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Do I have another hernia?
Quick background: Right side IH repaired by Dr. Goodyear of Philly and fixed. no problems on right side and all well. Dr. Goodyear confirmed to me that he is retired and no longer does IH surgeries.
Now I am experiencing pain on pelvic bone – first it started on right and I assumed it is due to mesh problems and went to see the PCP. He took X-ray and said I have a femoral bump and need to see Ortho. I forgot all this and the pain on right side went away. 🙂
Now I have pain on the exact opposite side on the left side. Now the pain does not go away- since 3/4 weeks. Worse yet, it is coming from pelvic bone on left side and extends to area towards penis but I do not have a bump or any swelling. I tried checking myself in bathroom (cough, holding male parts up etc) and I can feel some small hernia but not sure because sometimes I do not feel anything. I am going back to PCP and bark at him again next week but want to know if
I have a femoral hernia or another IH on left side. For what it is worth, I work in desk job and have to sit at least 5/-8 hours with breaks of course.
Questions:
1. How do I confirm I have an IH or Femoral hernia? What can I ask my PCP to find out.
2. Any good surgeons in Louisville, KY I can visit? I am not worried about mesh since I already have one on right side.
(NOTE:- I am not **NOT** looking for a general surgeon who can ALSO do IH surgeries, but rather I am looking for a specialist IH surgeon)
3. Yes IH runs in my family – my brother had two sides IH repair and my dad passed away without any IH repairs but he did have one and lived with it.
4. Knoxville TN (Dr. Ramashaw) is close but I prefer not to travel again since I travelled to Philly once and shelled more $$. In fact Knoxville KY is like 8 hours since I drive slow. 🙂 OK, 5 hours.
5. Any other help is appreciated. -
13 Replies
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More updates:
As I walk on treadmill or outside the pain goes away. Right now my pain is almost gone and is like 1/10 or even less. But I noticed that last week, when I tried to sit on a stationary bicycle to ride a bit, I had extreme pain from back and sternum. It lasted about 30/45 minutes and I felt it was crushing me. Then I walked around and all was well. This makes me think I have some kind of slipped disk or two on my spine that is causing these pains.I also cancelled my SCROTUM Ultrasound which the doctor wanted. My scrotum looks good and I have no pains or problems with sex or any other kind. No absolute problems with bowel movements – I have regular daily bowel movements and everything is clean. And BTW I gave blood for work as a part f physical and will know results soon.
What am I expecting – elevated blood sugar (bloody hell, I avoided diabetes so far but I guess finally the genes are catching up. last time it was 107 and around but only since last year it was over 100. Then may be PSA can show something. I also feel there could be a small kidney stone but I have nothing to show in the urine or pain during urination. So I am not sure. Blood pressure has been running high since last year too. into 140/90 and now I am on 10 mg tablet. Not sure if that is working or not but I am using it since a week LOL. The biggest problem is that, every time I check BP it is 140/90 and the next reading when I redo in the next minute is 130/80. I stopped believing all these machines at home, in store and all. How on earth are they selling these machines that cannot show a consistent reading in two minutes time frame?
For now I also found a couple of hernia surgeons from my office colleagues and will keep them on hand. Will update sometime next week when blood results kick in. Thanks all.
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Update:
I went to PCP yesterday and after routine cough check and all he says I do not have another hernia. I am disappointed (LOL) because he did not test properly (I think) and refused my idea of Ultrasound with groin Valsalva but I forced him again and again and reluctantly he wrote ultrasound of scrotum. I do not understand why I need US for scrotum when I have pelvic pain. Anyways I have decided to wait and watch.The pain now extends from my back (little above the belly button but on the back side), sometimes goes to base of penis and around it. All on left side. PCP thinks it is bone spur of hip and blah blah and wanted X-Ray. I said I will not do another X-ray. He was bored at the end of appointment for having to talk to me about this again and again and so was I for rejecting my reasons. May be I have a combination of back spasm, bone spur and a little hernia (and who knows what else). When I sit, due to pressure on pelvic bone sometimes it pains and sometimes it does not.
But for the physical itself I am doing OK – cannot say great but just OK due to some elevated blood pressure and glucose levels; Never had those before. Got the blood work paper and will test in a day or two. My first thought was a kidney stone or elevated PSA or a swollen prostate (no such symptoms). This blood work would prove that probably. And once if everything is clear then I will chart out what to do.
Dr. Towfigh, thanks for the help with Dr. Scott Roth. I am now in wait-and-see mood and will update.
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Correct, Lexington.
