Rae,

You are absolutely right that it is frustrating to have the doctors rush you in this situation. Cocky – not letting you finish a question – giving you the brush-off – that is all what gives the medical field its bad reputation.

That the Medtronic representative also gave you the little more than time of day is inexcusable. He/she is supposed to be the expert in this deal. She should have taken as much time as necessary to go over the controls with you, and let you know what to expect and what kind of restrictions there were.

You have hit it on the head. This is a major life-long decision, not to mention very expensive for you and/or your insurance and very profitable for Medtronic, the doctor, and the clinic. You need to be able to come to a good conclusion without feeling rushed.

I have contended that post-surgical instructions should always be given before the surgery. Your experience is not atypical. The doctors and other staff are often very hurried and have many other patients scheduled the same day, so they dash through instructions and send you on your way. Thank God my wife was along when I had my stimulator put in. I don’t remember a thing. They were in a hurry to get me up and out, whether I was coherent or not!

A similar thing happened when I had scheduled foot reconstruction. After the operation, when I was spaced out on morphine, had wires and tubes running in and out, and could barely stay awake, the Physical Therapist came in to teach me how to go up and down stairs with crutches. (That could have been done anytime in the previous four months.)

I wonder if you can call your doctor’s office and ask about an extension of the trial. They only want to keep them in for a couple of days because of the risk of infection. Also, the longer you keep it in, the greater the risk if yanking the leads. But, if you have all sorts of weird feelings from the Fentanyl withdrawal, pain from the surgical trauma, and so on, how in the devil are you going to decide that the trial is really working? Maybe you could see if one or two more days would be possible. The trial removal is not a big-deal procedure. Mine was done by a PA as an office visit and took about 15 minutes.

Now, when I had my trial, I could tell it was working right away – at least as soon as the anesthesia wore off. I had all sorts of discomfort, but it was not the same as the RSD pain I was used to. Maybe by this time tomorrow, we will be hearing how good you feel! Good luck with that.


Mike