Nervous...scared...anxious...

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inkjunkie

inkjunkie

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....but it was all for nada...
stimulator.jpg

today is the first day of my spinal cord stimulator trial. Hurt, badly, walking into the place. Had meeting with the Medtronic rep, several of the pain clinics staff and headed to the back. Was done in under 30 minutes. Doc said it took a bit longer due to the fact that I agreed to be part of a trial for another company. This second companies protocol requires that the leads be sutured into place so he had to make a small incision and put a titch or two over the cut.
For what this is worth...the only pain I am in right now is from where the doc was digging around in my back. Can't feel any of my normal pain...hmmm......
 
I wish you luck. "They" have no idea what might be causing my pain
 
I pray it works for you, I sure know the feeling of back pain, I've been trying to get the nerve up to have my surgery.
 
So is "that" like to be worn full time?
 
Well call you "Steve Austin, The Bionic Man!" Hope it helps with whatever you got.
 
I hope you get some relief. Chronic pain is a real mother bear. This has been going on long enough. You've paid the toll. Time to get some real pain relief. Hope this happens.
 
Sounds like a good thing, no pain.
Fingers crossed for you!
 
RustyRatRod said:
So is "that" like to be worn full time?
Click to expand...
It is the trial unit. If my pain level subsides, and my activity level increase then I will be scheduled for the permanent one. The permanent one uses a much smaller battery/controller. It is implanted under my skin. Past few weeks getting up from a seated position has been VERY painful. Much to my surprise, tonight not so much. I don't feel my regular pain right now, just where he was working on my back getting the electrodes in. He struggled quite a bit, he could see I had some lesions on the images they were using to guide the way. He said the lesions very well may have been caused by the epidurals I had.
I was told to expect my trial to last 7-10 days. Sasha, the Medtronic rep, will be calling me daily to see how I am doing. The length of my trial, as well as the final call on the permanent one, is up to her. I was told by one of the docs staff members that these trials always start on Thursdays. The ones that go well end on the following Monday, simply because the device is either going to work or it is not. I did volunteer to be involved in a case study for a different company that is "testing the waters" in regards to spinal cord stimulators. Not real sure I am going to thru with it just yet, kinda want to see how I feel after a couple of days of this thing.
Really wish they would have put this thing on my right side as I sleep on my left side...so I am not expecting to get a whole lot of sleep over the next few days.
 
inkjunkie said:
It is the trial unit. If my pain level subsides, and my activity level increase then I will be scheduled for the permanent one. The permanent one uses a much smaller battery/controller. It is implanted under my skin. Past few weeks getting up from a seated position has been VERY painful. Much to my surprise, tonight not so much. I don't feel my regular pain right now, just where he was working on my back getting the electrodes in. He struggled quite a bit, he could see I had some lesions on the images they were using to guide the way. He said the lesions very well may have been caused by the epidurals I had.
I was told to expect my trial to last 7-10 days. Sasha, the Medtronic rep, will be calling me daily to see how I am doing. The length of my trial, as well as the final call on the permanent one, is up to her. I was told by one of the docs staff members that these trials always start on Thursdays. The ones that go well end on the following Monday, simply because the device is either going to work or it is not. I did volunteer to be involved in a case study for a different company that is "testing the waters" in regards to spinal cord stimulators. Not real sure I am going to thru with it just yet, kinda want to see how I feel after a couple of days of this thing.
Really wish they would have put this thing on my right side as I sleep on my left side...so I am not expecting to get a whole lot of sleep over the next few days.
Click to expand...

Doug, that's fantastic! I sure hope this trend continues!
 
So your name must be "Gildan", see it's written on your undies.


Best wishes to you, I hope it works and really helps you.
 
That is fabulous news! Pain sucks. Especially back pain. I have three bulging discs that wake me up every night pretty much without fail, I can't imagine living with worse.
 
God bless brother. Back pain has got to be the worst. Nothing feel good with that type of pain. Had a couple cracked vertebrates a few years ago, I was miserable and so was everybody around me. That was a short term injury, can't imagine pain any longer than that.
 
inkjunkie said:
Doc said it took a bit longer due to the fact that I agreed to be part of a trial for another company. This second companies protocol requires that the leads be sutured into place so he had to make a small incision and put a titch or two over the cut.......
Click to expand...

Glad to hear that your pain is mostly gone... :thumbsup:

Did the doc make a circular incision???? (Refer to video below - LOL!!!) :lol:

 
I am in tears right now. For the first time in 35+ years I do not hurt....other than the incision. I can actually stand up straight. Absolutely amazing...
 
inkjunkie said:
I am in tears right now. For the first time in 35+ years I do not hurt....other than the incision. I can actually stand up straight. Absolutely amazing...
Click to expand...
My daughter had one installed at age 15, mixed results and doesnt even use now...hope it goes well for you!!
 
Just please be careful with the new you Doug. You have confidence in yourself like my dad, aunt, doctors, & lawyers.-They make the worse patients because when they start feeling better, they figure they are better off than all of the physicians warnings. Aunt had had artificial knee surgery, and started running again against doctors orders because she felt so good, same with dad with his heart surgery-he was risking people’s lives out driving before he was supposed to even move around a bunch.

