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I was preparing to make a long post asking for ideas/help (been saying that for weeks but it's ready and I was waiting to Monday since weekends are slower) This

I was preparing to make a long post asking for ideas/help (been saying that for weeks but it's ready and I was waiting to Monday since weekends are slower) This sort of thing ruined my life, cost me everything, and has finally brought me to the precipice. I was convinced 15 years ago to have surgery to "prevent later disability" and it ironically left me disabled and in severe pain. I later found out abroad from several doctors that I never needed the surgery but the catastrophic damage was done, but they did improve things slightly and Ive been trying to get back to live there but cannot. A few years later in some nightmare the "repair" surgeon messed it up far worse and changed the procedure we had agreed on, but I signed the vague forms hurridly shoved in front of me as I was being prepped and legally he as allowed to. I never would have agreed to that procedure he did had I been clearly informed. They got paid...my life got ruined...and things slid downhill from there as systems and people failed me. Now I am facing seemingly insurmountable needs and costs and more surgery which terrifies me and I would never trust having in this country if at all. It's long story that has no TLDR. I am at my wits end and don't know if a comment here is the right place to share whole thing, or if I should make my own post now or Monday...I need as many eyes on it as possible if there is any hope.

colordrops 9y ago
Perhaps you could share the procedures so others would know to be skeptical if they are in the same situation?
- hestipod 9y ago
  The nutshell is don't ever have foot surgery unless it's to repair a catastrophic injury/trauma and there is no choice if you want to save the foot. The risk/failure rates are so high and not honestly explained. I was left with ruined joints, damaged tendons, nerve damage, and RSD that spread up my legs and affects my whole body to a degree. I was misinformed and flat out lied to and have never met someone to this day who had such surgery that was better for it either immediately or in the long run. It ruined my life and I lost everything.
  - TallGuyShort 9y ago
    For what it's worth, I have 2 friends who had knee replacement surgery a couple of years ago to address chronic knee pain, and despite being wealthy and committed enough that they were able to participate in all the recommend physical therapy for recovery, they are both still in more pain than they were before, and 1 of them has actually been getting worse in recent months, and was just told by doctors that based on the images from before his surgery, the surgery they performed was unnecessary and didn't address the root cause of his original pain, and that new imagery showed a lot of damage most likely CAUSED by the surgery. I don't know enough to say, "don't have knee (or foot) surgery", but my limited anecdotal experience really makes me want to see data on such surgeries and how many people feel they are better of because surgery than they would have been with a lifestyle change that avoided a lot of stress on the knee (or foot).
    - hestipod 9y ago
      I dont have references right now but I have continually heard that long term studies have proven that knee (which I have also had that made things worse) and back surgeries (those two common ones have been extensively studied) show no overall improvement in pain years on compared to those who skipped surgery. In fact it is often worse and precipitates new issues. Surgery is a huge cash cow in the US. The ones that are my only option, but am terrified to have given the past, and dont have the stability or money for would cost something like 25,000usd minimum per foot in this country and take 6 months to a year each to recover from with high complication/failure rates AND are likely to exacerbate the RSD. I am guessing based on previous experience it would be maybe 10-15% of that in Poland where I lived before and got excellent care...and that is paying full cash private prices there. I dont want more surgery at all but I can't live like this either. This is what they did to me and the lack of options they left me with. *@astura has linked some in this thread
      - TallGuyShort 9y ago
        It's almost like there's a closely related cash cow incentivized to keep people in worsening chronic pain such that they need pain killers or something.
TallGuyShort 9y ago
>> vague forms hurridly shoved in front of me as I was being prepped and legally he as allowed to One of the many problems when the legal system has just become "formalities" that only get used by the powerful against everybody else. Last time we had a baby the hospital was so prepared they were able to bill us for the entire pregnancy when we arrived for our first prenatal check-up. But somehow they couldn't show my wife the forms that waived her right to sue the hospital, her agreement to pay whatever they billed her regardless of correctness of timeliness until she was dilated to an 8.
- pjc50 9y ago
  > somehow they couldn't show my wife the forms that waived her right to sue the hospital, her agreement to pay whatever they billed her regardless of correctness of timeliness This really ought to be illegal. It's continually amazing how the US has seemingly no effective consumer rights organisations.
  - _emacsomancer_ 9y ago
    That would erode rugged individualism though, right?
- conanbatt 9y ago
  > they billed her regardless of correctness of timeliness until she was dilated to an 8. This has to be contestable in court
  - hestipod 9y ago
    I had faith in the legal system to a degree as well before my experiences started. The doctors have more expensive lawyers and theirs and the hospital's insurance and business lobbies have succeeded in getting legal conditions set in their favor. Low award caps making contingency unavailable to clients, short statutes of limitations etc. It's why surgery centers often cluster in certain counties etc. Those places have more amenable courts and juries. It's a LOT harder than people think from TV etc to win at a malpractice case. There are doctors who have negligently killed people still doing surgeries etc and in one case I read the hospital isn't legally allowed to inform patients of his censure and past.
kolbe 9y ago
I think a good solution to this was implemented by Barack Obama: make it illegal for you to not finance in the corrupt and misguided medical industrial complex.
thebladerunner 9y ago
Please do share your story! We need to understand your situation first. I'd suggest a separate post but also link it here.
- hestipod 9y ago
  I thought linking to other self posts was against the rules...is it allowed? I was also advised by several people to post early in the week and morning for best traffic. Friday evening seems the worst time to start new and this post will be dead by tomorrow. I've been agonizing over how and when to post for a while now as it's my hail mary and it is just such an all encompassing misery. Facing actually laying my soul bare and fearing the judgement is making me terribly anxious. I am also panicking over edits and fearing missing the mark or just annoying people with the hopelessness Im feeling even though I've tried to temper it.
  - goblin89 9y ago
    > I am also panicking over edits and fearing missing the mark Maybe you’re already doing this, but if not—having somebody read a draft of your post ahead of publication might help. Sorry about what you had to go through.
nazgulnarsil 9y ago
This won't help with the physical problems, but do check out Shinzen Young's material on pain relief. He describes practices that have helped many many people (known as 'sensory splitting' in the western medical world). I personally went from suicidal from chronic pain to being able to enjoy life due to these practices. https://www.shinzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/art_synopsis-pain.pdf https://www.shinzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/art_synop...
- hestipod 9y ago
  Thanks. I have read Young and many other things during this journey. I have taken bits from all that help to some degree but nothing has been able to "completely change my life" as I see some say happened for them. It IS better than without meditation and other techniques...but its still not something I can keep dealing with along with all the practical issues making it worse.

