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One year seven months since mesh removal
These last few weeks I’ve been working hard on my house, with lots of lifting, crouching, stretching. Overall, I have felt almost normal, almost like before I had a hernia. I am not back to extended periods of activity like running or playing soccer, but I feel like I could do them if I wanted to.
Some significant milestones – my pants fit now. I don’t have to leave the top button undone to be comfortable. All of my other bodily functions are back to normal. The original hernia site and the mesh remnant do not get sore after a day of work anymore. I have stopped keeping a log of my activities, to see the correlation between activity and pain or soreness, because there is none. There’s no need to keep track.
I’ve done the full circle of mesh implantation and explantation and I can say with certainty that the Bard Soft Mesh was the sole cause of all of my problems. No misplaced sutures or other red herrings. Just the mesh.
Dr. Peter Billing of Transform Weight Loss, Kirkland, Washington removed the mesh. I don’t know what special tricks he might use to get such good results but I do know that he puts a lot of time and effort in to getting it done. 2-3 hours per side. Anyone who is considering mesh removal should consider talking to him. Write up a detailed description of your situation and send it to him.
I am glad that my ordeal seems to be over, the cost that I and my family paid while it was happening was very significant, and directly tied to my having to deal with the problems that the mesh caused. I was significantly reduced as a person, debilitated, mentally and emotionally, unavailable to be there for other members of my family.
Good luck to all of the mesh sufferers out there. Take action if you can, there are solutions.
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9 Replies
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Here is the Hernia page link – https://www.transformweightloss.com/services/hernia-surgery
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[USER=”2923″]Joshio4473[/USER] How are you doing? I don’t know if you have talked to Dr. Billing or not but here is a link to his new practice’s web site. I hope that you have found a solution since your last post of August. Good luck.
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quote inguinalpete:Was removal done laproscopically?
[USER=”2514″]inguinalpete[/USER] I don’t know why I never responded to your message. Maybe it was “Unapproved” for a while and I missed it. Sorry.
Dr. Billing used the TAPP procedure to remove the mesh. Entering the abdominal cavity, to where the intestines are. Viewing the abdominal wall from inside, cutting through the peritoneum and peeling it off of the mesh, peeling the mesh off of the fascia/muscle wall, and various other things that it was attached to. Then replacing the peritoneum over the damaged area and gluing (or stitching) it all back together.
It’s been almost exactly two years and I do not wake up in the morning anymore thinking about what I’ll need to avoid doing for the day. No more taking care of the mesh, it’s gone. Still unbelievable that the implantation was, and is, a “standard of care”. It’s still happening and people are still being damaged. I had the mesh implanted in December of 2014, five years ago (seems like ten). Not much has changed, just several new products, barely different from the old bad ones.
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Was removal done laproscopically?
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Good intentions i also must to tell you thank you! I learned a lot from you and from Jnomesh and my choice of Dr.Brown was great .I am 100 % back . Yes unfortunately dr Brown will not be for as in the distant future . I hope that a new members who are coming will be more truthful to our opinions and go Dr.Brown while he is still available and in his prime.
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Thank you Jnomesh, and I wish you the same. It still shocks me to realize how insulated the medical community is, in general, from the true welfare of their patients. They perform “procedures” based on instructions generated to facilitate smooth processing of the patient, including payment for service rendered, pay by the code, but have little idea what the results of their work really are, beyond a few weeks after the procedure. Get ’em in, get ’em out, somebody else’s problem. There must be some significant psychological denial involved, and some confusion about how the work they do is not the work that they had thought it would be. By sharing our true stories, hopefully a few surgeons can become more aware, and generate the energy to change, and become more true to their oath.
Good luck.
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A removal dr in Kirkland wa?? I am in tacoma, had open inguinal surgery 2 months ago and wish I never would have. I have inquired to multiple drs as my own surgeon merely said “well if it were nerve pain it would shoot down your thigh” and is sending me to a pain clinic…I’ve been told to give the mesh a chance, I’ve been told I need it removed..my head is spinning in every direction trying to actually make an informed decision on what to do in order to get my life back..I woke up from surgery with sharp stitch like pains in my flank and abdomen running up under my ribcage..since then I’ve also developed groin pain as well as an extremely sensitive teste…I’m only 26 and cant even work right now…
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Glad to hear this Good intentions. Interesting that we are basically at the same time frame with our mesh removals as I’m approaching my 20 month post removal and seem on a similar trajectory as you. Like you I felt at ease if I would unbutton my pants wham sitting(standing fine ) and noticed that recently I have been forgetting to that and only realizing it after I stand up and excited that it wasn’t causing any discomfort.
There are now days that I don’t feel anything and actually find myself not thinking about the ordeal that I went through and the two years that I feel we’re stolen from my life.
Besides the life altering pain that the mesh caused me the secondary pain was the betrayal of the medical community to help or offer no answers for a half a year except to tell me it wasn’t the mesh and it couldn’t be explanted.
Of course we now know there are special surgeons out there that can help but it is up to the patient to find them.
im not sure I’m exactly where you are at this point but I feel like I’m 95% with days interspersed where I feel 100%.
Eating a healthy diet will he my biggest challenge to keep the gut healthy.
I still have I’m the back of mind here and there what my plan would be if I re-herniate. As of now it would he dr. Brown bit I know his career may he in the tail end. Who knows maybe I’m the not so near future there will be a influx of some surgeons specializing in non mesh repairs although unlikely one can hope.
Your contributions to this site have been immeasurable and hope you stick around and continue to offer your knowledge and support to those who need it.
Wishing you a healthy journey going forward!!!! -
Thanks for sharing your experience and for being a good member contributing with your knowledge and opinions!
Hope you continue doing well!
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