[mollymcn]

Question: has anyone had a spinal cord stimulator trial or implant done by a Dr Lopresti in NJ or PA? I am taking my friend for another trial after her 1st trial was botched by an anesthesiologist here in Rochester NY.

The botched 1st trial (for the curious) problems were: (1) The lead in the 1st trial wasn't secured to the spine well enough for the stim to actually stimulate her nerve, so it floated around stimulating randomly on and off until the 6th day of the trial when she had it adjusted. Then the doc insisted on taking it out on the 7th day (A Friday) so she didn't have more than 24 hours to really evaluate it. It did work fantastically well for those 24 hours! (2) Plus, despite my personally warning the doc and nurses during pre-op about her blood sugar and body temp problems, during the surgery her blood sugar dropped down to 35 and her temp shot up to 102... (3) When she called the following week to ask if he would use a different attachment technique for the permanent implant, and showed him a medical journal article about a stronger technique, he blew up at her [How dare you question me, you know nothing, etc]. Needless to say we're not going back to HIM.

So, her PM recommended Lopresti. Anyone heard of him? Other suggestions?
She is out of time to wait, has tried everything else short of ketamine coma, and her vitals are now failing because her central nervous system is starting to shut down [unable to regulate blood pressure, temperature, enzymes, adrenalin, kidneys and digestive system affected, brain atrophy, losing language, movement initiation, etc]
I would really appreciate your advice and support. I am feeling frightened and desperate but I am her support person so i have to manage this quickly and strongly and well.