I hope you like drinking from fire hydrants...... nah, we will not overwhelm you, but you are SURE to be blessed by many many well meaning wonderful hearts who here share their experiences in hope of helping another.

Now, let's talk about this "turn the lead the other way by removing more bone" thingie.... is this for real? Here is what has been an overwhelming blessing to me, and it did not involve rotating a lead, instead I have implanted on my spinal cord the PADDLES of electrodes. Flat electrode embedded items shaped rather like an oar of a rowboat. The electrodes are embedded approx 1 mm apart. The removal of bone is referred to as a laminectomy. The procedure enables good access to the work site in order to place and tie down the paddles. I have never suffered movement of the paddles, the stim has been in 24/7 use since 30 June 2010 and I have resumed full time practice of law..... actually sitting in a desk chair.

Healing from the laminectomy is not too tough compared to the discectomy/laminectomy/fusion I had in 2006, so if you are familiar with such healing as you have had back surgery before..... you can surely endure receiving one of these IF the surgeon feels convinced you can benefit by the implant. Not every implant is a success story. My particular story seems to be rare, and funny thing, I just went to Boston Scientific and checked their site looking for a paddle image example and found their lovely Race for Pain site of patient group blogging. Huh.... I was never informed by them of their site..... almost makes a guy feel left out..... and to think I have written thousands of posts in effort to help people with pain, many talking about Boston Scientific..... Huh....I am speechless.....................................

Well, back to your situation.... you WILL have questions, you are bound to have questions which your doc should answer. WRITE THEM DOWN. TAKE THEM WITH YOU TO THE NEXT APPOINTMENT. The best informed medical decision is one accompanied by the question/answer session with the surgeon. If they know their stuff and realize you will be subjected to a significant life altering procedure if implant is elected, then you WILL be given time for questions. I did it. The more the questions asked, the greater your comfort will be in making that decision only you can make.... whether to pursue the implant.

As for me and my house, we are THRILLED I did this. It has been a wondrous blessing to our lives as a family.

I am here for any questions you ever have, and I have logged a lot of stuff on my thread at http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread117854.html which takes you step by step through the happenings.

God Bless YOU,
Mark56