You said the Magic Words! EYE contact!
Ok! This says alot! I'm so happy to hear your first visit with this specialist went this well and that he has won your utmost respect!
That's the other most important part - if he's well-credentialed and confident in what he does. And you have a very good relationship with your family Dr for all these years. This is all good.
It's always good to have someone with you at these appointments.....a second set of ears during an important appointment such as this can be crucial!

I see you post at the PN forum........wonderful folks there. Just the right amount of mix of very informed people, with a twist of humor just for good measure Humor is such a good thing and you've got it too! But yes, there are those days when it's simply not possible to even smile. Pain can crumble a person from the inside out.

Are you doing ok on the Fentanyl patches so far? They were a LIFEsaver for me when my PN battle was at it's peak. They truly do serve their purpose, so I sure hope they are giving you relief, so you can at least have some semblance of a quality of life. I'm sorry to hear that you've been bedridden for several months tho
The process of getting a SCS or Pain Pump can drag out for months and months, which I'm sure you've surmised by what you've read here.

The first part of the process is getting insurance approval. Since these procedures are so very (VERY!) expensive, there are several steps in getting approval, one of which is the 'Psyche Eval'. If your Dr hasn't brought that up yet, he will, so don't feel intimidated by that. And don't think that HE thinks you are 'crazy'. It's standard protocol and we've all had to do one.
There are detailed posts on this if you go thru the older threads you'll see alot of discussion on this. The psychological evaluation will help everyone to be on the 'same page'. (Everyone, meaning you, your primary care Dr, your Pain Dr, Surgeon, your family support system, your insurance, the manufacturer of the implant and their representative(s))..... There's quite a team effort involved.
So, I'm very happy for you that you've connected with a specialist who looks you in the eye and will listen to YOU. If he's looking out for your best interest, then so far so good

I'm going to log out so I can go take a gander at your website ok!
It's good getting to know you, Sarah Mae, and you'll enjoy the others here at the SCS/Pain Pump forum. Everyone here is so caring and we all look out for each other like one big family. And yeah, we kid around some....just to keep things a wee bit on the light side ......but you know as well as any of us how not-fun chronic pain is.

TTYS
Rae