Forum Replies Created

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  • pinto

    Member
    September 10, 2021 at 6:24 am in reply to: Questions to ask surgeon about non mesh

    You gotta ask this–Pose this scenario: It’s Friday afternoon and you have two phone calls but can only take one. Which do you take? One is calling to make an appointment and the other is a patient with a complication from your surgery. Who is more important? His present patient with a pressing need or the potential increased income? Unfortunately I didn’t ask this when I met my surgeon but I found that in my case, he apparently favored commercial promotion over my pressing need. In other words, you need to get his/her take on how much interest they have in their post-surgery patients. You will find in various stories here at HT that some surgeons run away from their responsibility toward ailing patients. I hope yours is not of that ilk.

  • pinto

    Member
    September 6, 2021 at 5:19 pm in reply to: Which surgeon would you go with?

    @momof4, thank you Susan for that. I was surprised and not surprised that testing is available but not reliable. At least it’s a start. You are brave for what you are going through. I hope things brighten up for you. You distinguished two things–allergy and foreign body response. The testing you mentioned was for the former, which probably means there is none for the latter? I wonder how the both are distinguished medically as you have both.
    My understanding from HT is that after mesh removal, scarring typically covers over the previous hernia. Does it?

  • pinto

    Member
    September 5, 2021 at 6:14 am in reply to: Which surgeon would you go with?

    @momof4, sorry to hear your mesh misfortune. Let me ask you as you might know: Can’t we be tested for allergic reaction to mesh in advance?

  • pinto

    Member
    August 29, 2021 at 6:48 pm in reply to: Watchtful waiting since 2016

    @spinotza, my understanding is that in the UK, watchful waiting is greatly pushed for financial reasons by the NHS. Are there specific guidelines by which to know when surgery can be done? From what I read if you use the public system you must wait. I wonder how much patients can know the criteria used for allowing surgery.

  • pinto

    Member
    August 25, 2021 at 11:07 pm in reply to: Watchtful waiting since 2016

    @spinotza, @holeinthewall, @alephy, thanks for your reports. We often don’t see such, so particularly helpful they are. Are/were your hernias reducible?

  • I feel your grief and wish this never happened. I also appreciate Igor’s response, for he summed it well fairly and with kind regard. You should know though that though you wrote considerately, it is still quite technical. Simply to understand better I hope you don’t me asking for clarification. You stated,

    >>That he couldve just removed the mesh on the surface since it hadn’t >>adhered to any tissue and it just slid right out, repaired the >>floor; closed up the oblique without all the reconfiguration.

    How can these other specialists say so? Mesh repairs have been variously pointed out here at HT are fraught with difficulty; they can get enmeshed with surrounding tissue and other internal constituents. Are they only going by your external bodily before and after photos? (I am not deminishing them; only that I cannot see how anyone by just these photos could say the mesh could just simply be slid out.

    Another point inviting clarification is this:
    Sadly for him, he performed the exact same procedure on my left groin (that had never had a previous procedure and had flawless core health/function – just some chronic pain from a small tear).

    I can only deduce that you are saying that the surgeon performed a “mesh repair” on the left side as well—-yet there was no mesh to remove. Besides it being of course immense medical error, how is it that specialists can say the identical procedure was performed on the left side? The surgeon removed imaginary mesh and then “repaired” the tissue damaged in the “repair”? How can such be ascertained by those whom you consulted with?

    My best to you that you find relief.

  • pinto

    Member
    July 25, 2021 at 7:05 am in reply to: Bi-Lateral Hernia Surgery with Dr. Brown-Description

    @spartan, you obviously are very happy and I’m glad you have had such a remarkable surgery and recovery. When I had my first car ride after my surgery, lateral vibrations like hitting a bump were extremely painful for me. And for a few days very painful to move out of bed, which required very slow negotiated movements to move from lying to standing up. Did you have any of that? Was your grapefruit reducible and about how long had you have it until then? If you didn’t do those special exercises, do you think you could have avoided surgery?

  • pinto

    Member
    July 24, 2021 at 9:56 pm in reply to: Bi-Lateral Hernia Surgery with Dr. Brown-Description

    @goodintentions, no insult intended. A fact remains that certain concepts are culture-bound, as well as how medicine is practiced. Chaplains are typically certified and licensed in the US. It may not be the case elsewhere. I wonder about when religion needlessly seeps into medical evaluations. In principle, I believe it is best left out.

