Hi all! Good News ! So Far.
 

:) Today was my appointment with new doc today and all went well. He wholeheartedly agreed I was most definitely a candidate for the scs.
I am scheduled for trial the 23th of this month unfortunately he only does the trials for three days. Also I am going to have to clarify this but from what I understood from him was that when I come back the 26th if I achieved 50% or better he would install it that day? Like I said going to have to call and clarify that. He also use's paddles says he has had much better success rate with them. On the other hand he has not received the new sure scan model that allows full body mri. Medtronics rep is supposed to contact me thursday during the day sometime. The 13th I am set up for my physic eval. Today was a very long day had all my blood work done,EKG,chest X-ray,and MRI to check and make sure there is enough room in the spinal column for the paddles to fit. Arrived 45 minutes early today in hopes of getting out of there and beating rush hour traffic in Pittsburgh (seeing I live 45 minute drive Northeast of Pittsburgh) my appointment was at 2:45 pm we got home at 8:00 pm so needless to say I didn't have to worry about rush hour traffic. Thankfully our oldest daughter was able to pick up my littlest one at the bus stop before she had to go class tonight (taking her prerequisites to become a radiologist) for us and her boyfriend watched her till we got home. I can honestly say right now it feels like a huge rock has been lifted off my shoulders knowing the ball is rolling in the right direction right now and I'm going to keep my fingers crossed on one hand at all times till it is time for me to have the trail done.

hope
 

Now this is wonderful news!!!
You sure needed a great docor visit to help "keep the faith".

The bouyancy of hope...it is entoxicating...I feel it with you.

Now...deep breath....
You have been so pro active in your journey...trust yourself again...trust your body...trust your mind..trust your guts.

get your journal..make daily entries...columns for pain;meds;exercise;etc
get your fridge stocked...nutrition...hydration..detox
do your exercise...whatever it is ...do it
talk to your support team...family...pastor...rabbi...pets...pillow
the healthier you go in to this.... the better results I will be reading here in the coming weeks.....I (and a lot of others) are traveling this journey with you in our minds with your updates.

I know the relief of pain from a SCS.....I am excited that you will too.
Johanna

Great news! Sounds very promising! I am actually happy to hear your dr uses paddle leads, wish mine had started out with them! Hope all goes well with the trial...keep us posted!

Nanc
:hug:

Hi Johanna
 

Thank you for the info. As for the buoyancy feeling like I said it felt like the world had been lifted off my shoulders yesterday after I finally was finished with all the test. On the drive home I just kept taking deep breaths and exhaling loudly and my wife understood and just looked at me and said it's finally coming together and I can finally see the real you right now. I know its been hard on them both (my wIfe and little girl) for last 3 years total. Because I have been in so much pain or doped up that my quality of life as a humane being felt like it had been just swiftly pulled out from under my feet.

This morning I received a call from Denny who is going to be my Medtronics rep. and we spoke for almost 45 minutes and he also saved me a call to the doctors office today.
He told me that yes that is how Dr. Bursick does his trials is with the paddles for 3 days and the third day you go back if you had 50% or higher (let's shoot for higher :winky: ) Then he installs the permanent one that day. Denny also shared with me that he is glad Dr. Bursick does it this way in the 5 years he's been working with him Dr. Bursick has a 97 % success rate highest in Denny's area. Fingers crossed like I said last night (makes it hard to type though:winky: ) Hopefully I fall into that 97%.

Hi Johanna & Nanc
 

Thank you for the info. As for the buoyancy feeling like I said it felt like the world had been lifted off my shoulders yesterday after I finally was finished with all the test. On the drive home I just kept taking deep breaths and exhaling loudly and my wife understood and just looked at me and said it's finally coming together and I can finally see the real you right now. I know its been hard on them both (my wIfe and little girl) for last 3 years total. Because I have been in so much pain or doped up that my quality of life as a humane being felt like it had been just swiftly pulled out from under my feet.

This morning I received a call from Denny who is going to be my Medtronics rep. and we spoke for almost 45 minutes and he also saved me a call to the doctors office today.
He told me that yes that is how Dr. Bursick does his trials is with the paddles for 3 days and the third day you go back if you had 50% or higher (let's shoot for higher :winky: ) Then he installs the permanent one that day. Denny also shared with me that he is glad Dr. Bursick does it this way in the 5 years he's been working with him Dr. Bursick has a 97 % success rate highest in Denny's area. Fingers crossed like I said last night (makes it hard to type though:winky: ) Hopefully I fall into that 97%.

Hi Nanc
 

I also was happy to find out he uses them also most of the research I've done shows the paddles a less likely to migrate. a little more healing time from what I have heard here in the forum but I look @ this way if it's a road to less pain I'm willing to do it in the long run. Also was happy to find out he uses the adaptive stim unit by medtronics. Unfortunately they have not made the paddles scan safe yet so it I will not be able to do a full body Mri but I'm not going to let that stop the whole process.

I originally had percutaneous leads put in with my cervical and thoracic SCS's. Did not know anything about paddle leads then. In Nov 2011, I ended up having a revision on the thoracic SCS five months after initial implant...changed over to paddle leads. It was a new type of lead and the first time my dr had put them in someone. St Jude rep told me I was the first in VA to get these. Well, I need another revision because they have migrated up and that battery is twisted :(

I have heard the recovery is a little longer. Luckily I did not have to have a laminectomy. Definitely worth it if it helps your pain!!! I wasn't so concerned about not being able to have MRI's any longer. I can still have x-rays and CT scans and that is fine with me :)

Wishing you the best! Keep us posted on your progress!
Nanc
:hug:

Well Mark! You've got a 'GITTER-DONE' doctor that's for sure :cool:
I'm real happy for you that this is moving along so quickly

Nanc and Johanna said it all very well and I too am glad you are getting the paddles right away. So many times a patient will start with the percutaneous leads and then end up having to switch to the paddles.

I totally admire your doctor!

You are in my prayers

Rae
:grouphug:

I'm sorry Nanc. You've persevered so much. We just can't help but wonder how this can happen to us, no matter how careful we've been. It's almost as tho these units have a mind of their own sometimes isn't it.

We'll just stand in faith and believe that this is THE 'once and for all' so that you can put this behind you and live with much less pain.

Caring Always,
Rae
:grouphug: