Apologies and question for Good Intentions

[Unknown Member]

GI—thanks for your thoughts. I am still experiencing removal pain. But its not clear if its from the mesh removal or chronic pelvic pain syndrome the mesh triggered. The latter is muscular and can be anxiety related. You might consider Dr Belyanksy for further removal issues. I think he is the best in the world. Dr Yunis told me it would take 4-5 hours to remove my double inguinal mesh. Dr. B did it in under 2. He got it all and didnt cut any nerves. When I told Dr Yunis i was going to see Dr B he said he would yield to whatever “that Fing genius” had to say. If you decide to come see Dr, B you are welcome to stay with me. I will pick you up at the airport and take you to your appt. I have been very upset about this whole experience. It was such a minefield…with few good options. Even now I am not sure what i would have done differntly. Maybe fly to one of the German surgeons the second i got the hernia? I foolishly watchful waited it…and allowed it to get larger. Every surgeon i consulted derided tissue repairs. And my own correspondence with folks on forums and pages seemed to confirm that tissue repairs left most with some kind of chronic pain issues whether major or minor. I do not presently have a recurrance…but expect one will be along any moment. I was planning to see Dr Conze…but that shouldice repair is quite terrifying. No matter what Mark T says…there are studies out there showing chronic pain in close to 30 percent of cases….the study doesnt outline who performed the repairs. Now Kang is posting a 16 percent chronic pain rate…albeit some of those cases are minor pain. As much as i hate mesh…it seems the only folks who are satisfied with their repairs are lichtenstien patients…i have spoken with nearly 75 guys who had open mesh…and not one had a single complaint…no pain…no long recovery…hitting golf balls within a week. And these repairs were not performed by experts…many had double open mesh….i dont get it…if this is the most problematic repair why havent i seen complaints…outside those posted by Watchful –its been nothing. To think i could have gone down the street had a piece of mesh slapped in and gone on with life instead of living with pain and depression for over two years for a small painless hernia royally pisses me off.

[Good intentions]

I can’t make a recommendation for you Chuck. It’s not clear that you actually have a problem. Your original problem was prostatitis. You have not confirmed that the prostatitis is gone now. You haven’t reported problems since the mesh was removed, just a fear of recurrence.

At the moment, my main issue seems to be irritation from the remaining piece of mesh. It is what limits the duration of any activities. So, my future planning is focused on that, if it gets worse or if I decide to take another chance on improving my situation. It is tolerable now but I feel limited. Dr. Kang does remove mesh but I don’t know that there aren’t state-side surgeons who could do the same, since mesh removal is now becoming big business. I have even considered contacting Dr. Billing again to see what he thinks since he knows what was left behind.

If you’re considering a Lichtenstein repair then Dr. Chen seems like the best option if you can get in there, or ask him for a referral to a surgeon he trusts. But, if you look around you will find that Dr. Chen seems to be leaning toward laparoscopic mesh repair. The marketing is very powerful. He might recommend another mesh repair or he might recognize that you have a sensitivity to mesh and should not get another mesh repair. You haven’t provided enough follow-up about your mesh removal to even guess at what might be best for you. If mesh caused your prostatitis then I would certainly avoid all mesh repairs.

You need to understand where your original problems came from and avoid doing that again. Good luck.