Dr. Towfigh – Its time to interview Kang!!

[Chuck]

Dr. T—your fans are in agreement —its time for a Kang interview —surely it will be a ratings smash. Dr. Kang is disrupting the hernia world with his technique….his small incisions…his low recurrance rates…his attention to patient care. Yunis told me he is intrigued…Lorenz also expressed interest. You have been one of the good Doctors main critics…asserting that he is doing a Marcy repair…that only works in children—implying it wont last. He has indirectly challenged your assertion that hernia repairs need to be tailored…asserting that his repair can be successful in all situations. Its time to get you two in the ring… this would be a pay per view event for me –i think its that critical. It should not be difficult to arrange an interview…Dr Kang contributes generously here –and i am Sure he is anxious to address concerns about his repair. Particularly recent concerns raised about seemingly unacceptably high chronic pain rates. I understand that Kang struggles with english to some extent…but many say he gets by just fine. In any event his able assistant Stephen – can easily translate as needed. So what do you say? Can you arrange this? Stephens email appears on the Gibbeum site and he responds immediately. I am sure other posters here would love to watch this interview…maybe they can share their thoughts about what would be the most eagerly awaited HT interview of all time???

[Chuck]

Dr T has encouraged me to take a break from posting here and I agree with her. Hernia surgery destroyed my physical health now its working on my mental health. I am sorry if i offended some of you. I was lied to by doctors about the risks of mesh and the risks of recurrance. So I am very skeptical when folks say that most shouldice are painless. Or desarda never recurs or Kang has very little chronic pain. But to all of you who think I am posting under multiple handles you are wrong. What would be my motive? I have no problem posting whatever I think as I have demonstrated. And this notion that i am scaring people away from the forum is also wrong. I put my personal email here and have received a ton of responses from folks who have become alarmed about the dangers of hernia surgery. What have I posted that would scare people away???? Oh I better not read this forum because Chuck Taylor says this surgery has a lot of risks??? This is not routine surgery. The odds of you being harmed here are very high. There is a ton of misinformation. I became convinced that mesh is horrible. But after much research I think its lap surgery rather than mesh that is the main problem. I simply have not come across a single soul who had open mesh placed that has had the tiniest problem and i have spoken to over 100 guys personally. Many are double meshed. I posted about overthinking. And when you start getting into pure tissue repair options you are overthinking. The odds of getting a good open mesh surgery and being done with hernia surgery for life are pretty darn good based on my research. Fool with shouldice you are playing with fire. Maybe you do well in the hands of the best surgeon, but you are also likely to have twinges wierd sensations pulling and tugging on and off for life. I simply have not had those types of reports from the guys i talked to with open mesh. To the letter they say it was a few days of minor pain and then NOTHING!!! Going on many years. Signing off for awhile.

[William Bryant]

I think a Dr Kang interview would be brilliant if it can be arranged. Keeping fingers crossed.

[David M]

Chuck, you worried in the other thread about being banned. I’m glad this did not happen. You ask many valid questions and have stimulated some good interactions. I think the offending that you refer to has been small and a result of getting a little ahead of yourself. Taking a step back sounds like a good idea. I also hope you remain unoffended and curious. Just my opinion, and as someone trying to solve my own stuck decision-making, I hope to read more of your best considered opinions here in the future.

[pinto]

I’ve been here a few years now and one thing I’ve been impressed with is it being so civil. Yeah a few disruptions but considering the purpose of HT, I don’t think much monitoring has been necessary. We have to understand that medical matters can be very emotional and HT is medium for their expression. Chuck, I know you have had to deal with a lot of stuff as many other members do also. Frankly I don’t think you need to take time off esp.

if your tone for doctors improved

Maybe I missed the furor but don’t think you scared people away. HT offers a lot of support for people having to tough things out; that’s plain to see. People have their opinions and often will differ. Adults should be able to constructively work things out, usually the case here and for the better. Dampening diversity can only hurt us. Come back soon.

• This reply was modified 3 months, 1 week ago by pinto.

