Hi there...I am thrilled you have found this place BEFORE your permanent....I did not find this place until six months post op!!

I can only tell you my experience!!! It is a very personal decision I feel based on the amount of pain you can endure and the quality of life you have.

My nerve injury is at L5/S1...on the interior side...deep pelvic pain relieved with rhyzotomies twice a year...tho only for 4 months at a time so I decided on a trial for the SCS
when the lead was stuck in me during the trial...it went EXACTLTY to the "SPOT" that had been throbbing with pain and spasms...I wore it for 5 days...the night of day 3 I rolled in bed and felt a crackle/grind/movement of the lead inside my spine....I am freaking and call my rep...nothing he has heard of before and advises me to go to ER if I feel I need it.
Now the oddest thing is....all the pain is gone...just like it had cut thru the nerve...I mean all the pain is gone!!!
So I have the trial removed and I cannot get time off for two weeks to do the implant surgery...and the pain is still gone!!!....so what to do??? I went ahead and had he implant. As you have read the permanent is not usually as good of results as the trial. My debilitating pain in the one spot has only reappeared three times in the last almost two years. Rest and the SCS help it go away and I use the SCS daily as it does sooth me and help with other aches and pains...so here is the really ironic point.....I now take more meds for the pain from the SCS then I ever took for the back pain.
I did not know what a laminectomy was and that they were going to do that.
let me tell ya---this thing hurts in me...for a year I felt like I had a broomstick in me and my posture is shot and can't lift my arms up too high anymore. The surgery recovery was brutal for me.

I wish I had waited...I did not have good advice or support.....since I have it I use it....when insurance will cover the expense I am looking into removal of it.

Read your eyes out----so much information here and caring people who will be here soon for comments too.

all my best to both of you and sorry for your pain.
Johanna