Wow. When I was copying over all the posts from the drupal install to this one I noticed that it has been quite some time since I updated you all on the progress of my surgeries.

Let me go look at where I left off… okay here we go. Read the rest of this entry…

Yeah I think so. I turned on the IPG unit earlier because my legs were in more pain and I was feeling the stimulation up my left side this time. It goes almost up to my armpit in front and back. Monday I will have to get in touch with the Doc and go from there. I probably don’t need to tell you that this is getting more than a little depressing and frustrating.

Forgot to update you all on the status of my surgery and recovery…I ended up having a second surgery. Yeah I know, already. They had to go back in and pull the lead on the right side of my spine back down. It had moved up my spine approximately 3 inches. I knew something was wrong when I turned the unit on and I was feeling the stimulation in my abdomen and chest rather than my legs. The surgeon must have tied it off better this time because it is still working properly now, a week later.
I have not had to have the unit on all day, every day. I am finding that if I use it on the really bad days, even if it is a couple in a row, I have less pain and virtually no need to turn the unit on for a couple of days. I am hoping that this means that eventually I will be able to have it removed. For now, I am just happy having a relief from the pain.

It has now been a week since the surgery and I am mostly healed. I still have some back pain from the incision point down to the waistband of my jeans area. The bad thing is that the leads in my spine seem to have moved. Now when I turn the unit on I feel the stimulation in my abdomen and back but not in my legs. Figures, it is raining today and the pain is bad and now I can’t even get the relief that this device was supposed to give me. I think that this might mean another surgery where they will have to screw the leads into my vertebrae instead of leaving them floating around in there.

On a good note…I got my new teeth the other day. Here is a horrible pic:

new teeth

They fit really well and I only need to use 3 small blobs of fixodent on the bottom plate. Eating is quite a chore. The teeth were made in such a way as to get rid of my underbite and as a result the way that I bite down is not the same that it has been the rest of my life. It is going to take some time to get used to chewing in a new way.

Today is the day. In fact I have to be at hospital in a little more than an hour. My nerves are on edge. If this was an implant that would hook me into the internet with a screen image in my left eye I would be thrilled, ecstatic and severely impatient. Instead I am feeling nervous and worried about the scalpel that will be parting my flesh. I have never had a scalpel touch, never broken a bone and never had a serious injury of any sort. Today is a banner day for me. I may be out of commission for the next few days but I will post here on the results as soon as I am able.
Wish me luck.

I finally have a date for the surgery, March 30th. I met with the general surgeon that will be implanting the battery/control pack and things are all set to move forward with this. I am a little nervous about it but overall I guess I am looking forward to living in a pain-free world again. I can’t even describe the amount of relief that I got from the trial pack and can only imagine that the relief from the permanent implanted version will be even better. So, on the 30th of next month I will be Robo-Hippy/$40,000.00 man.

It is offical. I will be getting the spinal cord stimulator sometime soon. Have to see the surgeon to go over the procedure and get final approval from the insurance company. I am guessing that by the end of next month (February) I should have been turned into Robo-Hippy…aka the $40,000.00 Man. LOL

Some “fun” stuff coming up in the next couple of weeks.

On the 29th I go in for a lumbar MRI and bone scan on my legs.

On the 10th I am going in the hospital to have every tooth pulled.

On the 26th of November I go back to see the neurologist for a follow up about the bone scan and MRI.

I am not entirely sure now that I will be getting the SCS implant that I have talked about in the past. The results of these tests will determine the course of treatment.

Oh and I have had to retain an attorney for an appeai to Social Security about disability. I guess the lack of ability to walk is not good enough reason for disability.

Enough for now. My brain is far too scrambled to keep any semblance of coherent thought for more than a few minutes at a time.

Here is an X-ray of my spine with the lead in place. You can see the contacts that provide the electrical stimulus.

This is a scan of the lead that was put into my spine. You can see, in the darker region, the contacts that sent out electrical impulses to fool the nerves and the brain into not feeling the pain from my legs. I know it’s hard to tell but this thing is about 20 inches long and about 4 or 5 inches of it was inside my back.