Quote:
Originally Posted by twinmom
Hi, I am new to this thread and am exploring the option of a scs. Here is my story; I am 38 and about 18 months ago I was in an auto accident and suffered a L-1 burst fracture with retropulsion (bone fragment schrapnel) into my spinal cord. I had emergency surgery ater the accident which resulted in a spinal fusion from T-11 through L-5 including 2 12 inch rods, 24 screws and a 4 inch cross stabelizing bar at T-12.
Since the accident I have unyealding leg pain in both legs however worse on the right with associated neuro deficits and severe back pain from both the initial injury and the extensive hardware. I have tried just about every medication combination that you can think of from duragesic patches to oral meds, etc and after all kinds of complications I discontinued ALL medication in March of 2010 and since that time I just "live" with it. On a scale of 1 - 10 I can not remember a day since my accident that is less than a 7 from both leg and back pain and I am discouraged, depressed and dispondet about the pain.
At the time of my accident I had 15 month old twin boys and worked full time in the Emergency room and now I am unable to walk more than 50 to 100 feet every 3-4 hours and can not sit for more than 20 to 30 minutes at a time before I have to lie down. My sleep pattern is awful and I get fractured segments of sleep for 20 to 30 minutes at a time before pain causes me to wake and switch positions. I had been told a year ago that due to the free floating bone fragments in and around my spinal cord and the extensive hardware I was not a candidate for a SCS. I recently had additional tests and met a new pain doctor that feels I could be a candidate because the damage in my back is as "healed" as it is going to get.
I am afraid to get excited but amexcited to learn that there may be a light at the end of the tunnel, even if it is the light from a single match! at this point I will take it! I am curious about your experience; what was your stim surgery recovery like, what brand do you have, why have some people had more than one, have you tried a pain pump? if yes which worked better for you, is there anyone out there with similar injuries that has a stim? THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!
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Hi Twinmom, welcome to our group
I am so sorry about your pain and your car accident. I have had my stim (Boston Scientific) since 2008, and I had to get mine because of injuries I got from a car accident. My injuries were different than yours because it happened because I had just had back surgery for a herniated disk the summer before my accident and there was scar tissue from it wrapped around the nerve and when I got hit (multiple times) it ended up causing nerve damage. I was in constant pain in my lower back and both legs and I went through injections, meds, physical therapy, etc. but we finally did the trial scs and I was able to get relief. After the trial I then had the permanent one put in and it totally gave me back my life because I was able to walk all over campus and I was not on any pain meds anymore (now it took awhile to get to that point). I was unable to do any spinal surgeries to fix the nerve because they said it would cause me to be paralyzed so the stim was my last resort! Ihad to have a revision in 2009 because my leads moved and was okay until I fell last September. I have to have another surgery for my stim though because my leads moved after a fall and they need to change things so I can get it working right again. The surgery itself was not too bad, I have had many surgeries and I think the most painful one was my hysterectomy. You just have to becareful of limitations as you heal so the leads scar into place and I went back to school in about a month. But everyone's experience is different and the surgery I am going to have is to put in the paddle leads which are supposed to stay in place more than the other leads they have done, it is a big concern for me because I fall when my legs go numb. I will say though make sure you have a really good pain doctor that you trust because I have had to change mine and I am so thankful I did! That is my experience and I hope it has helped a little bit. If you have any questions feel free to ask! I definitely think you should consider the trial though because it might be able to help you! I don't know anything about pain pumps, just the stim. I am sure others will share with you their experiences too. Take care
'sTara.