Chaunce1234
Forum Replies Created
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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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[USER=”2778″]essnce629[/USER] That’s great news, and an interesting finding. I wonder how common that is? It sounds rare?
Anyway it sounds like you’re making good progress in your recovery, and that’s excellent to hear. Please continue to keep us updated on your progress!
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[USER=”2788″]dragonfly757[/USER] can you share more details on the original and followup procedure you had? Was this for an inguinal hernia? Was your pain relieved when you had the tacks removed?
As far as your question, some doctors are certainly aware of tacks causing pain in some patients, particularly if they press on a nerve or if too many of them are used making the repair excessively tight. I believe that is also why some surgeons use dissolvable tacks, or even glue, but I could be wrong.
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Dr Brian Jacob is a well regarded hernia surgeon in NYC, surely there are many others too
Dr Towfigh is able to do online consultations if you can not make it to the Los Angeles area
Just out of curiosity, have you tried an elimination diet for your IBS?
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[USER=”2608″]dog[/USER] Did you have your surgery? Any update on progress or the experience so far?
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[USER=”2778″]essnce629[/USER] How are you doing now? Any updates on your recovery or findings? Thanks for sharing your experience.
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Personally I would take the advice of the Shouldice doctors who did your repair and not worry about recurrence. Their recurrence rate is said to be something like 0.5% which is amongst the lowest in the world for any hernia repair method.
Avoiding unnecessary abdominal pressure is probably a good idea in general though, particularly since you could always end up with a hernia on the other side
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Now this posted twice, my apologies.
Anyway, some food for thought.
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And another article along the same lines:
“Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science
Much of what medical researchers conclude in their studies is misleading, exaggerated, or flat-out wrong. So why are doctors—to a striking extent—still drawing upon misinformation in their everyday practice? Dr. John Ioannidis has spent his career challenging his peers by exposing their bad science.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/11/lies-damned-lies-and-medical-science/308269/
I think the obvious takeaway from these articles and papers is that a degree of healthy skepticism is warranted by patients and doctors.
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Posting one-by one seems to work, so here’s another fascinating article:
“The Dawn of McScience – Science in the Private Interest: Has the Lure of Profits Corrupted Biomedical Research?”
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2004/03/11/the-dawn-of-mcscience/
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And another interesting article:
“Why Most Published Research Findings Are False”
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[USER=”2608″]dog[/USER] Best of luck to you. Please keep us updated on your surgery, progress, recovery, etc
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[USER=”2029″]Good intentions[/USER] by any chance did you report your case to the FDA as an adverse event?
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Given that insurance and billing departments are experts at tracking down patients for the financial side of things without harming patient privacy, maybe they could attach a patient outcome survey to the bills that are sent out? That seems like an easy place to start and it would be better than nothing.
As for Senator Rand Paul, it’d be nice if some reporter spent 15-20 minutes reviewing this website and a handful of major studies demonstrating the risks/benefits associated with mesh and non-mesh hernia repair methods, and ask him some meaningful questions about his decision to go to Shouldice, and also why he didn’t bother going to an expert hernia surgeon here in the USA too. He is a medical doctor, so surely he has seen the risk data and outcome studies regarding chronic pain, recurrence, different surgical approaches etc. It’d be interesting. If he sees some particular benefit to the Shouldice approach, then perhaps he should be advocating for those particular benefits for his constituents and the rest of the country too, given his position of power.
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What was the opinion of the surgeon? Is 2 days after repair enough time to jump on a plane?
I think you might want to allocate more time for hernia repair recovery. Another thread discussed a 4 week recovery time before the patient was able to drive comfortably.
Perhaps there’s a clinic in the Bay Area that performs the tinnitus treatment?
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quote Jeremy B:A ~2 month update on my progress after Shouldice (w/absorbable suture) with Dr. Grischkan in Ohio…
Swelling has reduced to a very minimally raised Inguinal ligament with what feels a pencil girth of scar tissue around the incision site. (The swelling started out nearly hamster size)
Pain is now almost non-existent with intercorse having a slight odd pulling feeling but nothing major at all.
Flexibility is fine; However I have not attempted any yoga or any major stretches yet.
I walk completely normal now and climb stairs with authority. I have snowboarded and x-country skied a few times successfully with only a few moments of very minimal discomfort.
Overall it is a huge relief from what I experienced post-op, and It is definitely better than having to manage a hernia with a truss and walking on eggshells.
I hope my journey can bring some clarity on what one might expect from a primary open shouldice procedure performed by an expert.Regards,
JeremyThanks for the continued updates on your case and progress. It sounds like you’re doing quite well, back to regular and intensive activities, which is fantastic to hear.
It would be nice if all hernia surgeons in the USA were able and willing to perform the Shouldice repair.
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quote Jeremy B:A ~2 month update on my progress after Shouldice (w/absorbable suture) with Dr. Grischkan in Ohio…
Swelling has reduced to a very minimally raised Inguinal ligament with what feels a pencil girth of scar tissue around the incision site. (The swelling started out nearly hamster size)
Pain is now almost non-existent with intercorse having a slight odd pulling feeling but nothing major at all.
Flexibility is fine; However I have not attempted any yoga or any major stretches yet.
I walk completely normal now and climb stairs with authority. I have snowboarded and x-country skied a few times successfully with only a few moments of very minimal discomfort.
Overall it is a huge relief from what I experienced post-op, and It is definitely better than having to manage a hernia with a truss and walking on eggshells.
I hope my journey can bring some clarity on what one might expect from a primary open shouldice procedure performed by an expert.Regards,
JeremyThanks for the continued updates on your case and progress. It sounds like you’re doing quite well, back to regular and intensive activities, which is fantastic to hear.
It would be nice if all hernia surgeons in the USA were able and willing to perform the Shouldice repair.
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On a related note, there are likely lessons to be learned from the large groups of women who successfully organized against vaginal mesh and to raise awareness on that topic. It took them a lot of time, and they had to create a lot of noise, but they were effective in enacting change and getting the problem acknowledged. Perhaps a similar group of motivated men and women could organize around this topic of hernia complications and hernia mesh, using that same framework and model, and create some institutional change and awareness.
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This is an interesting list and I suspect it could have value to other possible patients, since patient-to-patient communication is quite rare. If it’s possible to rename the title or re-post it with something a bit easier to find like “List of Mesh Removal Patients & Doctors” or something similar it may be easier to stumble upon by other patients both on these forums and on the broader internet.
Out of curiosity, are all of these patients for mesh removal only? Also, are the doctors in this list all primarily mesh removal doctors or do they also perform classic hernia tissue repairs?
It’s a big ask, but it could be helpful if some of these patients participated in this forum to share their specific experiences, their original condition, why they sought out removal and what their condition was at that time, experience and condition before and after surgeries, what follow-up surgeries were had if any, other treatments, and how they’re doing today. I’ve heard there are Facebook groups on this topic, but Facebook is a closed system and it’s not accessible to broader web search or to those not using that service.
Knowing that anyone is worse off after a surgery that is supposed to help is just horrible. I have tremendous sympathy for anyone who has chronic pain or a chronic health condition that has negatively impacted their life, hopefully something can be learned from these people and their cases. Serious health issues are obviously devastating to the patient and their existence, but also detrimental to that persons family, friends, children, livelihood, community, etc. All the more important for this issue to be figured out so that detrimental side effects can be avoided in the future.
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If I recall correctly [USER=”1197″]pszotek[/USER] Dr Szotek in Indiana has performed this type of double-repair (absorbable mesh with tissue repair) before, but perhaps he has shifted away from it, or into another direction. I am not sure if he still participates in these forums but if so, any insight would be interesting.