[Chuck]

Thanks Pinto…and thanks for your support. I don’t believe i have criticized any forum members with the exception of GI…mainly because he was not forthcoming in providing assistance. He had the same issue as me double mesh lap and removal. It would have been nice to talk to someone who could have guided me. As it is I talked to JF and NFG and got great info. Yes I think the hernia surgery area is particularly difficult and treacherous. Congrats to you on making the right call. Dr.Kang seems honest caring and talented…his pain numbers spook me a bit…but everyone here seems to have had a good experience. I have been accused of having multiple handles here and of stirring up anxiety. But i do think people need to be afraid. This is a very dangerous surgery …its not routine outpatient like i was told. EVen after studying for three years i am no closer to knowing what the right answer is. Shouldice seems very invasive and prone to tightness and chronic pain. Open mesh seems less painful but the risks of mesh are real. Desarda seems favorable….but there are serious questions about whether it will recur…and you have to damage undamaged tissue to utilize the repair. Kang seems less invasive…but questions remain about longterm durability and now there are issues suggesting chronic pain may be a risk. I am simply lost as to what to do —but Kang may well be the best choice…good job making that call.

[Watchful]

Chuck,

You know like all of us at this point that there is no safe procedure for this in the sense that they all have bad results at a rate that’s too high for comfort. I don’t see that any of the techniques stands out as much better overall than the others. For whatever it’s worth, when I asked surgeons, most said that lap mesh (which is what you picked originally) has a bit of an advantage over the other options, all things considered. I’m a bit biased against this procedure for reasons that I mentioned before, but that doesn’t mean much.

In specific cases, one technique may be significantly better than others, which is where the tailoring comes into play, but the vast majority of surgeons can’t do more than one type of procedure really well. This means that the patient picks the procedure by picking the surgeon, which can be a bit problematic – how can the patient know what to pick? I think open mesh is the most “one-size-fits-all” technique, but not necessarily the best technique for each case.

I believe that what is not clear to many here is why you are still asking repeatedly about all this. The questions have been answered as well as they can be, and until there’s some revolution in inguinal hernia repair, the answers will continue to remain the same.

Since you said your hernia hasn’t recurred, not sure why it’s on your mind so much. I would revisit it if and when there’s a recurrence, and hopefully it won’t happen. I could recur too, or develop a hernia on the other side, but it’s more likely that I will be hit by another unrelated medical condition that I can’t predict, and I’m not researching at this time. I’m pretty sure it won’t be a hernia that will do me in eventually, so there’s only so much mental capacity that should be spent on that.

The trickiness of this inguinal hernia problem hit you, me, and some others here hard and by surprise to some extent, but it’s still a relatively benign problem in the vast majority of cases when compared to many other common medical issues. I think we all (including myself) need to keep things in proportion on this. If we let this get to us so much, what will we do when the more serious stuff inevitably hits? We all need to keep some mental reserves for that…

[Mark]

Dr. Towfigh,

As you recently said to Dr. Ralph Lorenz of the Berlin Hernia Center: “It’s time for me to interview Dr. Kang. And I guess I have to pay a visit to Dr. Desarda.”

You ain’t just whistlin’ Dixie past the Operating Room of Life!

It ain’t Gangnam Style in Seoul, Korea. No — It’s Kang-nam Style! A music video is in production as we speak, no doubt, as Dr. Kang and his team dance around the O.R. and sing:

They laughed ’bout my sutures!
But I’m talkin’ ’bout their futures!
My hernia procedures
Will not give you pain or seizures!

Kang-nam style!
Mesh a killer, I’m a thriller!

Kang-nam style!
Mesh be fo’ fools, I am cool!

Kang-nam style…!!!!!!!

[William Bryant]

I do like the lyrics just hope it helps get Dr Kang on Dr Towfigh interview.

Fingers crossed it happens.

[pinto]

Chuck, I agree I don’t think you’ve attacked people. Eventually you and GI exchanged constructive posts. Watchful made a considerate post above and he reasonably remarked how you’ve been re-asking questions. But I as a “lifer” here completely understand because once a hernia a good chance for the other occurs. There’s a lot of info to process about the subject far too much to acquire over a short term. I thought you were asking some good questions and had some interesting info about patient experiences other than your own. In the course of all that though sometimes tone overshadowed your message. But who hasn’t ever been guilty of that? To others, excuse my post for interrupting this foray into music. Not bad.

[Author]

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