An update on my recovery following surgery in Germany in January 2002

From: Helen Dynda (olddad66@runestone.net)
Wed Oct 2 12:24:21 2002


It is now approximately 9 1/2 months since I went to Germany to have my surgery (adhesiolysis and abdominal revision) - with Dr. Matthias Korell (Duisburg, Germany) as my surgeon.

On Monday, January 14, 2002 (day before my surgery) I told Dr. Korell I was sure adhesions were the cause of the pain I was experiencing; and I was convinced that adhesions: 1.) had attached my bowel to my peritoneum (in the right lower quarter) and 2.) had also attached my the area of my navel to my omentum and my abdominal wall.

After my surgery on January 15th - and later in the day - Dr. Korell came to my hospital room - and the first words he said to me were: " You were right " - meaning I actually did have adhesional attachments in the two places I had told him about the day before my surgery!! At my second look laparoscopy on January 25th, Dr. Korell applied both SprayGel and Intergel adhesion barriers; and I am convinced that I am still free of pain caused by adhesions!! However, it is still too soon to be able to say that I'm completely adhesions-free. Time will tell!!

The intertissual scarring (entrapped nerves) from the lowest point of my 1970 laparotomy incision continues to be a painful problem for me - and probably will be for the rest of my life; because there isn't any surgical procedure to help remedy this painful problem.

In his August 7th email to me Dr. Korell said: It is sad that there is no improvement in the abdominal in contrast to the intraabdominal adhesions. I have done many abdominal revisions and the outcome was not predictable. None of them get worse, some has experienced a significant improvement. Your description sounds like a still ongoing healing process inside the abdominal wall involving also nerves growing into the scar tissue. I would recommend to see a(nother) pain specialist thinking about local injections for pain relief. The healing should be completed latest after another 3-6 months."

Maybe there is still hope for a lessening of the pain in this area. I have decided I do not want to go the route of " local injections for pain relief." I am not willing to have injections for pain relief; because I've heard they're expensive and they're not risk-free!! I'm not sure if these injections are the same as nerve blocks; but in 1980 I underwent four different kinds of nerve blocks - on four consecutive days - at the Mayo Clinic; and NONE of them helped !!!!

X> Inter-tissual Scarring from a Laparotomy......I posted this on August 13, 2002; and decided to include it with this message. In this message I have given a fairly good explanation as to the difference between adhesions and intertissual scarring.

http://www.adhesions.org/forums/ADHESIONS.0208/0320.html

Instead of injections for pain, I have decided to do everything I can to prevent pain messages from reaching my brain. There is a psychological technique known as distraction. In 1984 I discovered - for the very first time - that I had been using distraction for most of my life - as a coping mechanism to survive as the child of an alcoholic parent. Distraction is a protective technique - and has served me well for most of my life. Distraction is easily learned - and DISTRACTION IS FREE!!!


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