Mesh ordeal: ‘The humiliation is awful’
Jodene Kyne does not shy away from talking about the ‘‘embarrassing’’ sexual dysfunction and incontinence she’s suffered since undergoing a mesh procedure in 2017.
Kyne goes through every issue in detail, like she’s recited it over and over again.
And she has, several times to ACC which she says forces her to repeat her health issues like they’re trying to ‘‘call her out’’ on a lie – a problem she believes meshinjured victims face when trying to claim state funding for treatment.
‘‘I had problems straight after I had the mesh implant. I was in terrible agony, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t move. I felt like I had a cheese grater inside of me,’’ Kyne said. She ended up with nerve damage which means she can’t ever have sex, and incontinence which means she now has to wear adult nappies, despite the mesh being removed in 2018.
‘‘My grandson says I wear the big pull ups like his pull ups .... the humiliation has been awful.’’
Kyne is just one of thousands of New Zealanders who have experienced complications from surgical mesh procedures.
Mesh implants are used in surgery to strengthen weakened internal structures. But the implants have resulted in stress urinary incontinence (SUI), pelvic organ prolapse and hernias for thousands of patients.
Complications from surgical mesh, including nerve damage, severe pain, and infection, can occur if the mesh erodes or becomes displaced. And can continue even after the mesh has been surgically removed.
Kyne was initially delighted to be given the mesh procedure, carried out to repair a botched hysterectomy in 2013. However, things went wrong straight away.
The painful symptoms from the hysterectomy never got better and Kyne desperately fought to have the mesh removed. But this made matters worse.
‘‘They removed the mesh and my incontinence went way worse.’’
Kyne is one of thousands of mesh-injured struggling to get ACC funding for corrective surgery.
Stuff understands all declined ACC claims related to meshrelated injuries will be reviewed next year.