? To add more mystery he has used an extra large size 3Dmaxx mesh. My waist is only 32 inches and I am completely at loss. Also I am confused how those 10 helical tacks are going to stay in the peritoneum long term? Don’t they get loose while doing exercises or any other vigorous activity? I wish I could upload the X-ray on this forum for some expert to look into that.. On the x-ray some tacks look horizontal (shown as circle) whereas other are vertical showing the full helical form. Some look like anchored to bone whereas most of them look as simply floating ( I guess those used to close the peritoneum will show as floating in empty space on the X-ray. This is just my guess. What I am worried is if any one or more tack has come loose? How would you know if any tack has come loose? Will it show on X-ray or MRI? My symptoms of constant testicular pain and heavy feeling of pressure and pull is not going away. This combined with pain in the glutal muscle and in the leg all on the right side where the hernia was is driving me crazy. If any of the 13 tacks were to impinge on any nerve should I be getting moderate pain (the way I have it now) or excruciating pain? I would highly appreciate if anyone has any advise or know anything about the tacks. I just want to rule out that these tacks are not the reason for my symptoms. I just can’t rationalize how tacks can stay and not get dislodged specially those are used just to connect soft tissue. I am not only concerned about my current symptoms but also about my long term prognosis with these tacks. Please advise. Thanks