They said it was safe...and this can happen to you!

They said it was safe. They gave me no alternative.

“No mesh, no surgery”. These are the words I was told during an appointment with the DHB surgery team about my femoral hernia I had happen after lifting one of my rescued “bobby calves” onto a trailer.

I raised concerns about surgical mesh I had heard about on a news site.

“Oh, it's ONLY the gynaecological mesh that’s had a problem, it is not what we use for hernia repair. It’s completely safe. If we can’t use surgical mesh, we can’t do the surgery”.

No other information was given to me, no risks or possible complications were explained, it seemed so straight forward.

“Ok, book me in”.

I needed the hernia fixed.

It was very painful and physically limiting, both in my work and home life, like raising my bobby calves, caring for my pet menagerie (cats, dog, horse and goats) and my hubby.

A few months after my hernia happened, I slipped at work and tore the Labrum in my hip joint. I needed surgery to repair that too, but that couldn’t be done until the hernia was repaired.

Just to make me feel worse, my horse had to be put down after he fell in his paddock. He was 41 years old, and I had him since he was 8, I got him when I left school.

8 weeks after that heartbreak, , my darling little cat passed away from horrible lymphoma.

We had a dismal Christmas, and I looked forward to my surgeries coming up in the new year. That year had been hard, upsetting, very trying to us both.

Surgery #1 Hernia Repair

The procedure was done by keyhole, and in recovery I awoke from anesthetic in an incredible amount of pain. It was awful, excruciating agony in my abdomen and groin.

Discharged the next day.

My hubby was great, he took a week off work to look after me and the animals. The first two weeks were difficult and painful. Pain eased as the days went by.

Surgery #2 Hip surgery, 8 weeks after the Hernia surgery.

I told my surgeon my groin was quite sore but he wasn’t concerned, my hip was probably causing that.

I woke from that surgery with terrible hip and groin pain, could not straighten my leg, and my belly pain was being quite niggly.

Again, my hubby took more time off work to help me, crutches were so awkward especially at dinner making time, and feeding our pets and doing basic things that need two hands to carry things or clean.

I had been off work for 10 months at that stage.

I struggled with doing any physio due to the pain, both in my hip and abdomen. Sleep did not happen easily.

My doctor sent me for an ultrasound scan to see if we could figure out what was going on. Maybe my hernia was back.

No, hernia was intact, but there was a huge mass just near the hernia site that was crowding out my bladder. It was a seroma, a big ball of fluid, a complication of the mesh/hernia repair.

Back to hospital, where I had a big needle stuck into the seroma and the fluid was sucked out, almost half a litre. The relief on my poor bladder was instant. No longer did I feel like I had to pee every 5 minutes. Yay! Now I could get back to exercising my hip, but about a week went by and I started to get pain where the seroma was again, that was making me double over, and the urgency to pee was increasing.

I carried on, sore tummy, hip wasn’t really improving, in fact, my limp was worse, and quite often felt my leg go out of joint.

As my hip pain and function was worsening, my hip surgeon sent me for an MRI. That showed defects and fluid in my hip joint, and a large mass in my abdomen. My seroma was back. How frustrating!

I got an appointment with a specialist for the seroma, and due to losing faith in my hip surgeon, found another who was highly recommended, to see what his opinion was about my hip joint.

So, once again, the seroma was sucked out, not so much fluid this time, but the pain and urgency did not go away.

By this time, our finances are struggling. I had been off work for over 12 months. More unexpected bills, hubbys car broke, the washing machine died, rent increased, child support went up for his two kids, and with all the doctors appointments, travelling, hospital car parking and medications sucking up his wages we are literally broke. We sold our “toys”. We sold our calves, anything we could do without was sold to try make ends meet.

Middle aged working couple, quite happy, getting by....not anymore.

So, I visited my new hip specialist and he ordered a CT scan. Not good. The scan showed my hip surgery is a complete failure and it seems maybe the original surgeon wasn’t up with the latest play in regards to repairing tissue in the joint and he had damaged parts of it so it has no chance of becoming pain free and functional.

