pinto
Forum Replies Created
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Your post is as much disingenuous as is racist your thread creation. You just sidestepped the chance to show you are knowledgable of the “standard” approach to IG surgery–which you proclaimed to wit by your statement, “The patients summarizing their experience here seem to be in the dark regarding how their surgery differed from standard, well defined procedures.”
If you don’t know what the standard is then your statement is disingenuous. There is no place for racism at this website. Critique is highly valued especially if the poster keeps their bias/prejudices in check. Sir, you did not do that. You made a wild accusation that your targeted surgeon is involved in racially motivated experimentation without patient consent (as comes with WWII imagery of the unlawful medical experimentation made–cf, GI’s post indicating as much).
The issue of ethics is important in any field, actually any human encounter. If you see such issue you can raise it without shrouding it to imply your targeted surgeon conducts racially motivated unconsented medical experiments. Sir, you owe the surgeon your sincerest apology as well as you do readers of this website.
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@Herniated, you state: “The patients summarizing their experience here seem to be in the dark regarding how their surgery differed from standard, well defined procedures.”
Please edify us what the standard practice or set of procedures is. Thank you. -
What thorn in your shoe led you to post such nonsense? Please tell us what is at the root of it.
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Monopolies? Who said monopoly? I have not said it. You seem to bring unrelated casts onto the matter, first with capitalism erroneously, a focus at the state level and now monopoly. A conglomerate does not mean monopoly. My reference to the Stanford Medicine article was only to show that public funds–the govt. hand–is into national health care policies in a big way, which includes administrative directives how medical services must follow.
Curtis G. Graham, MD, not the doctor in the podcast but another one, writing in the book, The Wounded Physician Project:
“Our government politicians who are pushing for total control of healthcare as well as the whole medical profession give a standing ovation to each and every physician today that is coerced into joining a managed care governmental facility to practice medicine.
You see, for those medical doctors under the government indentured servant program earning money for someone else, are happy with their style of practicing without having to learn how to make money, living with constant administrative rules for practicing, never being in control of their medical careers, and normally have the funds to do what they want to do. Of course, for some, there are a few (about 10-15%) who want to practice medicine with the freedom allowed while in full control of their careers and lifestyle.”
Again, it would be hard for any sane person to argue that turmoil is non-existent in health care. I am not an MD and so I don’t know about the coercions placed on doctors that Graham, the podcast, and other doctors have been voicing. From patients I have heard horror stories about network constraints unreasonably made. Billing issues further complicate how patients (cash vs. insurance) are inequitably treated, not to mention medicare administrations and so on. It all adds up to turmoil that the fed has created at least in part.
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As an example, Stanford Medicine in an article, “How government subsidies affect private health insurance prices, reveals research on the matter:
https://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2019/11/05/how-government-subsidies-affect-private-health-insurance-prices/For someone who began with the mistaken view by yourself that medical conglomerates being capitalistic precludes therefore the system being a socialized one, I must wonder what your real purpose is. Ok, you want to say the US health care system is not socialized? Perhaps not completely but if you listened to the podcast, then you should know the doctor spoke of a “paradigm shift” in way of explaining how US health care has been changing from privatized to socialized forms. He is a doctor and is reporting from the front lines of medical service. It dovetails with my impressions and what I’ve been hearing. And I believe it may have relevance for some of the HT members who have felt short-changed by their medical providers.
[“You can actually find examples of the opposite where
state governments go after medical
conglomerates/monopolies ….”]
I agree but 1) govt. in my post refers to federal and 2) there will always be contradictions given the many different branches and offices of govt. as well as competing political forces and “politics.” Perhaps your perspective has been at the state level, for which I certainly would agree that the state govt. hardly can be expected to be blamed for the bad socialized medicine being practiced. If blame is to be made, I put it on the federal govt. -
Socialized is not my term. You’ll have to debate it with the medical expert who uses it in reference to the US–namely the doctor on the podcast noted. Actually any term can differ in meaning according to who uses it. That the medical conglomerates are capitalistic is unrelated. What makes the system socialized are the govt. subsidies under it. Thus application of the term socialized.
