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I’m so glad the wrist pain is gone, and I’ll sure be holding a good thought for the stimulator. Wouldn’t that be wonderful!!

Tomorrow is my big day folks. Proceeding with the spinal cord stimulator trial.
I will likely be out of commission the biggest part of the day so any new account posts will be a bit late being approved.

Please try to play nice together while I am gone.... I don't want to come back here and see another mess like I did Tuesday after the bad stomach bug I had Monday.
If you don't play nice....I am going to send that stomach bug your way and trust me...you don't want it.

Cross your fingers for me. I am still on the fence a bit but the odds are 50/50 apparently and considering I know what it is like without at least trying....I am going to give it a try.

Will be leaving the house about 6 AM...have no idea when I will get home but probably late afternoon.
I will be getting the "I don't care what you do to me drugs"....twilight sedation.

I promise to be good, and I will have my fingers crossed for your procedure. Enjoy the twilight!

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 29, 2021 7:15 pm

Will be leaving the house about 6 AM...have no idea when I will get home but probably late afternoon.

well, that right there is reason enough to avoid this procedure!

6 am?

<shudder>

zonker wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 29, 2021 9:14 pm

well, that right there is reason enough to avoid this procedure!

6 am?

<shudder>

Oh man, you know I am not, nor have I ever been, a morning person.
But in a way it's better...less traffic and I am close to the first procedure I think and this way I can get home earlier than later and give things a chance to see how well it works or not.
It's going to be removed Monday AM so I have a short time to come up with a decision about doing it permanently. This way there is a little more time to evaluate things. Removal is done in the doctor's office and supposedly no big deal.

I have talked to a lot of people and several doctors about it just for general feelings about it and there were a few negative reports but more positives. It's like everything else with medical care...no guarantees and not perfect for everyone.

And happy people are less apt to comment--one way or the other.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 29, 2021 10:06 pm

zonker wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 29, 2021 9:14 pm

well, that right there is reason enough to avoid this procedure!

6 am?

<shudder>

Oh man, you know I am not, nor have I ever been, a morning person.

i can dig it. and you know i'm teasing. had to see a doc recently and had setup the appointment for mid january at 1pm or so. an opportunity came up to see him before christmas at 8am. i decided to take it instead of worrying about it longer.

turned out good. some how, i was MORE alert than i thought i'd be.

wishing you the best on this. you deserve to live a life with less pain.

good luck!

Pugsy, I'll be praying for you, that all goes well, and that you get good pain relief. You know that our hearts are with you.

Pugsy -- I'll be thinking of you tomorrow. Hope all goes well and you are the perfect candidate for this procedure.

L

Pugsy's away time to play. What should we argue about ? So
Clean, distilled water, politics, pr grumpy demeanor ? No don't send the Aliens.... ahhhhh. JK. Hope all goes well, Pugsy. Wishing you all the best.

I am home. Things went well. Got to have a chat in the waiting room with a guy coming in to have his trial removed.
Helped answer a lot of questions I had and a chat with someone who directly had experience was priceless. A lot better than "I know someone who knows someone who had it done kind" of thing.
I am a bit tired now (just had a nap) mainly from not enough sleep last night since I was nervous last night and had trouble falling asleep and then of course getting up at 5 AM totally sucked as I was sleeping REALLY good at that time. 4 hours of sleep and I just feel like crap anyway.

It's weird...I don't feel anything except the bandages a bit. The spinal cord stimulator thing is on 24/7 except they advise to turn it off when driving. Of course can't drive today after getting the happy juice anyway.
Too soon really to know much. There is some discomfort from the incisions made in the lower back to thread those leads up to the upper back. Can't tell about pain relief yet since I haven't really moved since laying down and the guy I talked to in the waiting room said don't expect much the first day (today). He said his first day sucked due to the procedure itself discomfort but the next day he woke up a totally new man. He's ready to get the ball rolling on the permanent placement.

If I move a bit weird I can sometimes feel a little tingling....like a very low intensity tens unit. This is because some movement of the leads can happen in term of relationship of the leads to the nerve receptors. If moving a little doesn't make it go away I have a little remote control where I can lower the zapping level. I don't have to go through 24/7 getting zapped to the point where I feel it.
But I am getting zapped 24/7... It's a set it and forget it thing....I just don't feel the zapping unless I move a bit weird.

I do plan to go outside after a bit and take a little walk and see what happens because walking is one of my main pain things I have trouble doing. That's where the real test will come in.

Right now I am just being lazy and hanging out.

All fingers crossed... hope it works!

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 30, 2021 2:45 pm

I do plan to go outside after a bit and take a little walk and see what happens because walking is one of my main pain things I have trouble doing. That's where the real test will come in.

Right now I am just being lazy and hanging out.

very happy to hear things went so well! here's hoping the walk goes smoothly.

Quick update.

Got the leads removed this morning which was uneventful.
Procedure wound is still extremely tender. They say " a little pinch" and I say "little pinch my ass...it's frigging big pinch and they stuck a pointy knife in it and broke off the tip".
I have run a low grade temp since the procedure...so felt a bit yucky from that. No signs of infection...just the body's reaction to foreign material in the spinal column most likely.

The goal of 50% reduction in pain to qualify for insurance was easily met. Depending on what I was doing the pain was probably relieved from 75 to 90% with the primary problem I have with walking seeing that 90% reduction.
Didn't help with sleeping liked I hoped but it's kind of hard to sleep laying on a pointy knife broke off in your lower back.

The one area it didn't really help much with pain was sweeping the floor. Actually that wasn't a big surprise either.
The SCS helps with nerve pain but doesn't help with muscle pain and sweeping the floor doesn't do so great on the muscles of my lumbar spine which are all screwed up because of the overall arthritis and scoliosis.

Hubby says he can tell it helped a lot. I wasn't nearly as grouchy and didn't bite his head off so much.
And my main goal of walking and not being in so much pain that I waddled like a 10 month pregnant woman....easily met.

Next I have to call the neuro surgeon and go see him....I have further questions about the surgery I need to ask him and then we have to get insurance approval and all those hurdles. None are things that are quick.
I will call his office sometime this week and get that ball rolling.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. But it's a long tunnel.