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Dr. Towfigh
Seems like Dr. Scott Roth is in Lexington KY? A quick search with Google does not show me anything in Louisville. Thanks a lot -
Thanks Dr. Towfigh and all others who replied. I did not check this so far. I am seeing my PCP today and plan to wait. I have pain (sometimes 1/10 and sometimes 5/10) but can manage. I am more interested to first clear my annual physical and blood tests and see if it is not anything like kidney stone or such and then go to a surgeon later. Yes I am around here but randomly. So I will update. Many thanks all and again
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Yes I second that In that as of now dr. Ramshaw has suspended seeing patients and performing surgeries. Hopefully it is temporary.
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Dr. Ramshaw stated that during this sabbatical he will “look for another opportunity to apply a continuous learning model in another academic center setting.”
“the date/location TBD”
Dr. Ramshaw also wrote that he “will look forward to providing care for hernia patients again in the future. -
Excellent hernia surgeon in Louisville: Dr Scott Roth.
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quote kcm:Hi WasInTn,
I received a letter from Dr. Bruce Ramshaw dated December 13, 2018. In this letter he explained:
” I experienced an unexpected personal emergency which lead to a difficult decision of having to take a clinical sabbatical (meaning I will not be seeing patients or doing surgery for a period of time) effective 1/13/2019. Additionally I have resigned from my position as Chair of Surgery and will be leaving the University of Tennessee Medical Center.”
His thoughtful letter continues with other information. I tried to download the letter, but it exceeded the amount allowed. If you need other details I could email it to you.
Wow that is unexpected and unfortunate, but thanks for sharing this information with the forum. Do you happen to know where Dr Ramshaw will be going next or when he will be seeing patients again?
Hopefully all is well with Dr Ramshaw, he is very well regarded and there are multiple patients on this forum and elsewhere that have reported good experiences with him for hernia surgeries and related issues.
As for [USER=”1041″]WasInTN[/USER] initial question, perhaps the simplest/cheapest study to check for a hernia or recurrence is an ultrasound with valsava of the groin. Usually insurance will cover ultrasound without much hassle, whereas they seem to push back on MRI etc
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Hi WasInTn,
I received a letter from Dr. Bruce Ramshaw dated December 13, 2018. In this letter he explained:
” I experienced an unexpected personal emergency which lead to a difficult decision of having to take a clinical sabbatical (meaning I will not be seeing patients or doing surgery for a period of time) effective 1/13/2019. Additionally I have resigned from my position as Chair of Surgery and will be leaving the University of Tennessee Medical Center.”
His thoughtful letter continues with other information. I tried to download the letter, but it exceeded the amount allowed. If you need other details I could email it to you.
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Dear Wasin TN.
You should see a general surgeon. He/she will be able to determine is you have a recurrent hernia or trouble from the mesh.
If necessary they can arrange for the appropriate imaging.
Regards.
Bill Brown MD -
Good Intentions
My “last” choice is surgery. First thing is to find if I need one. I am not sure if I have another hernia or not. When I first went to PCP he took x-ray and called and said I had a femoral bump. ha. But the pain on right I went to see the doctor for, disappeared and came back on left. Now that is going away too but I do have some pain once in a while. If as the PCP said it is femoral bump, how did it go away? And surprisingly if the right femur bumped, why am I getting pain now on left?So my first concern was to find what I have. My annual physical is on 19th Feb and I plan to ask the PCP what he thinks (aka bark in humor) and test if I have a kidney stone that’s causing a pain or whatever. I do not have any other symptoms like UTI etc., blood in urine etc.
If worse comes to worse I plan to drive to Knoxville to see Dr. Ramshaw at least to know what I have (and may be see the smokies on the way). If then Ramshaw thinks I need to get the mesh out, we will see. Thanks for your reply.
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A few thoughts…
You didn’t distinguish between open or lap, I think that the results can be different, so you might want to specify. Another one of those cases where anything mesh gets lumped in to one word, mesh. I think that open mesh surgery might also be following pure tissue repair in to the past, with everyone converting to laparoscopy, so you might have to request open repair if you want it.
Dr. Towfigh typically recommends checking the American Hernia Society page, if I recall right. It might be a good start. https://americanherniasociety.org/find-a-surgeon/
I know of someone who had a mesh hernia repair in the 80’s and had no problems. He had a second mesh repair about 15 years later and had major problems from the beginning, eventually having it removed after living with the torture for many many years. Again, all he knows is that both were “mesh”. He assumed, like you, that because the first worked that the second would too. Not to scare you, just passing on a true story. Apparently, there are different effects from different meshes, or the repair itself can be either good or bad, with the same material. He is one of the living experiments, that a registry might clarify if one existed.
In short, I’m suggesting that you be extra careful. Good luck.
p.s. I don’t know what you meant by “bark” at your physician, but it doesn’t have a good look. I don’t think that doctors like being barked at. Maybe it was humor?
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