Allright, so the morning arrived. April 9. The day set for my SCS preparative psych eval. All of you who reached out had given me assurances life would go on following the eval. It was just one of those Things to accomplish along the path of pain management.

We were on time. The office was pleasant, decorated in a Southwest motif, complete with waiting room chairs designed for inclusion in any PAIN practitioner's office. You know the kind. Those "I'm gonna wrench the pain from your very SOUL type of chairs. Straight back chairs. The ones with little padding...... and I sat.... for a bit.

Then the doctor came greeting me and he was really very kind in manner, offering me coffee, then escorting me back to his office. And there it was.... the waiting room chair of my dreams. A recliner. Complete with the integrated footrest. The kind EVERY pain practitioner should have in their WAITING ROOMS.

Relaxing, I lay back, levered up the footrest, took every advantage of the comforts readily provided and we started. The perfunctory identification part of the interview proceeded until before you know it, we were passing through the entirety of the litany. All of the questions relating to initial trauma, the follow on care and surgeries, the effect on life pain has wrought, a closely packed barrage of information which felt easy to provide. I felt comfortable discussing what has gone before, because I knew my presence was mandated to help in assessing my need, knowledge, understanding, expectations, hesitations, and state of life realities. Before I knew it, the time for discussion had lapsed. I had given my best.

Next was the followon millieu of questions in a battery of written multi-choice answer blocks. They were OK. At least I am not a practicing professional politician, because questions regarding whether I had ever lied would have presented the ultimate conundrum.

All of a sudden, time had burst me free from the office. It was over. Darn near the last of the hurdles to Trial SCS implant has faded to my past. I didn't mind it after all. Hopefully this doctor concurs with my others.

Now to the insurance company and the pre-authorization. Ball is in the court of doctor/insuror. One step closer. Maybe I will get to go for SCS after all.

Mark56