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Congratulations on taking the plunge. You knew you were at the endpoint and you had to jump out of the plane. You survived the jump. Any surgery is risky. At this point the important thing is to realize you did your very best. All along the way decision points were calculations. Sometimes though by hindsight either way fails if without a win. In the recent WS game, a baseball manager gambled that his mainstay pitcher should be relieved out the trouble he was in. Unfortunately they lost and the manager roasted ever since. If they won, however, he would be the toast of the town. I marvel how even the most experienced sports casters haven’t fully understood this metric.
In the moment, outsiders cannot grasp the full measure what that manager had to process–and indeed processed–in weighing the best step to take. You are that manager but fortunately the game result is yet written. You made a decision that best fits as you saw it; others go on with less data. What many of us have yet fully grasped is the incredible healing power of the human body. I still ponder the exquisite libido: The moment of complete bliss brings wonder if it ever can return–if indeed the need would even come again. Ah, but it does, again and again. Amazing life force.
However the darkest moment invites doubt about the dawn return. Many stories at HT illustrate that but many also show hope, resolve and healing. It may take time but the life force will see you through, maybe even in record time with your particular case. The return of pain is scary but maybe a sign the life force is healing. Not all pain is bad. Some pain is necessary to send us on our way to health. I hope your pain subsides in due time and you can go well on your way. I myself would take solace in the fact that I were not the poor fellow in the Russian prison snubbed by Biden who must now be in immense despair after four years of imprisonment. You have some medical heavyweights who I’m sure will see you through. Good luck my friend.
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Kang nixed use of ice! He was surprised that I thought ice would help healing. In fact I never needed ice but before that I had read stories on the internet about people using ice post-op. I got the idea ice would be needed. Also I thought I would need aspirin, etc. but never had to use it.
My understanding is direct IH is more painful than an indirect one. I had indirect but as I said I needed a crutch to go from my bed to the restroom in the hospital and anytime thereafter walking. My only pain was getting up from the bed. Walking wasn’t painful if I took measured steps.
I had no pain on the plane. By that time I didn’t need a crutch but avoided any strenuous movements. Driving home from the airport though was tough on me. But not after my 2nd operation (for recurrence). The two were very different about pain–the 2nd time around, no crutch needed and I was more confident moving around after the first week, incl. my drive home from the airport. (Note: for my 2nd one I am unsure I would have been able to leave the hospital unassisted. I purposely stayed there several days for security. The result was that my condition was immensely better, immensely, than at the same time period for my first op.)
Alan: (My ankles were like balloons after arriving!)
You may already know we need to flex our ankles and calves during the flight to forestall such swelling. Sometimes walking around is big help but don’t push it if you don’t feel fully confident. Get an aisle seat as close to the john as you can. -
@Alan
“I guess I have a low pain threshold…”
Not true. I have a high pain–high–threshold but needed a crutch over there for my first operation. My only pain came from trying to raise myself out of bed and of course needed a crutch to walk. Don’t despair because by the end of the week you won’t need the crutch. Going home in the airport I used a chair because I wouldn’t be able to handle my baggage. I had rapid recovery after that. Good luck. -
Thank you, Chuck. That is devastating news. Patients that have been harmed by negligence have nowhere to turn. The typical patient is powerless and unaware of it until tragedy strikes. I had heard something about the Calif. law but unsure about it and hear it’s spreading to other states. Medical malpractice surely happens, so how will patients be protected? Given the ridiculous billing by hospitals today the 250k cap can turn out to be pocket change. I wonder if anything is being done to remedy it.
(So far few hospitals are complying with a federal mandate that they publish patient charges for their services!) -
By my IH journey, I learned a valuable lesson about medical care, esp. surgery: Go for the specialized doc not the generalist. Being naive due to the absence of any serious malady, I followed the advice of a couple of GPs of mine and went to some general hospitals to talk their “hernia surgeons.”