  • pinto

    Member
    July 24, 2021 at 3:03 pm in reply to: Bi-Lateral Hernia Surgery with Dr. Brown-Description

    @spartan, I am happy that you got well connected and served, but religion is unrelated to hernia surgery. (Of course not your intention but bear with me a moment, please :). Mention of “chaplain” likely invokes Christianity or Christian minister in mind needlessly. If he were a monk or a rabbi, you would have likely ignored it. Religion was not the motivation in his referral but a consequence of doing business. Covid pandemic meant that you couldn’t be served there and so good business is making a good referral.

    My concern is that the naive Western patient will make too much of the term chaplain, particularly when the concept is culture-bound. That is, it was originally an imported Western concept as is the modern hospital, as is also medical practice. Being imports they are not necessarily equivalent with their Western counterpart, a fact to be well kept in mind.

  • pinto

    Member
    July 3, 2021 at 6:01 pm in reply to: Help Reducing Hernia

    @GettingAnxious, I’m glad you’re feeling better. You asked a great question.

  • pinto

    Member
    June 30, 2021 at 4:34 pm in reply to: Hernia – Surgery or No?

    If I take my car in for an oil change but end up getting an unapproved engine overall, I would have solid grounds for compensation. Isn’t your situation like that? “I didn’t have a hernia at any point I had some overuse tearing in my groin as a professional dancer – and the one big surgery I got bilaterally was through … ‘sports hernia repair’.” Before surgery did you agree to or request a sports hernia repair–a bilateral one to boot?

  • pinto

    Member
    June 30, 2021 at 12:23 am in reply to: Hernia – Surgery or No?

    @peterc, it’s been devastating for you, just devastating. You didn’t have a hernia but ended up getting a bilateral IH operation? Do I have that right? I’m really sorry for you. How mobile can you be? I’m unclear how you got where you are. Has an attorney helped to sort things out? Was your identity mistaken in the hospital? We hear sometimes of hospital mix ups behind wrongful operations. How is it that you got an operation completely unexpected, if you don’t me asking.

  • pinto

    Member
    June 25, 2021 at 3:50 pm in reply to: A Confession

    Thank you for that because society so valorizes the doctor’s role that we sometimes forget they are but human. They easily can become enmeshed in unrealistic expectations held. However, listening is so vital a skill that without it, diagnosis becomes impaired if not impossible. Not every doctor can have the “bedside manner” so vaulted but surely they must aim for it.

    A friend of mine, particularly meek, was drummed out of law school for that reason, I believe. He later became an archivist for the state of New York, a position and work that greatly matches his disposition. Similarly, surgeons who are unable to listen ought to seek occupational adjustment.

    What about however when (mis)listening is intended by the doctor? Whatever the reason, hardly would it be warranted. Such would likely be unethical. Unfortunately that is what I have faced. It reminds me of similar accounts read here at HT of doctors who seemingly shut their ears when facing their apparent surgical failure or intolerable pain by the patient. Maybe these doctors are in the wrong line of work.

  • pinto

    Member
    June 13, 2021 at 9:13 pm in reply to: Banned by my Surgeon?

    @HoleintheWall, isn’t that the truth. 😀 Thank you for the post.
    @ajm222, I’m glad you’re feeling better and hopefully with some time will have put it all behind you. If I might say, it’s easy for people to feel despair and anger at themselves for choosing the “wrong path.” I can’t say about that but in case it relates, some HT members talked how they went into it with complete trust and lulled into it by our great admiration of docs. (I’m sure it can be hard on docs too.) Unfortunately these members found out that some things were done without their best interests in mind or so it seems. Like putting in more mesh than really needed. And collectively we’ve seen a lot of info here that challenge some of these practices. Again, if it fits, I hope you are able to be easy on yourself and see there are countless people across the world who fell into it as well. Nearly everyday I thank we have the internet and places like HT because otherwise we would be in a total fog about it. At least now there are many resources for us. You were courageous for taking the next step of removal and I applaud you. It must have been right for you But also a big, big step. (Such would scare me!) My best wishes that you’re past any serious pain and eventually mend nicely.

