Napier woman has surgical mesh removed in US

Jacqui Scott has had her two surgical meshes removed in the US. Photo / Duncan Brown

Napier woman Jacqui Scott is feeling positive after an operation in the US, but recovery will be a long road.

Fitted with two surgical meshes after a violent rape at her home in 2005, the 62-year-old had been battling ACC to have them removed, following extreme post-surgery side effects.

However, no one in New Zealand was qualified to extract the devices and she had to raise $138,000 for surgery in the United States.

It was a long wait but on August 2, Ms Scott boarded a plane bound for California, and in doing so entered the next phase of her life.

Surgery has gone ahead and she was recovering in UCLA's Triverton Hotel, where she will stay until a doctor deems she's strong enough to fly.

"I need to stay to get my bladder and bowels working properly, I have a lot of stitches so it will take a while to heal and it's no use me coming home until it settles down a bit [as] it's a long plane ride home," she told Hawke's Bay Today from California.

Ms Scott would be grateful for any donation people could make toward her accommodation and living expenses, as she is now expected to stay longer than first thought.

Despite meeting fellow mesh survivors as well as regular visits and phone calls from people wishing her well, she said she missed Hawke's Bay and its familiar comforts.

"I'm very home sick ... but I have some support from the California mesh ladies."

In May the parliamentary health select committee read a written submission calling for the Government to open an urgent inquiry into surgical mesh in New Zealand.

And the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is also seeking some mesh implants to be reclassified as "high risk".

To donate to Ms Scott, visit givealittle.co.nz/cause/jacqui