Wow, I came away thinking not only they were naive about hernia matters, reluctant to share their surgical record, at least one clumsily injuring me while physically examining me, and another who wanted to process me for surgery without my prior consent. None had the foggiest notion about mesh complications. Some couldn’t even tell me what mesh they used; it seemed they used whatever the hospital procurer provided them.
@notanewbeeok, as for your statement,
>I have emailed about 10 of them, just a polite email telling >them I was looking for a surgery center and would they >contact me by email (I cannot call from where I am). NONE, >ZERO replied to a known …If that is the essence of your inquiry, I understand well why you didn’t get a reply. To me, it seems you expect them to jump up and be at your beck and call. Practically speaking you don’t give them a reason to reply. What is it you want from them? You don’t tell them.
BTW, I have seen more than one specialist hernia surgeon have a website that takes inquiries via email. You have not run across any of these?
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I recommend you book a hotel closest to the hospital within your means or requirements. Stephen will give you a list of nearby hotels. My first trip required a long taxi ride that was painful. My second trip, I booked a nearby hotel. As you will be in Korea two weeks, you might think of visiting Pusan, a resort city.
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I think you are likely to have trouble internationally wherever you go. You emit extreme cultural bias and ignorance about language matters. E.g., Mandarin Chinese, not English, holds the mantle of most used language with Spanish possibly in a close second. You pontificate about the “intelligence” of MDs, as if you are capable of conferring which MDs are intelligent, which are not. You greatly misconstrue the language situation of Kang. He uses English and does not expect foreigners to use Korean. His website is quite informative and useful for international patients to know upfront what the costs esp. given they have additional travel expenses.
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Let me clarify something about Dr. Kang and staff. He and Stephen are fine gentlemen who I completely trust. I had two operations there. Yes, between those I was really in a fix attributable to something common throughout the world: miscommunication. I don’t want to go into particulars; suffice to say the situation was stressful for both of us, which clouded our mutual understanding. I regard Stephen very highly, who functions a vital role for foreign patients there.
English: Goodness, you are going to a foreign country one outside of Western Europe in terms of language and culture!! Obviously we have to be ready to adjust and not expect our own culture and language to be the standard way. Even in your own native country, you can spend an hour with a physician and still come away from it in the dark. In my view, Dr. Kang and Stephen do a great job in bridging the linguistic difference. Will there be perfect communication? No of course not. If you expect in whatever country you go to, they will bow and completely satisfy you–Stop! Don’t go anywhere beyond the borders of your own country. You are not suitable, in that case, for international travel.
Perhaps I have used a low bar of medical expectation, but after two Kang operations, I was not maimed. This is great tidings. Great tidings. Hell, I’m in a foreign country alone with total strangers and they’re going to cut open my gut?! I’m so happy that with Kang we can be fearless in this regard.
Furthermore, both operations were completely uneventful–the operation completely painless. Some pain on the second day. But once crossed, then, in my case, none or very little pain thereafter during post-op. After the first few days, no pain to speak of.
None of you are going to find the perfect doc. Such doesn’t exist. Data? What doc in the world has independently produced data? Almost none because it’s all done “in house” for probably 98% of the docs you speak with. Surgical procedure? Ha. What makes you think that the surgeon of “Method A” actually performs according to the book? Further, it will be done for you as written? Maybe, maybe not. Surgeon’s Notes. Yeah, reliable? You think so? Maybe, maybe not. The most important factor is how much you trust the surgeon. If you don’t have a good feeling, then he/she is probably not your cup of tea.
Most of the surgeons banded about at HT are probably better than any general surgeon. What I learned now about surgery, I will never consider a general hospital for any surgery; rather I will go to a specialist. So hernia being my first surgical experience, I learned a lot that will help me in the case of other health needs.