colordrops 9y ago

Perhaps you could share the procedures so others would know to be skeptical if they are in the same situation?

hestipod 9y ago
The nutshell is don't ever have foot surgery unless it's to repair a catastrophic injury/trauma and there is no choice if you want to save the foot. The risk/failure rates are so high and not honestly explained. I was left with ruined joints, damaged tendons, nerve damage, and RSD that spread up my legs and affects my whole body to a degree. I was misinformed and flat out lied to and have never met someone to this day who had such surgery that was better for it either immediately or in the long run. It ruined my life and I lost everything.
- TallGuyShort 9y ago
  For what it's worth, I have 2 friends who had knee replacement surgery a couple of years ago to address chronic knee pain, and despite being wealthy and committed enough that they were able to participate in all the recommend physical therapy for recovery, they are both still in more pain than they were before, and 1 of them has actually been getting worse in recent months, and was just told by doctors that based on the images from before his surgery, the surgery they performed was unnecessary and didn't address the root cause of his original pain, and that new imagery showed a lot of damage most likely CAUSED by the surgery. I don't know enough to say, "don't have knee (or foot) surgery", but my limited anecdotal experience really makes me want to see data on such surgeries and how many people feel they are better of because surgery than they would have been with a lifestyle change that avoided a lot of stress on the knee (or foot).
  - hestipod 9y ago
    I dont have references right now but I have continually heard that long term studies have proven that knee (which I have also had that made things worse) and back surgeries (those two common ones have been extensively studied) show no overall improvement in pain years on compared to those who skipped surgery. In fact it is often worse and precipitates new issues. Surgery is a huge cash cow in the US. The ones that are my only option, but am terrified to have given the past, and dont have the stability or money for would cost something like 25,000usd minimum per foot in this country and take 6 months to a year each to recover from with high complication/failure rates AND are likely to exacerbate the RSD. I am guessing based on previous experience it would be maybe 10-15% of that in Poland where I lived before and got excellent care...and that is paying full cash private prices there. I dont want more surgery at all but I can't live like this either. This is what they did to me and the lack of options they left me with. *@astura has linked some in this thread
    - TallGuyShort 9y ago
      It's almost like there's a closely related cash cow incentivized to keep people in worsening chronic pain such that they need pain killers or something.