The scan also showed the seroma had “changed”. It was described as an inflammatory mass, and the mesh that was put in there is infected.

My bloodtest markers are all "up" from infection and inflammation.

I am back to where I started, except this time, the mesh needs to be removed.

It is a big risky operation, I have to have my belly opened up, they have to dig the mesh out from all the tissue and nerves that have grown into it. My specialist compared it to pulling up old weedmat with roots and stuff embedded through it.

Once thats done and I am healed I am to have crucial parts of my hip joint reconstructed with donor tissue to replace the damaged and “missing” bits.

My hip has been “butchered”.

My hernia repair is a failure with serious complications and infection.

I can’t have my hip fixed until my hernia is repaired, mesh out and infection cured.

At this point in time, another Christmas has just passed, we have no means of getting any financial compensation for all of the costs associated with either of these surgery botch ups. Both are claims as treatment injuries, and if accepted, surgeries will be covered. There is no compensation. Nothing for hurt, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, extra financial burdens of hubby’s time off work, travel costs, medications, doctors visits etc. We can’t seek damages against the incompetent hip surgeon, nor against the companies that manufacture defective surgical implant devices. (Mesh)

We had no Christmas. No prezzies for each other. There was no spare money for something nice for Christmas dinner. I can’t partake in anything we enjoyed doing together, like going surfcasting, gardening, walks even. We are struggling.

The times I had to go for anything medical that I didn’t have time to save for, a bill would be missed to pay for petrol. We live quite far from town, even further from the main city.

Our cars need things for WOF, registrations are overdue. I need a new mattress so I can possibly get comfortable to sleep. Our bills are always overdue, food is becoming a luxury, there is nothing spare for necessities like underwear or a haircut.

I am so tired. I am so stressed. I am in so much pain. I am feeling so useless. I feel like I am a burden. And boring. I just want a break.

I just patiently wait for any info about my proposed surgeries to fix me. If? When?

I'm a kiwi girl, I was born here, paid my taxes, and ACC levies and yet I am cut off, isolated, and so far, not one of the surgeons involved in my botchups has apologised. None.

We need help for daily living expenses, for travel costs, time off work post op, GP visits, meds, decent nutrition, car repair and wof so I can rely on it getting me to my appointments. And to possibly seek a surgeon in Australia who is experienced in removing surgical mesh as I am finding out more about mesh injuries and lack of qualified experienced surgeons in NZ that can actually do the surgery.

Please, if you think I deserve a tiny bit of financial relief so I can catch my breath, instead of this painful stressing rollercoaster stage of my life and it’s impact on my hubby and our relationship then, please, if you can spare a few dollars to help me, us and our pets.

He asked me the other night, “what did we do?”

We haven’t hurt anyone, we don’t steal or cheat, we always say yes to requests for favours, or rescue a stray kitty or hurt animal, save a bobby calf from slaughter. We are nice people. Hard working. Why us?

Please help, just a little bit.

I am not quite 50 yet I feel so old and hopeless. Useless actually.

The doctors we trusted did this to me, my life is in limbo, yet we can't claim damages. And I feel guilty. Lazy.

Its not right. And no one, under the current laws in New Zealand is held accountable.

Companies in the USA are being sued for millions in compensation, and they don't care. The profits from selling surgical mesh implants far exceed any costs awarded to victims.

Kiwi's get zero.

COMPLICATIONS FOLLOWING HERNIA MESH SURGERY INCLUDE:

Adhesions (mesh sticking to intestines)Autoimmune reactions to meshBowel or intestinal blockageFistulas (abnormal connections between organs)Hernia recurrenceInfectionMesh migration and rejectionMesh shrinkageNerve damageOrgan perforationsPain & bleedingSeroma (fluid buildup at the surgery site)Tenderness at the implant site” .