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The lead-off article of this thread does nothing but raise patient anxiety. In the middle of the article, it states,
“… it’s possible that some patients had sexual dysfunction or painful sexual activity as a result of the hernia and not the procedures to repair them, Soybel said.” The end quotes another expert as saying SD is a known possibility of surgical outcome. Well almost anything can be an outcome of surgery: To wit, @Good intentions claiming that a simple hernia surgery led to the loss of leg. (Well, not exactly because GI ignored that the patient had previously had multiple surgeries for it and massive scar tissue.) To say, that IH surgery can result in SD is meaningless without considering frequency. The latter however is a bit of a mystery because apparently there’s little research on it. The prudent thing would be to ask one’s surgeon about the prevalence of the SD outcome in his or her record. -
I enjoy, well almost, running (actually jogging). So I was keen on what docs say about it and not one I have asked or read have recommended against it. I’ve concluded that the range of affliction is so so vast among patients that it’s hard to say. Mine was a medium sized IH and never gave me pain after a jog. I usually wore a truss for support though I can’t say it was necessary.
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You’re welcome, William. Absolutely, I’m sure you read correctly that hernia can cause sexual dysfunction. Well, how many cases from among the millions afflicted? And how is SD defined?
Should we include @Bob, as he seems to 1) include testicle pain; and 2) assign the cause to hernia. It so happens that Bob recently had hernia surgery. You don’t think that surgery had anything to do with it? And apparently his pain happened only post-op; otherwise he would have said he had the pain before surgery. I don’t mean to pick on Bob, and my apology if needed, but he did offer himself as a case of SD. Surely Bob’s case is an unlikely candidate. And if Bob happens to see this, let me say, Bob, I’m sorry to hear about your pain. Wouldn’t the first thought be it’s a byproduct of the surgery? (e.g., an instrument banged against you unfortunately; it’s a pretty delicate area down there, :D. I have no medical training but I’m sure your pain will clear up soon.
So among the presumed total of SD cases, not all will qualify as SD cases. Next you gotta tease apart many varied factors before you can confidently say it’s caused by hernia. I am not denying it as a cause; only that based on reading that article, it tells me little is known about the subject. Moreover I have asked docs about it and all denied it as a cause. 🙂
I completely understand your concern, William. I’ve been there, but we’re vulnerable to latching onto any shiny object good or ill that comes along. You are correct–absolutely so– to check how valid they may be. Unfortunately the hernia field in my view does not have a ton of proven research to guide many of the questions we have. I still have no idea how my first hernia came about! (Yeah, probably there was a defect but I am certain if I had led a couch potato life, I wouldn’t have gotten it.) I presume that the very very little said about hernia and SD means that it’s just a small chance happening to us. Good luck, bro.
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A few years ago I read a positive review, probably here, about a non-mesh doc in the Philippines. Also you should consider Dr. Kang in South Korea. Being so close, you would be foolish if you did not consider him. His chief assistant Stephen, I’m sure, will be happy to consult with you by email: stephen9kwon@naver.com
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Could there be resentment there toward MDs in private hospitals because in the general public hospitals MDs apparently are paid less while scheduled more work (something I picked up from a Canadian MD blog)? Off-hand I would suppose such happens elsewhere as well. But it could be more a factor in Canada based on the info in this thread, putting more scrutiny onto private hospitals. Hmm, ironically Shouldice might venture into be doing more mesh operations than it has been.
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@Good intentions, you’re so funny. 😀 You so wish to edify us but neglect to know your own language.
Please consult the OED before you float your misdirected claims. To wit, “cash cow” according to the OED means,
“a business, investment, or product that provides a steady income or profit: traditional cash cows like cars and VCRs.” Even without dictionary in your possession, if you cared to read my words, you would have known that I asked,”How profitable” had Shouldice been.But then again if you had cared, you would not have had a chance to edify us, would you? Ok, here’s a bone: “The earth is flat.” Let’s see what you can do with that. 😀