TallGuyShort 9y ago

>> vague forms hurridly shoved in front of me as I was being prepped and legally he as allowed to One of the many problems when the legal system has just become "formalities" that only get used by the powerful against everybody else. Last time we had a baby the hospital was so prepared they were able to bill us for the entire pregnancy when we arrived for our first prenatal check-up. But somehow they couldn't show my wife the forms that waived her right to sue the hospital, her agreement to pay whatever they billed her regardless of correctness of timeliness until she was dilated to an 8.

pjc50 9y ago
> somehow they couldn't show my wife the forms that waived her right to sue the hospital, her agreement to pay whatever they billed her regardless of correctness of timeliness This really ought to be illegal. It's continually amazing how the US has seemingly no effective consumer rights organisations.
- _emacsomancer_ 9y ago
  That would erode rugged individualism though, right?
conanbatt 9y ago
> they billed her regardless of correctness of timeliness until she was dilated to an 8. This has to be contestable in court
- hestipod 9y ago
  I had faith in the legal system to a degree as well before my experiences started. The doctors have more expensive lawyers and theirs and the hospital's insurance and business lobbies have succeeded in getting legal conditions set in their favor. Low award caps making contingency unavailable to clients, short statutes of limitations etc. It's why surgery centers often cluster in certain counties etc. Those places have more amenable courts and juries. It's a LOT harder than people think from TV etc to win at a malpractice case. There are doctors who have negligently killed people still doing surgeries etc and in one case I read the hospital isn't legally allowed to inform patients of his censure and past.

kolbe 9y ago

I think a good solution to this was implemented by Barack Obama: make it illegal for you to not finance in the corrupt and misguided medical industrial complex.

thebladerunner 9y ago

Please do share your story! We need to understand your situation first. I'd suggest a separate post but also link it here.

hestipod 9y ago
I thought linking to other self posts was against the rules...is it allowed? I was also advised by several people to post early in the week and morning for best traffic. Friday evening seems the worst time to start new and this post will be dead by tomorrow. I've been agonizing over how and when to post for a while now as it's my hail mary and it is just such an all encompassing misery. Facing actually laying my soul bare and fearing the judgement is making me terribly anxious. I am also panicking over edits and fearing missing the mark or just annoying people with the hopelessness Im feeling even though I've tried to temper it.
- goblin89 9y ago
  > I am also panicking over edits and fearing missing the mark Maybe you’re already doing this, but if not—having somebody read a draft of your post ahead of publication might help. Sorry about what you had to go through.

nazgulnarsil 9y ago

This won't help with the physical problems, but do check out Shinzen Young's material on pain relief. He describes practices that have helped many many people (known as 'sensory splitting' in the western medical world). I personally went from suicidal from chronic pain to being able to enjoy life due to these practices. https://www.shinzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/art_synopsis-pain.pdf https://www.shinzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/art_synop...

hestipod 9y ago
Thanks. I have read Young and many other things during this journey. I have taken bits from all that help to some degree but nothing has been able to "completely change my life" as I see some say happened for them. It IS better than without meditation and other techniques...but its still not something I can keep dealing with along with all the practical issues making it worse.