I am afraid that you could go back a few steps if and when this alleviates most of your pain if you over exert yourself afterwards.

Best wishes & GOD bless you and your family. How has the wife been doing? I know she had some struggles.
 
greymouser7 said:
Just please be careful with the new you Doug. You have confidence in yourself like my dad, aunt, doctors, & lawyers.-They make the worse patients because when they start feeling better, they figure they are better off than all of the physicians warnings. Aunt had had artificial knee surgery, and started running again against doctors orders because she felt so good, same with dad with his heart surgery-he was risking people’s lives out driving before he was supposed to even move around a bunch.

I am afraid that you could go back a few steps if and when this alleviates most of your pain if you over exert yourself afterwards.

Best wishes & GOD bless you and your family. How has the wife been doing? I know she had some struggles.
Click to expand...
Oddly enough the entire staff at the docs office, Sasha, the Medtronics rep and Nick (?) the rep from the other company advised me of the same thing. Sasha told me that she has had dozens of folks not do real well with the trial for the simple fact that the day after the trail unit is put in, the patient feels like they are 18 years old again and go out and do all sorts of things they should not. Ernestina is watching me like a hawk. Every time she hears my computer chair move she sticks her head out of her little sewing area to check on me. I went to get dressed, she followed me into the closet and told me to sit my *** down, that she would help with my pants and shoes.
I am well aware that this device is nothing more than a way to manage my pain. That even though I may not "feel" anything the damage is still there. We have a plan, of sorts. If I do well with the stimulator trial I am going to my damnedest to get off the narcotics....even if it means I have to endure a fair amount of pain. The reason I want to get off of the oral meds is so that I can get a pain med pump put in. In speaking with the surgeon that refused to cut on me because he knew it would not go well he told me that the pain pump is a far better way to manage the pain than oral meds...he said for one the medication is injected into the area where the pain is being generated so I will not be in the narcotic induced fog I am in. He also said that the dosage is micro-grams instead of milligrams.
 
Doug, will you be able to do any strength exercises to regain some of the strength you have lost or is that a dangerous line to dance around???
Can you take baby steps in this direction? Would you?
 
inkjunkie said:
Oddly enough the entire staff at the docs office, Sasha, the Medtronics rep and Nick (?) the rep from the other company advised me of the same thing. Sasha told me that she has had dozens of folks not do real well with the trial for the simple fact that the day after the trail unit is put in, the patient feels like they are 18 years old again and go out and do all sorts of things they should not. Ernestina is watching me like a hawk. Every time she hears my computer chair move she sticks her head out of her little sewing area to check on me. I went to get dressed, she followed me into the closet and told me to sit my *** down, that she would help with my pants and shoes.
I am well aware that this device is nothing more than a way to manage my pain. That even though I may not "feel" anything the damage is still there. We have a plan, of sorts. If I do well with the stimulator trial I am going to my damnedest to get off the narcotics....even if it means I have to endure a fair amount of pain. The reason I want to get off of the oral meds is so that I can get a pain med pump put in. In speaking with the surgeon that refused to cut on me because he knew it would not go well he told me that the pain pump is a far better way to manage the pain than oral meds...he said for one the medication is injected into the area where the pain is being generated so I will not be in the narcotic induced fog I am in. He also said that the dosage is micro-grams instead of milligrams.
Click to expand...
One step at a time...slowly and deliberately. This is a marathon, not a sprint.

Of course, you know that. But sometimes it needs to be spoken outloud to reinforce what you already know.

Wishing you the best Doug, stay steady and firm to get to where you want to go.
 
greymouser7 said:
Doug, will you be able to do any strength exercises to regain some of the strength you have lost or is that a dangerous line to dance around???
Can you take baby steps in this direction? Would you?
Click to expand...
I have told both the doc that is working with me on the stimualtor and my primary care doc that if this works, prior to me starting, or attempting to start, lowering my narcotics dose I want to go the PT so I can learn some stretching exercises that will be safe for me to do. I have a lot of other problems, one of them the pain clinic will be addressing after the stimulator is all said and done. I have been told by numerous docs that I need to avoid any and all impact type of activities. Couple of them have told me no more motorcycles....of which I have taken a we shall see stance.
Truth be told I just want to get off of the narcotics. I fully understand the medical difference between dependency and addiction...but I also feel that the line between the two can be blurred...which I feel I have done.


Ddaddy said:
One step at a time...slowly and deliberately. This is a marathon, not a sprint.

Of course, you know that. But sometimes it needs to be spoken outloud to reinforce what you already know.

Wishing you the best Doug, stay steady and firm to get to where you want to go.
Click to expand...

Thank You...and you could not be more right...this is a marathon, not a sprint. I need to crawl before I walk and walk before I run...well...you get the point...lol...
Ernie is really keeping an eye on me. We are having a bit of a snow storm. I mentioned wanting to go out for one more walk today...she in the least smart *** way possible asked me if I realized it is dark out...and we have several inches of snow on the ground. I have headlight I use for when I clean my camera bodies...the only way she would agree to me going out again is if I wear it.
 
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