medical update

The developments on the health front for me are not bad, but not as great as I want. Since my appointment with the surgeon in Tel Aviv this past Monday, I've been down in the dumps about having gone through with this surgery. I know it was necessary, but it isn't always so easy to see clearly to that when the final results are still a ways away.

The good news is that the mesh is holding everything in it's place, and it is incorporated well.
OK, so then I started asking my questions...

When I pointed out on the outside of my body where the pain is inside, and told him it's like a chisel into my side, he said "yeah, that's where I put a screw to hold the mesh". And since it hurts occasionally down to my knee, a shooting nerve pain, it looks like that screw is also impinging on a nerve. Solution? Another laproscopic procedure to loosen the screw. Or wait and see if it resolves itself. My short term solution is to try acupuncture. I'm going to call the supplementary health fund and make an appointment for that. The surgeon said that for him it's a 2 minute procedure to loosen that screw. For me it's a belly full of gas again (laproscopy) and general anesthesia. I think I'll wait on that one. Meanwhile, it hurts, and that is depressing.

The other question I had was... when will the feeling of pressure in my belly go away? I told him that when I eat about half a normal meal, Gapey starts hurting and the mesh causes pressure and it is pretty uncomfortable. His answer? "That will resolve itself when you do the reconstruction surgery.

Ummmm, and if I don't? I explained that I decided not to continue, that I don't want more pain and surgery if it's not medically necessary. He said that the pressure may not go away if the area isn't filled in with fat deposits and natural fascia (the goal of the reconstruction surgery). Apparently this type of mesh isn't wonderfully compatible with a skin graft.

In the meantime, I am back to wearing my pressure garment with the pillow filling in Gapey. It is helping some with the pain and pressure. I was "off" it for about a year, and now I am finding myself needing it again.

So you can see why I am feeling in the dumps about this.

Go to a surgeon, get suggestions about surgery. That's what they know, that's how they think.

I am going to think out of the box for a while, go for some acupuncture, and pray that my pain gets relieved. The I have to see what I am willing to live with.