Gunny, thanks for the invite to this thread. I do look forward to your updates, I confess I'm a worrier, even for those I don't personally know. NT does that, you form bonds and relationships with people who are out there in the virtual world within the real world. I hope that makes sense. Anyhow, it's comforting to know you're still with us and things are looking up with respect to treatment.

If you're talking bupranorphine give it a chance, like you the first time I tried it, I thought nope, doesn't do a thing, but over time (significant time) I realised it does help but not in the way opioids did, it doesn't wipe the pain completely; nothing will, well nothing that's good or healthy for us long term. But the Bupranorphine /Temgesic has been considerably helpful to me in previous years adjust from taking OxyContin and MSContin and I suffered less withdrawal as I cold turkeyed off of oxynorm. I'm completely devastated within the last 6 weeks I'm back on all those drugs, well over 140mg a day along with Temgesic 4 times a day. I worked hard to get off of the addictive drugs, suffering withdrawal and whatnot, but hey, needs must, so I'm back on them all and off for major spine surgery again mid September. With luck, the op will work and in time I will once again be able to say I'm drug free or minimally on one 0.200mcg temgesic a day with my SCS? That's if they can get the SCS to work well again and it's not damaged in the forthcoming operation. I did request they remove the SCS unit, but they're going in anteriorally so that's a no go.

I didn't mean to waffle so much on your new thread, a thousand apologies. I'm on the FB SCS thread as well.

Hang in there Gunny. Russel is looking a tad grey, our labs are my babies & my lifeline, even though they are service trained for a completely different purpose in life, they look after me with insistence. Black labs tend to show greyness before blondes. How old is Russel, it's clear he adores you and you he.