Sorry I'm so tardy in getting back to your very important question:

I'm now on my 2nd morphine pump and I'll tell you, they literally gave me back my life - ironically I didn't know it till after my battery died on my first one after 5 1/2 years of service. Because of additional pending surgeries, I had to wait 4 months before my second pump was installed, and wow was that the longest 4 months of my life.

As far as it working, there's only one way to find out. Let the doctor order the overnight stay in the hospital so they can run the test and see if it will work. You're going to know right then on the spot if this will work. When I had my test, I was bawling in tears it felt so good to have the pain ease up that much. Four hours later the pain returned and I'll tell you I was crushed.

Morphine pumps are no silver bullet. They don't get rid of all the pain, but they do moderate it so you don't have the horrible increased levels you're experiencing now.

As far as getting them paid for, they don't come cheap. My first one cost $20,000 and my second one was $30,000. Refills are over $1,500 a pop, but as long as the documentation is in place I know that most insurance will pay for it including Medicare. While there are some who claim they're no big deal as far as size and location, I'm not in agreement here. After creating the pocket inside my stomach for it to fit in, I had the second one slide down directly on the belt line so it can be annoying that's for sure - but the benefits outweigh the good, at least for me hence I'm thankful each and every day for this amazing piece of technology that's flowing through my body. All the best and I hope you can finally get some solid relief so you can regain some quality in daily life, Bob.