Kugel Mesh Patch: "People Who Get Shot Feel Better than I Do"

Phoenix, AZJohn H has suffered though a lot of pain, and many surgeries due to a hernia repair where a hernia patch was used to repair one of his herniated areas. Many of his symptoms and health problems following his hernia repair surgeries are consistent with those experienced by people who have had Kugel Mesh Patches implanted.

"The whole thing almost killed me," John says. "I had a bowel resection then I started having problems with hernias. I went to the hospital and they fixed one hernia. A year later, I had another hernia in my lower right quadrant. It was very prominent and everyone said I should have it fixed. However, when I went in for surgery, the physician fixed the first hernia. He said that the first hernia repair looked like it was infected and had a mucous build up.

"I came home and within a couple of weeks, I had a major infection. It kept weeping and there was pus. I had an incision from about four inches below my sternum to two inches above my navel. Both ends of the incision opened up and so did the middle—even though there were stitches in it. It was infected."

John says he underwent another surgery to fix the problem, but that surgery just resulted in more troubles. "When I came out of surgery, my abdomen was still distended and then it broke open on both sides of the incision. I had an open wound for 14 to 18 months. It would not heal. It stunk and I couldn't be around anybody. I had to wear a binder to keep everything in place."

John wound up the hospital again and discovered he had a Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) infection, related to all the corrective surgeries he underwent. He is now seeing a different doctor and is starting to believe that he might actually recover from this ordeal. But it has been a long experience.

"I believe the [Kugel] Mesh was used," John says. "After that, I had cramping pain and an inability to hold down liquids and foods. I also had severe depression—depression to the point of having suicidal thoughts, like, 'If this is the best I'll ever feel, I don't want to feel this way.' I had a bowel perforation that caused a lot of problems. The colostomy bag filled up constantly and finding a discreet place to take care of that is hard."

In addition to the above issues, John also says he suffered from bowel paralysis and abdominal abscesses.

"I just want to know that I won't have any more problems. If I had known that there was any problem with what they put in me, I would have taken care of that. I think people who get shot feel better than I do."