I'm in love!!
 

Got my trial stimulator today, and LOVE it! It's already buzzing nicely, blocking the pain that was searing down my left leg only a few hours ago. What a wonderful thing! I'm pretty sore at the actual site where they inserted the leads, and kind of drowsy and dazed after a long day, but am feeling so optimistic about this treatment! Yay! The reps from Boston Scientific were great, too.....more than glad to reprogram me when the stim was too much on the right and not enough on the left. What a difference this is making!

One Happy Camper,
Jan :wink:

Hurray!
 

Jan, I just KNEW this was made for you!
You're gonna breeze right thru this.
I was SO happy to see your post!!

:yahoo::You-Rock::trampoline::Head-Spin::Dancing-Chilli:

So happy you're seeing great results. Hope the week continues to dhow you positive results.
For me it's been a miracle , amazing technology. Who knows what we'll continue to see in pain control.

Keep buzzing. :wink:

Sandy kay

Woohoo!
 

That is fantastic!

Bravo. Now behave yourself. Best wishes.

Spine is Right
 

I am SO HAPPY for you!!!! Walk, don't run. OK?
Prayin,
Mark56:hug:zzzzzz

Wonderful news!!! So happy for you!!

All right!! So happy for you! I have my perm for right leg pain and even with some issues with programming, I wouldn't trade it for anything!!

Thanks!
 

Hey Guys & Gals,
Thanks so much for all the encouragement and for sharing the joy about my new temporary SCS! You all are the best. I'm not quite as sore today at the actual injection site, but I have some major muscle spasms on both sides of my lower back, plus a kind of grabbing sensation around my ribs. My rep, Ryan, called today and I told him about it. He said that it's probably mostly because of the injection itself, plus the leads aren't permanent yet and can sometimes produce stim in places other than where you want it. On Tuesday when the dr. did the injection and inserted the leads, it hurt like heck! It was all I could do not to flinch a couple of times. So much for "the happy medicine" that's supposed to make everything nice and numb! I told them, but the doc just said, "I know, hang in there. We're almost done." Oh well, it's still nothing compared to the daily back and leg pain that I had previously! I've had to take pain meds today, but only because of the muscle & rib pain.

When I have my SCS turned on, it pretty much obliterates the nerve pain in my legs!! Hallelujah! I even got out and puttered around the garden a bit today and walked over to get the mail without pain! Tomorrow I'm going to attempt a longer walk and see how it goes. I'm behaving, though....promise! That "BLAST" acronym is very helpful. (No Bending, Lifting, Stretching, Twisting). Guess that means I can't do The Twist quite yet. :Dancing-Chilli:

Semi-Bionic Jan

Bravo. I know you have heard it ad nauseum but you must be careful not to over do just because you are starting to feel relief. Increase you ativity as advised by the doc. Best wishes.

I Guess.............
 

In a different world, you could change your handle to BionoJan :D:D:D:D,
Even so, JavaJan is pretty cool already! Enjoy your temporary stim to the max, and do some gentle things like walk around the neighborhood, visit friends, have fun. I am glad BLAST is helpful to you! That is good.

Prayin,
Mark56:hug:zzzz:)

Solutions....
 

Hmmm.....BionoJan....I kinda like that! Thanks, Mark. I think I'll stick with Java, though, since I'm somewhat of a coffee fiend.

I mentioned the unwanted stim around my ribs. Well, I found a solution, after playing around with the leads a bit. I discovered that if I disconnected one of them from the unit (there are two leads), it got rid of the unwanted stuff, yet still gave me relief in my legs and even a little in the lower back. Yay!! I was a teensy bit disappointed yesterday because I just couldn't find any semi-comfortable position or setting on the SCS. Today I'm still having constant muscle spasms and pain around the injection site, but I guess that's to be expected. I haven't used the SCS much at night, because I haven't needed it as much, plus it's just kind of annoying when I'm trying to sleep. However, around 3 a.m. today I woke up with nerve pain in my left leg, so tried the stim along with my morphine and slept for 2 hours without waking up! That very seldom happens--I'm stoked about it!

I'm very impressed with the Boston Scientific folks! The rep, Ryan, has called me every day, reminding me each time that if anything comes up or if I have any questions, to not hesitate to call them. I told him about unhooking one of my leads and he said that was the perfect thing to do, since it seems that the other lead has migrated up my spinal cord and is producing stim in the wrong place.

Okay...this is getting kind of long, but I just wanted to put any info out there that might help someone else. It's certainly helped me TONS to read through the posts here and find solutions and concerns from others!

Catchin' a good buzz (from my temp. SCS),
JavaJan :trampoline:

Loving it!
 

Seeing your report of the temp stim and your "experimentation" leading to better results. I just hope you are not on that trampoline! :eek:

Yup,
Mark56
you Java fiend you!:hug:

Jan, it's so great to hear your great results! And good for you for figuring out how to relieve the unpleasant stimulation in the ribcage! This will be valuable information for your doctor so make sure you tell him, because this way he'll know to start out a little lower with that lead when placing it for the surgery.

Sometimes the stimulation can be hard when you're trying to sleep. I can leave the one on for my legs at night and by okay but not the one for my wrist because it just gets too strong and it's hard ti sleep. Laying flat on your back, though, will increase the strength of the stimulation a lot. If you're a side sleeper or sleep propped up on a couple pillows it should help.

So glad its working for you. When going to bed I use a nighttime program my rep set up for me and I turn it down very low so I don't feel it around my rib cage.
Good luck.

Sandy

Excellent :)
 

That is fantastic news Jan. I'm so very pleased for you that You find it is really helping. Isn't it the best feeling when you first realise gosh this could be the answer to my prayers!!!!!

When I got my perm stim I thought. Hmmmmmmm its ok I suppose doesn't take it all away. But now two years on I can definitely can say I wouldn't be without it. I can see a different person has emerged in me. More relaxed and definitely happier. it doesn't take all my pain away but what it does is better than nothing at all ;)

So hopefully it won't be long til your permanent one is implanted.

Great news indeed Jan :hug:

Jan...
 

I am wondering about those bad spasms you were having in your lower back. Have they dissipated? Oh I sure hope so. I continue to suffer from these and I know how debilitating they can be.

You've been on my mind alot lately. You've been thru a pretty rough time and I hope you are feeling better?

Caring
Rae
:hug:

Thanks!
 

Hi Rae,

How sweet of you to offer some encouraging words! Yes, the spasms have gotten considerably better since having the trial leads removed. I think it had something to do with the injection itself. When the dr. put the leads in, it really hurt and stayed sore all week. I noticed there was quite a "hole" in my back after the bandages were off. Guess now I can say I'm truly holy....or maybe that would be holey. :winky:

Anyway, I'm doing much better. Still thinking over whether or not I really want to do the SCS permanent implant, though. Guess I'm a big chicken! After having a fusion that ended up making things worse, I'm not real gung-ho to jump into any kind of surgery again. Gotta spend some more time praying about it and researching.

I'm sorry you're having problems with muscle spasms, too. They're the pits! I've found that sometimes an epsom salts bath helps. I'll be praying that you will find some relief.

Big hugs,
Jan :hug:

Hi Jan

So glad the spasms are better.Praying for you to be surrounded by peace love and joy in your decision making.

Sandy kay