Re: NO MORE SURGERY!
From: Kelly Murray (mkmurray@cyberport.com)
Sat Apr 13 00:00:57 2002
I don't think a person should go anywhere but I don't see a large amount of
people that are getting"cured" in Scranton or Germany. I know that my pain
is back from the adhesions and not from the incisions. I guess I just feel
so let down after spending so much money for surgery and feeling the same. I
was so excited to finally go and have my surgery to end the adhesion
nightmare to only be the same and maybe a little worse.
I don't think the answer is more surgery but I also don't know if these drs
are so much better then others that perform adhesiolis. (sp) I may be wrong
but....
I do know though that after reading your posts, that I won't jump into
surgery again. I am trying to hold off but I am afraid that one day I will
get blocked. I will probably just end up going somewhere close to home for
this and pray that it will last for awhile.
God Bless You Karla,
Kel
-------Original Message-------
From: adhesions@adhesions.org
Date: Wednesday, March 27, 2002 11:06:58 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list ADHESIONS
Subject: NO MORE SURGERY!
I know many people on here have been through the
process of having to decide whether or not they should
have surgery for their adhesions. Pain is an awful
thing. I would like to explain my opinion and perhaps
people will understand better.
--
There are many, many doctors in this country that feel
that they can perform an adhesiolysis and you know
what? They can. The question is, can they perform it
adequately so that your adhesions are gone permanently
or so that they are at least diminished substantially
and no adhesions reform. There is one doctor who
offers a cure in thirteen surgeries. Do you want to
go through that? Many people are learning, after
trips to the best doctors in the world...both here in
this country and overseas that perhaps their pain
hasn't been from adhesions or that the pain that they
have now isn't from adhesions. We are learning that
many of the people seeking treatment at even the best
places have another pain....pain caused from the
cutting of our tissues. Some people are developing
the most debilitating pain from this. We have had
people have surgery in Scranton and go to Germany only
to learn that they had either very minimal reformation
of adhesions or none at all. They are learning that
their pain is from the incisions. There is no cure
for that. But still, if we feel that we have to have
surgery....that we cannot live with the pain (I am
talking about everyone...people who have not been to
Scranton or Germany) then you are doing yourself a
disservice by having surgery performed by an unskilled
physician. These doctors do think they know what they
are doing....but either they don't or they don't want
to take the time to meticulously take each adhesion
down and remove each little speck of blood or other
matter. This lengthens the surgery time by hours.
Insurance only pays roughly $2500 for an adhesiolysis.
If you were a doctor would you accept that amount if
you stood in the operating room for ten hours? I would
probably try and do as many surgeries as possible
instead of one major procedure that I'm not really
making money on. Its a shame that its about
money....but that's life. Everyone who I know who has
gone to Scranton or New York before the move had a
procedure that lasted a minimum of four hours. One
woman was in excess of ten hours. All of these women
are relatively painfree in comparison to how they were
prior to the surgery. All of them had undergone lysis
of adhesions prior only to have the pain return.
If you are to go to a surgeon who doesn't use quite
the right procedure your adhesions WILL return worse
than they were before....because you have now given
them another area to form. The pain will be worse and
what will you have gained? Yes, you might have a
couple of months pain free....perhaps even a year or
so (I haven't heard anyone say that it has been that
long when they have had prior surgeries). But, when
it returns and is worse and causes further problems
what have you gained?
Believe me, I can't tell you enough that I have made
these same mistakes. I am not a doctor...but I am
someone that is going to die because I allowed my
doctor to convince me 27 times that I needed surgery.
Not one of those surgeries was to prevent a life
threatening situation...well I must take that
back....I did have a few procedures to correct some
major errors that they made that would have caused my
death if nothing was done. I am trying to reach out
to you and ask you to educate yourself about
adhesions. Read everything there is to read. Read
every story on the quilt. Unless you are seeking
surgery from one of the very few doctors in this world
who has had any success chances are likely that you
will end up worse off. Is this what you want? Why
bother having the surgery? Please think about this:
I am 45 years old. I have one daughter and two
beautiful granddaughters who I adore so much. My life
could end any day and I will be unable to spend
another day with my family. Do you want to have this
happen to you? What about your family? How would
they feel? If you won't think about yourself, think
about them! Each additional surgery that you go
through brings you that much closer to death. If you
don't have a bowel obstruction or another life
threatening condition you don't need the surgery! Ask
your doctor....will I die tomorrow if I don't have
this surgery? How about next week or next month? I
wish that I had looked at each surgery this way. I
wish that I could take it all back. But I can't. The
only thing that I can do is try and prevent each of
you from making the same mistake. I never thought
that I could live with my pain. But I have done so
for three years now. Yes, I am now on morphine, but I
am for the most part pretty comfortable. I would
rather take the narcotics then die because I had one
too many surgeries. I have had 28 since 1991...over
50 in my life...but that doesn't mean that you could
have that many. It doesn't mean that you won't die on
your fifth procedure. I have actually almost died
three times...because of things like my heart stopping
on the operating table. Not to mention the times when
I became critically ill following some of the
surgeries. The only thing I can say is that I don't
want this to happen to even one of you. Please
understand, it isn't about knowing it all...its about
caring and loving.
God Bless,
Karla
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