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How are you doing? It is good to see you posting, I guess it means you are feeling somewhat better. Did your surgery help with the pain at all? Are you still in pain?
How am I doing? Am I still in pain? I wish I could say I was pain-free; but am not. The day before my surgery I told Dr. Korell that I had been experiencing adhesion-pain in the lower right pelvic area - that I felt sure that adhesions had attached my bowel to my peritoneum in that area. I also was also sure that adhesions had attached my abdminal wall to the omentum - throughout the area of my navel. Long before I went to Germany in January 2002, I could actually feel the pulling pain in both areas. When Dr. Korell came to see me late in the day - after my surgery - he told me that I was right - I did have adhesions in both of the places!!
So far I am uncertain if I'm free of adhesions; because the abdominal revision (bikini cut) is still causing me alot of pain. Sitting is particularly painful. When I met with Dr. Korell the day before my surgery - he told me that whenever an incision is made, scar tissue will form; and whenever an incision is made, nerves will be severed. Since nerves have a tendency to regenerate, Dr. Korell told me I may continue to experience pain in the low pelvic area (at the lower part of the scar from my 1970 laparotomy). He told me that severed nerves won't be able to penetrate scar tissue; and as a result, the regenerated nerves will "mis-fire" (my term - not his) and cause continued pain. He did not guarantee or promise that the abdominal revision would help; but rather he was totally honest with me!! He told me that he very carefully tried to minimize the surgical trauma to that area; and I believe he did the best he could.
What do you think of the spray gel?
I don't really have a personal opinion regarding SprayGel; however, I do know that Dr. Korell is impressed with SprayGel. In fact I originally planned to go to Germany for surgery in November 2001; but Dr. Korell asked me to wait until after SprayGel had been approved for surgical use in Europe - which happened late in November 2002. SprayGel is in clinical trials in the USA; but it has NOT been approved by the FDA!
Dr. Korell asked me to wait until SprayGel was actually approved; because he believes that SprayGel will offer much better protection from the formation of adhesions than the currently available adhesion barriers. SprayGel can be instilled laparoscopically; and once it has been instilled, it stays in place. Other adhesion barriers have a tendency to shift out of place during the 7-day period of time that adhesions are known to form. Adhesions start forming within hours of a surgical procedure - and continue to form for up to 7 days!!
Information about SprayGel can be found at: http://www.confluentsurgical.com/