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Last Minute Advice
I’m scheduled for inguinal mesh removal on Monday with Dr. Krpata- any last warnings or advice or encouragement would be appreciated. I’m planning on sharing post removal updates at 3 weeks, 3 months, 1/2 a year and a year to try to be of service to anyone else caught up in this bad business and agonizing over what to do.
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9 Replies
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I couldn’t say, I only know what I’ve seen on the internet. Is the Facebook group private? Post a link.
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@good-intentions I wonder if Dr.Krpta is a good option for fixing recurrences too? I know someone from facebook group who had a bad experience with him apparently, now they are scheduled to go back with a recurrence and he said Mesh was gonna come back in via Open Incision.This gentleman had mesh removed like myself with Dr.Krpta and also recurred recently. I asked if Dr.Krpta offered tissue repair as an option and he said that was not discussed which I found odd.
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So far I have not got back into the soccer scene. I was out for three years with the mesh before the mesh removal, and it’s been up and down since then as far as figuring out what my actual level of fitness is, and whether or not I could handle a game. In the last few months I’ve started doing more hard running and sprinting, similar to what I might do in a game and have had thoughts that I could be ready to play again. But, at this point, I’m just enjoying being healthy again. Plus I have moved to a different state so don’t have the connections anymore. Nobody looking for players.
Once you’ve been down that far you really don’t want to take a chance on being there again. I hope things are going well for you.
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Thanks for the encouragement William B. and GI. Getting ready to go home. Dr. Krpata was able to get all the mesh out without damaging any major blood vessels or nerves. He said there was nothing obviously wrong with the mesh aside from some curling up on the bottom side. I can tell you that the implantation hurt 10x worse than the explantation. Thanks for the advice GI, I’ll try to keep track of things to see what helps and hinders in the healing process. Did you ever get back to playing soccer or is that off the table for you now?
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Dr Krpta has a lot of positive comments on various sites. Think.its a good choice.
Good luck.
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Thanks for following up Herminius. Your story is similar to mine, I was an active soccer player too, but my hernia was obvious, and the pain was after playing, over the following days after a game, while doing things like raking leaves in the yard. I also waited much longer before having the mesh removed.
I’ve written this before but I recommend keeping a log of your activities and of how you’re feeling. I found that the effects of certain activities did not manifest until a day or two later. Because the whole situation is so mentally traumatic it’s often difficult to remember exactly what you were doing in the days before some new soreness shows up. By keeping a log or diary you can look back and see the correlations. I found some unexpected correlations, like the fact that when I stretched my arms upward I would feel tightness/soreness at my pubic bone days later. This took years to resolve, I assume that the damage left down there after the mesh was peeled off took time to correct itself.
If you get the time and would like to share maybe you could tell us what Dr. Krpata found. Folded mesh, properly placed mesh, problems? Any reasons for the pain.
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Here’s a brief summary of the journey I’ve been through that I will post here and include in follow up reports on how mesh removal is going. I hope to give some insight to others who are suffering with chronic pain after being implanted with hernia mesh.
In April 2022 I began feeling a lot of discomfort in my left inguinal area after playing soccer. Ultrasound could make no diagnosis of a hernia, but a CT scan did identify a small hernia on the left side. I was scheduled for surgery in September, while waiting I developed the same aching pain in my right inguinal region. The pain on both sides was only ever felt when playing sports or using explosive movements, which leads me to believe that I was really just suffering from a sports injury.
The surgeon implanted a 10 x 15 Progrip mesh, in the first 2-3 days after surgery I was in the grip of extremely high levels of pain, slowly improving till about the 3 week mark when I picked up my daughter and felt like I had torn something/done something to mess the area up.
Since then I’ve had consistent pain throughtout each day. I’ve taken drugs including Gapabentin, which helped some but not enough. I’ve had ultrasound guided anesthetic injections, which also helped some but not much. I’ve tried rest, I’ve tried exercise. The type of pain and discomfort ran the gamut- electric pains, aching pains, foreign body sensation, shooting pains, writhing, gripping pains, throbbing pain.
I quickly came to the conclusion that I wanted to remove the mesh, so I flew to Ohio to see Dr. Krpata. I picked him because 1. He has had a lot of experience removing mesh. 2. He takes my insurance. 3. I have family nearby.
My consultation with him was in January at which point we scheduled an explantation, which ended up being delayed until late July as I wanted to give things a little more time to develop and was terrified of the possible negative consequences of mesh explantation which I had heard about.
In the months of waiting for the surgery I was in a constant agony about what to do: do I cancel the surgery or go ahead with it? I would have stretches during my day with very little pain or discomfort, distracted by whatever I was doing in which I would think: “no way should I risk explantation, after all, look at all the things I am capable of (I could go for short jogs, do light calisthenics, and do everything necessary to care for my family).Then the pain would come back as I went for a run, or laid down in bed, or sat reading a book and I would think “I have to get this out!” Eventually I settled this tug of war by choosing what I felt was the more hopeful and optimistic outlook: that my quality of life could improve with explantation, instead of being stuck in cycles of pain and low grade disability for the rest of my life. I felt like I had an enemy inside of me, and I didn’t want to live the rest of my life battling it. -
Don’t forget to take a stool softener before surgery. Don’t test things too quickly, hopefully the original hernias will tighten up enough when the mesh is gone to avoid a recurrence. Healing takes time.
I put the link to your first post below. You didn’t post as much as many people do when they are looking for solutions. You didn’t even make it to one year after the initial repair, but several others on the forum have done the same. When you know, you know. I assume that you did a lot more reading and researching before settling on Dr. Krpata. Could you share a little bit about yourself and how you came to your choice? I think it helps people to see a logical rational path to a decision, especially when so many experts seem to have no opinion at all.
Good luck.
https://herniatalk.com/forums/topic/looking-for-advice/
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Good luck. There aren’t many who regret having the mesh out on here.
Hope all goes well for you.
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