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3/18 Mesh Removal… I cancelled :(
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Back story:
1. Bi lateral Inguinal Hernia mesh (bard 3d max) installed 2021 (may have never needed it :<)
2. Pain flair up near crease of hip with burning in 2024 May – August 2024 – Saw a doctor in Texas, Mazen Iskander
3. Mainly subsided September 2024 – December 2025 (small burns if over active)
4. Jan saw Dr. Belansky (couldn’t confirm anything as mesh placement apparently looks fine on CT)
5. Pain evolved from hips to pubic mons, asis on both sides (mainly weird sensation on right), followed by pain radiating towards groin.
6. Set surgery on 3/10 for 3/18…
7. Essentially feel like a chicken out. (no sleep felt sick to stomach all night and bad feeling)
Sadly I was not mentally prepared and postponed my removal today. In my defense I saw my doctor last Tuesday and he squeezed me into a cancellation. My pain has been been changing and getting lower, but I know it can spike. I still feel the new weird sensation in my pubic mons/testicular area.
Something just didn’t feel right, I couldn’t sleep I my stomach was bad, and bubbling all night. My anxiety was bad, and all the time thinking… Idk if this will even help because the surgeon didn’t even guarantee if it could help.
I’m going to see my pain and spine person, bite the bullet take the awful painful injection and do process of elimination. If that works awesome I know my issue, and that can guide what I do next. I want to exhaust the other options before subjecting myself to the knife one last time.
I’m not a big believer but… When I had to do my preanesthia blood work and hour away on Monday I felt like the weather and the world conspired against me. It is a 1.2hr drive and took 3 hrs and I was late and had to beg them. Hopefully I didn’t burn this bridge, I’ve never cancelled a surgery in my life.
However when I asked myself, when not in pain, “could I wake up post surgery and accept it is worse?” Or a bad consequence… The answer was no today.
I still will update people on what I do to try and help myself.
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This discussion was modified 3 weeks ago by
Mando.
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This discussion was modified 3 weeks ago by
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3 Replies
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I had to convince my husband to reject the local robotic mesh board-certified surgeon and instead, drive 2 states away to Ohio and spend a lot more money to see Dr. David Grishkan who has had his own hernia surgery center there in eastern Cleveland since 1983. We had a wonderful experience there just last week. This surgeon has removed lots of mesh, has immense experience having performed over 27,000 hernia repairs. He explains things well, answered our questions with care. I felt my husband was in the best hands in the world.
You have to go with your gut instincts which is why you backed out. In my case, I decided that Grishkan was the best surgeon I could get my husband to see after scouring the internet for information, reading many articles and studies and talking with some friends. This surgeon has a team of professionals who work together well. I went back to see my husband still a bit groggy post-op and thought 2 nurses were hanging out nearby. No, one was the anaesthesiologist who was monitoring my husband. This was a rarity to me because in big hospitals, the aneasthesiologists seem to just disappear once the patient is wheeled off to surgery.
My husband had an umbilical and an inguinal hernia repaired. The inguinal was not simple…there were two hernias in there with the older one’s hernia sac having been pressed and stuck to the spermatic cord. Thank God I got my husband to the most experienced and talented surgeon I could find. I hate to think how the robotic approach might have turned out.
After all the reading about inguinal hernia surgeries, I finally concluded that what I needed was not the seamstress at the local dry cleaners who can repair a torn sleeve or sew on a button. What I needed was the master tailor who could custom design the most remarkable custom-made suit or stunning one-of-a-kind dress. Because once the cut is made, a surgeon has to make important decisions like knowing just how much tension to use in each suture or whether the tissue quality is ideal for the plan. It took me a lot of time to realize this because the local surgeon sure had a good sales pitch including how a 3×5 inch piece of mesh will stop all sorts of future hernias too! Just cut a flap in ther peritoneum, stick it in there, sew the flap up and voila! Turns out our local robotic gungho mesh surgeon is also a scientific advisor for a mesh company out of state too.
My husband is doing well post-op! The surgery was this past Thursday, (March 19, 2026). He has not had to resort to a prescription pain med but just alternating Advil andTylenol. He’s been icing regularly and walking 30-60 minutes 4 times a day on Days 3&4.
The Hernia Center of Ohio is in an eastern Cleveland suburb surrounded by hotels with the full kitchen suites if you wanted to stay a few days, eat in comfortably. Dr. Grishkan’s office entryway has many letters and cards from patients just gushing with thanks. If I needed mesh removed from a past hernia repair, I would definitely go to him. We filled out a medical history form, submitted it and then the doctor himself called us back. This doctor really looks out for his patients with a 24-hour live answering service too. (What a nice change from the long holds or voicemail mazes these days.) He also performs all surgeries himself, does not pass any of it off.
Check his website out, The Hernia Center of Ohio. He is board certified and does laproscopic work when the situation calls for it. I had read that he was an expert witness in some mesh lawsuits. I’m a doctor’s daughter and wish there were more old school doctors like this guy who is so professional, thorough and charming. I am just amazed how well my husband is doing. I think Dr. Grishkan is magnificent. A rarity. I highly recommend him.
ChessieGirl
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I misspelled the surgeon’s name. It’s:
Dr. David Grischkan
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If you weren’t prepared it might be that subconsciously you weren’t confident in your decision process. So, probably the right choice, for the day. No medical professional should pressure a patient to continue with surgery if they are not mentally ready.
You had mentioned a sports hernia. Has that been addressed? Or was it assumed to be addressed by the mesh implantation? Today’s view is that mesh is inappropriate for sports hernia repair (athletic pubalgia). Maybe you still have a sports hernia. Mesh removal won’t fix that.
Some clues that might help you are to distinguish when the pain occurs. Sports hernia pain usually happens during activity. Real hernia pain is not the same. My own hernia pain occurred the day after vigorous activity, when I tried to do simple physical exertions. For example, after a rigorous game of soccer, the next day my groin would be painful if I tried to rake leaves on the lawn. I felt okay during the soccer game, but not the next day.
I’ve mentioned this in the past but keeping a log or diary of your activities and how you feel can help to draw correlations that might mean something. If you take a week off from physical activity do things settle down and you feel fine? If you do something rigorous does it hurt while you’re doing it or is there a delay? Write things down and examine your notes later. When you’re suffering continuous pain it affects your memory.
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