Lenoir, NCTish H. has had serious health problems since a Kugel Mesh hernia patch was used to repair her hernia. She says that she has had every complication associated with the patch and now faces a lifetime of medications and potentially life-threatening problems. She has also undergone numerous surgeries that have caused even more health problems.
"My first ventral and umbilical hernia repair and it was done in the military over in Germany," Tish says. "Later, I had a gastric bypass surgery and the mesh tore, so I had to have a hernia re-repair. This was all performed in Germany. Then, when I moved back to the states, I was hooked up with a doctor in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
"The doctor did numerous tests and CAT scans that showed that the mesh had torn again. I had the same ventral hernia re-repair three different times in one year because the mesh kept breaking. Every time they did the surgery, they only went in and patched up the mesh—they didn't take it out.
"Later, I was visiting my parents in South Carolina and I got really sick, so I went to the hospital. The doctor busted through the mesh because I was so sick. My insides were completely infected. Afterward, the doctor said that it was the worst smell he ever smelled. They called it gangrenous dead gut and he said I was within 24 hours of expiring. I was put in a coronary care unit before the surgery because my body was dying.
"When the doctor did that surgery, he did not staple me shut. He left the wound open and I could see the torn mesh. I was afraid it would tear more. They said that if my intestines came through the hole, I should just push them back in and come back to the hospital. I had gangrene in my small intestine and everything from these surgeries had taken its toll. They removed 70 centimeters (around 2.5 feet) of small intestine that had been strangulated by the mesh.
"Finally, the doctor went in with a plastic surgeon and took out the mesh and replaced it with a sheet of tissue made out of bovine and cadaver tissue. That's what I have now. "I have been in rehab for a pain pill addiction of pain pills I was prescribed to deal with my injuries. I had an epidural of morphine because I was immune to other pain medication. I also started having seizures following my surgeries because of the nerve damage caused by having so many surgeries. During my first seizure, I was driving on the interstate with my 11-year-old daughter in the car. That was a grand mal seizure and I had 2 more grand mal seizures and 2 mini-seizures where I go blind and I can't see. That's what I'm dealing with now.
"I'm forbidden from driving and cannot be left alone, so I have a caretaker 24 hours a day. I can't work, I can't drive and I have to have someone babysitting me. It's humiliating—embarrassing. I'm only 40 years old and I've worked hard for everything I have. I have to take 6 different medications every day.
"It's taken its toll on me. I have severe nerve damage, I'm having seizure activity and I don't know what will happen. The seizures affect my memory and my coordination. It's almost like having a stroke. "I feel like I have had every symptom that could happen with the [Kugel Mesh] patch."