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Recurrent bilateral hernias repaired at shouldice clinic
Hi all,
After the nightmare i went through last year in germany with dr koch i have had my surgeries redone at the shouldice clinic by DR Michael Alexander who is the chief surgeon of this place. The setup here is absolutely amazing and very proffessional. I dont think ive been to a hospital this organised. He was very shocked to find out that the technique is still being used with sutures that absorb and the cremaster muscle is not being cut.
before cutting the cremaster muscle they said that there recurrent rates were just above 4% and by cutting and resuspending it into the repair it brings the rate down to 0.5%. So it makes a big difference.
i asked him about the cherry picking tag that some doctors have given the clinic and he started laughing. He said the same doctors have even watched him do incisional hernias the size of a beach ball. With my own eyes ive seen so many different types of people and although they promote weight loss not everyone is as slim as youd thought. More bellies then 6 packs.
my surgeries were done today and other than being really sore i feel good.
on my left side there were two hernias, one direct one indirect which he believes the direct kept getting missed as why i was always complaining of reoccurence. The right side is wer i had the unesseccary usage of mesh. They didnt remove it all but took some of it out and left the remainder and completed a shouldice repair. Not all was taken out as he had mentioned that it was a risk to my epigastric vessel.
I will give further updates until i leave the clinc and about my recovery.
This is a great place and there are honestly great surgeons and thats why they have very high success rates.
One thing that i was quite shocked with is that i was told before by my previous surgeon that theyve done training here and so on, however the chief said the maximum other doctors get to see the technique is 3 days of observation and it is no where near enough to complete a successful shouldice repair. -
9 Replies
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quote Baris:[USER=”1916″]Chaunce1234[/USER]
i requested way before arriving at the hospital as id known he was the chief surgeon. I was told that it will be put on my file but will not be guranteed.
When i got there he sat me in his office and we spoke a whole load of things and i specifically asked him who would of done my surgery if i didnt request him. He answered back and said that he would of took on the file. Usually most days he does 4-5 surgeries but on my surgery day he only done one complex case before myself.
Funny enough he said when repairing my left side he broke a record globally by doing 32,001 operations.
With all the people i spoke to there none specifically requested a surgeon so i do believe if youd request him you will have a high chance of him being the surgeon. I went from london so i paid all out of pocket so im not sure wether this had any influence and how the system in canada works in terms of what rights the insurance give you. Top quality guy though never met a surgeon of that level to be that humble.
In terms of recovery im doing well, im off all kinds of pain meds and just resting. The insicion is healing well. Bowels slowly returning to normal just a lot of gas but i was told it will take a minimum of 5 days for bowels to function properly especially after general anasthesia. A lot of brusing and discolouration but this is expected and usually fully clears within 3-4 weeks.
Also to make people aware.. the videos on youtube that state they are from the shouldice clinic is a fake and is not the actual way the technique should be used.
So far all seems good and il update in the next week or so on progress 🙂Excellent to hear, thank you for this information.
I am glad to hear you are doing well, please continue to update us on your progress. Thanks again for sharing this information, it will surely be helpful to other patients considering Shouldice.
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[USER=”1916″]Chaunce1234[/USER]
i requested way before arriving at the hospital as id known he was the chief surgeon. I was told that it will be put on my file but will not be guranteed.
When i got there he sat me in his office and we spoke a whole load of things and i specifically asked him who would of done my surgery if i didnt request him. He answered back and said that he would of took on the file. Usually most days he does 4-5 surgeries but on my surgery day he only done one complex case before myself.
Funny enough he said when repairing my left side he broke a record globally by doing 32,001 operations.
With all the people i spoke to there none specifically requested a surgeon so i do believe if youd request him you will have a high chance of him being the surgeon. I went from london so i paid all out of pocket so im not sure wether this had any influence and how the system in canada works in terms of what rights the insurance give you. Top quality guy though never met a surgeon of that level to be that humble.
In terms of recovery im doing well, im off all kinds of pain meds and just resting. The insicion is healing well. Bowels slowly returning to normal just a lot of gas but i was told it will take a minimum of 5 days for bowels to function properly especially after general anasthesia. A lot of brusing and discolouration but this is expected and usually fully clears within 3-4 weeks.
Also to make people aware.. the videos on youtube that state they are from the shouldice clinic is a fake and is not the actual way the technique should be used.
So far all seems good and il update in the next week or so on progress 🙂 -
Excellent to hear good stories like this, thank you for sharing.
Did you request the chief surgeon at Shouldice or did you end up with them due to you having a recurrence? I was under the impression that Shouldice surgeons were randomly assigned to patients, mostly based on case complexity.
Please keep us updated on your progress as you continue to heal.
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To ease my mind here is the response I got from the shouldice chat.
“It doesn’t really impact recurrence. They divide the cremaster muscle to view the entire abdominal floor and the stumps are ligated. Once everything has healed, the cremaster muscles will be back to normal.”
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I definitely have a cremaster reflex, it’s quite active. I’m a few decades after puberty.
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No side affects at all. And this suggestion of testicles hanging down is nonsence aswell. The surgeon says that most men lose the function of their cremastic muscle after puberty and its only a quite a few that have it. To be honest ive noticed no difference in terms of my testicles yet but its still early to say.
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What are the side effects of cutting the cremaster muscle?
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They dont do mesh removal unless the hernia has reoccured. If it has then when repairing they remove it.
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Interesting that they were willing to do mesh removal and repair recurring hernia. I was told on the phone that they couldn’t/wouldn’t
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