    Let me say about tissue repair: “It’s always greener on the other side.” Apparently there are thousands of happy mesh patients. Some have posted here. Great for them. It’s when we have trouble the other side looks greener. It’s easy to see it that way and can make us feel worse. I’ve had to think, “maybe I should’ve gone mesh.” This kind of thinking creeps up on us. @ajm222, your original choice as unfortunate as it seems, might have been better than if done in the local emergency ward. If yours was elective then it likely was better than with a butcher in emergency. Thank you for your sharing.

  • pinto

    Member
    June 12, 2021 at 5:18 pm in reply to: Banned by my Surgeon?

    I second @mitchtom6‘s welcome back to @ajm222. I’ve appreciated your postings at HT. I hope you’ve been well.

  • pinto

    Member
    June 12, 2021 at 7:44 am in reply to: Banned by my Surgeon?

    @mitchtom6 and ajm222, thank you for your posts. It means a lot because you probably understand the loneliness that comes in the situation I presented. It’s accentuated when medical personnel don’t listen and you get tossed around. I have certainly experienced it to become a continual grind. Ironically, some people including a couple of employers said I was the most patient person they ever knew. 😀 Because of that maybe I let the grief stretch as much as I did, 5-6 months. People I’ve told reacted with disbelief that questions that would take a doctor less than a minute to answer require waiting by the patient nearly a half year.

    I first brought the situation here about a month ago (“Mysterious Post-Surgery Swelling”) trying to find out if such could be a non-hernia, something I believe my surgeon said he found among some of his patients but as yet remains unconfirmed. @ajm222, I think, that post will answer your questions. I came forward with it here only because the hospital staff weren’t getting it confirmed. It seemed they simply were not asking the doctor! Thanks again.

  • pinto

    Member
    June 8, 2021 at 9:04 pm in reply to: Is what I’m describing a possible hernia?

    Ok, we have questionable validity rather than reliability by this statement:

    >>“Conclusions: Most radiologic reports issued for CT and MRI studies were incorrect for evaluation of occult inguinal hernia.<<

    CTs are not all the same nor are MRIs. If the proper CT and MRI tests are not used for herniae, then the testing is likely invalid. That consequently lowers reliability. But my question was assuming a highly reliable ultrasound valsalva test result. 🙂

  • pinto

    Member
    June 8, 2021 at 4:49 pm in reply to: Is what I’m describing a possible hernia?

    Good Intentions, I see how medical approach can become a “bent” leading to misdirection of practice. Bear with me though because you went a bit in a different direction. You spoke of the situation, I believe, of a mesh patient in post-op pain whose test result said there was no real issue. However the present case–@nickmaybehasahernia’s–wonders if his is actually a hernia. My question was about detecting hernia not pain (or source of it). An earlier post of yours suggested a surgeon’s approach could color test detection for hernia. So if you don’t mind, would you clarify that.

    I assume a surgeon relies on a radiologist’s reporting whether a hernia is detected or not. Regardless of surgical school of thought, isn’t the radiologist’s conclusion (pos. or neg.) accepted? That is, there is no “railroading” of the patient done necessarily by a certain method of surgery, right? The only real question for the patient is where to find valid testing. For only that, it should not matter whether the surgeon is “mesh” or “non-mesh” advocate, right? He/she has a qualified radiologist to do the testing.

  • pinto

    Member
    June 8, 2021 at 12:35 am in reply to: Is what I’m describing a possible hernia?

    @Goodintentions, as always you present some interesting information. I must ask though why would the surgeon’s method (mesh, non-mesh, etc.) play a role in ultrasound testing? (It does in my case locally because of my prior contacts with them but that’s another story.) Probably the testing is done by a radiologist and so out of the hands of the surgeon. I can’t see how surgical method influences the test result, whether positive or negative.

  • pinto

    Member
    June 7, 2021 at 7:14 pm in reply to: A Question Never Asked the Surgeon but Should Be

    @drtowfigh, for clarification I should add that my issue arose way beyond 90da., one approaching a year and a half post. I don’t want any readers to think mine happened within 90da. because if it did, the mistreatment would be outrageous, outrageous. 😀 (I don’t think the time is so different though because surgery is surgery.)

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