GIST Support WikiOPINION #1: DON'T HAVE THE MESH!! My husband has had nothing but trouble with his; he had a large ventral hernia repaired in 2004. The mesh has adhered to his abdominal cavity, pulling him forward so that he can't stand up straight. He can't breathe properly because of this and gets fatigued quickly. It also is completely tangled up in his intestines; his surgeon at OHSU confirmed that with a CT. He said Dave could have it removed but it's a VERY RISKY surgery, apart from the accompanying HUGE risk of infection. And as someone posted, if you need subsequent surgery, which my husband did when he had a bowel obstruction (which we think was also caused by the mesh) they have to cut through the mesh, again risking infection and who knows what else might go wrong. In my husband's case, the mesh is actually poking up through the scar tissue of a second ventral hernia that developed after the second surgery - it can't close up because the mesh is there. We just hope it doesn't wick bacteria or staph into his body cavity, but so far it seems ok.
We would like to do something hurtful to the doctor who placed it, a local doctor who absolutely did not tell us all the risks of the mesh. He just said there's a risk of infection - he never told us it could adhere to the body cavity or become tangled in the intestines. I've done quite a bit of research on mesh, and found a study that said the mesh really doesn't result in a stronger patch - they fail at almost the same rate as non-mesh repairs. There are also other reports of men and women who've had various hernia repairs with the mesh who required later surgeries because the mesh has "migrated" away from where it was originally placed - men have had their testicles involved and women have had to have bladder surgeries due to the mesh.
OPINION#2: I would recommend DON'T Have the MESH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' My son 42 years old had a hernia operation 1 month ago (belly button) used the Mesh and Sunday he had emergency surgery to remove the infected MESH and as much infection as they could push out. He was released yesterday with an open incision that a nurse must come to the home to care for him - clean it out and re pack it. NOT a good experience.
OPINION #3: My sister had her BLADDER tacked up at UAB in B'Ham, Al. Back in the late 80's. Well, She had 2 surgeries. The last one was because of the MESH. She was in more pain and problems than before.