Parker214 - I am unfortunately in the same boat you are in. I have a Medtronic's unit that was implanted on Christmas Eve, so I've had it for four months now. For the first month I got great coverage - 60-75% pain relief. Then it all started to change. Over the next two months I had many reprogramming sessions with two different reps, and I kept telling them that something wasn't right - my pain relief was decreasing, and my pain level was increasing. I met with my pain management doctor twice over those two months, and told him the same thing as well. At the urging of my reps, I called Medtronic's and discussed my issues with them. Finally everyone agreed that I needed to go back to my neurosurgeon for X-rays to see what was going on.

The result? My leads have definitely migrated, and I am now set to have the paddle/laminectomy surgery on June 11 (travel plans at the end of May prevent me from having it sooner). Like you, my doctor wanted to go with the least invasive surgery first, even though I asked him about the paddles/laminectomy from the very beginning.

I'm sorry that I can't give you any insight into having this surgery after having the first one, but I will be very interested to follow your experience, as perhaps your experience can be helpful - and hopefully encouraging - to me!

Now what I can tell you is that I did have a lumbar laminectomy in 2010 (not related to a spinal cord stimulator). Out of all the surgeries I have had - and I'm including the cervical fusion I had last year - the laminectomy was, by far, the most difficult recovery for me. It was tough. I'm sure that it's different for everyone, but I'm going into my paddle/laminectomy surgery with that info tucked in my back pocket, so that hopefully I will be a little more prepared this time around, at least in terms of my expectations.

Please do keep us posted with your surgery and recovery - thinking good thoughts for you!

=Becky