First time posting on here but Have read at least the first 5 pages and hundreds upon hundreds of post, And can say this is one of the most informative sites that there is about SCS and pain pumps...

Well to begin I failed back surg. long story short I know have chronic pain in my back and all the way down both legs, several doctors later, my newest Doc talked about a Scs and/or pain pump..

I did the Trial for the last week, The first day was bad, but that was expected, day 2,3,and 4 was a lot better, Day 5 was a bad day think one of my leads moved or something, same with 6 and 7,

Anyway, after the doc took them out today, he said he could place the leads in the regular way, or have them implanted in a way where they face my spine, He said the 2nd option is more complicated due to removing more bone from the area and having the leads so close to the spine, and if they ever moved its not something they can fix without going back under...

The reason he mentioned the 2nd type of surg, was because to give me more pain control in my back as the trial didnt seem to help my back pain, it help my leg pain I would say 40 to 50 percent.

But I was just curious if anyone on here has had the 2nd type of surg. done,

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

Welcome aboard this ship full of buzzing buddies!

So, you've made it thru the trial and now comes the big decision. Sounds like you were only able to get a good test run for half of your trial, no back pain relief, and 40-50% relief in legs. This seems a bit discouraging, however, this isn't the end-all. Even though your trial didn't go the greatest, there is still a good chance you'll have success with the permanent.
If you feel confident in your Dr's experience and you have good communication with him, that's a big deal. It is vitally important that he listens to YOU and that he is clear and concise when he explains the procedure to you. Like Mark says, take a notebook and take notes and ask alot of questions. Afterall, this is a very very important decision you are making.

From what you describe, your Dr is explaining to you about the Laminectomy, which is a more involved surgery than the simple "percutaneous" (under the skin) method. If you lead an active life or have a physically demanding job, you'd be doing yourself a favor by going with the laminectomy, which requires removing a small piece of bone so that the paddle leads can be secured very well and there would be aLOT less risk of your leads migrating.

I've seen too many times when a revision becomes necessary for the patient if they opt for the percutaneous method....they end up needing to do the laminectomy afterall. So, in my humble opinion, why not just do the laminectomy in the first place? Mark did a great job of explaining this procedure and the recovery time.

The SCS is notorious for helping cover the pain in the legs, due to peripheral neuropathy/CRPS, radiculopathy, and other conditions. Sometimes it can be a bit more difficult to get relief in the lower back, but it certainly is possible. I'm very happy with my unit. It covers about 75% of my bilateral leg pain (CRPS) and I do get coverage in my lumbar area as well. I had the simple procedure (percutaneously placed leads) and I'm another case-in-point of having to get a revision due to lead migration.

Anyway, it's great to have you with us and I hope you stick around so we can see how it goes for you. The support here is wonderful and it's great to be able to hear others' testimonies. We are constantly learning from one another.

Glad you're here!
Rae

Big welcome to the forum! Mark and Rae are right, write down all your questions and make them answer them all! It's so easy when you are sat in a doctors office listening to what they are saying to 1. Forget what that they have said (I always take someone with me now - 2 brains to take in info is better than one, especially when you are in pain and going through it yourself) and 2. It's SOOOO easy to forget what you wanted to ask them, and it's very difficult to try and get those answers without another appointment.
I'm quite new to the SCS, although I have had CRPS and been in pain for twenty years now.
I had my permanent operation done a couple of weeks ago, and had the laminectomy done. I agree with Rae, if it helps access and may avoid a premature operation to re position the leads it's worth it.
At the moment I'm not getting fantastic coverage down my left leg and foot where my problem is, however they did explain to me that this is often the case after surgery, once the surgery swelling has gone down then it will be easier to program you. I'm waiting for an appointment to go back and be re programmed!

Any questions just ask, as I said I'm new to this but the others are really helpful and have had SCS's for longer. Hope you work out what's best for you

Thank you for the replys, and clearing a lot of this up for me, my wife is a Rn so she is the one who ask's all the questions, and Im the one who forgets most of the time... ( thanks to all the drugs ) but been drug free now for 8 months...

but after all is said and done, Im going to go ahead and do the laminectomy if it helps with the leg pain then it should be worth it, I have another visit in Boston with pain pump doc to see what he says, or what surg. they want to do first..

and the SCS unit is a Boston Sc.

I really don't understand why your doctors over the pond say this will help for back pain .. Mine said it will do nothing for my back pain.

I don't understand why there is so much contradiction. Perhaps it might have something to do with what type of pain. Failed back surgery might be the tough one to cover, whereas arthritic pain (or in my case both arthritic AND slight scoliosis) might be a whole different story. (?)

tpowell - Boston Sci is fantastic....Mark will certainly vouch for that. He can help give you plenty of insight. Also, just wondering if maybe your insurance would have any sayso on which type of procedure to go with, depending on your diagnosis. There's probably a substantial price difference between the two.

Rae

Well, this gizmo with paddles implanted at T8/T9 gives me coverage from the waist, which is above the lumbar spine [except according to the jeans designers of paris, new york, and wherever else they decided the waist was on a human butt], all of the way down. Yup, I've said it before and will say it again, so, all I can do is attest to my coverage. HAPPY with my SELF PROGRAMMED Boston Scientific Precision Plus Spinal Cord Stimulation System!

Yup,
Mark56

WOW. Look at the initials on your little buzzing miracle!

SPBSPPSCSS

Well ain't that pretty cute! Glad my parents did not name me that..... can you imagine how the Drivers License would look?


Hardy Har Har Har,
spbsppscss
Do you reckon I could get that on a license plate for the car? Nah, it would be wider than the car....... Then I would have to purchase over width permits and all of that fuss.