Originally Posted by yellow

Thanks so much for all of your replies, they really mean a lot to me Sorry that it took so long for me to respond back. Nanc, I am so sorry that yours has spread again as well, and I hope you're able to figure something out to help the pain

I finished the semester of grad school on Thursday, so I now have a lot more free time these next couple weeks! Truly though, I feel so blessed to be in this program, because I know it's exactly where I'm supposed to be and I know that this career path is exactly the right one for me, and it's such a peaceful feeling to know that.

I did go forward with the bier blocks, I'm having my 6th and final one on Friday, and then I don't know what's going to happen after that, if anything. These blocks are lasting longer than any other blocks I've had before, which is very encouraging on the one hand, but on the other hand, this latest one still just lasted 37 hours and then the pain came back to how it was. The RSD has also spread to the bottom of my left foot as well as the ankle, which has been difficult especially with the allodynia, because all surfaces touching the bottom of my foot drive my crazy with pain. I also started back to physical therapy again last week for this, so I'm hoping that will help some with the pain.

My SCS's are both giving me trouble at the same time right now, though, as luck would have it. Remember back in June when my stimulation was cutting in and out and shocking me in my legs? That's happening again. I'm not too worried as my rep was able to easily fix it the last time as it was probably scar tissue that broke free, but I hope there will be enough good contact points left to get the coverage I need after having to work around 2 spots now.

Then my cervical SCS was on 1 bar so I charged it. After about 2 hours of charging it now cannot even turn on at all because the battery went low. I don't understand how it went down? So wish me luck as I try charging it again tonight, and hopefully it'll work this time.

Ahhhh the adventures of having stimulators, right?

Originally Posted by drcandy

Thank you for this post. Reading about your experiences with the SCSs renews my faith in mine. I am so sorry about the scar tissure breaking up. That happens and a good rep should be able to fix it. Many congrats on the educational route you have chosen. I too live in chicago and worked for years in Infant Mental Health and Early Childhood Development. You will always have a job and with what you have and are going thru, you will have empathy and compassion few others have. Good luck and sweet new year to you. drcandy

Originally Posted by yellow

Hmmm if we get creative there must be some way to get rid it, right?

Ultrasounds have been used on me before in PT after other surgeries to reduce scar tissue, but I could see where there would be worry with possibly dislodging a lead. I just hope my doctor has some solution because the one program I can use right now causes very uncomfortable pain in my back, so it's very give and take.

Focusing on the positives for Christmas though- at least I do have one SCS that works for my wrist pain!

Originally Posted by drcandy

Thank you for this post. Reading about your experiences with the SCSs renews my faith in mine. I am so sorry about the scar tissure breaking up. That happens and a good rep should be able to fix it. Many congrats on the educational route you have chosen. I too live in chicago and worked for years in Infant Mental Health and Early Childhood Development. You will always have a job and with what you have and are going thru, you will have empathy and compassion few others have. Good luck and sweet new year to you. drcandy

Originally Posted by yellow

Thank you drcandy for your kind words, they definitely made me smile I hope to see you continue posting around here!


So it's good to know that there are procedures out there. I'm sorry to hear that they didn't seem to work for anyone though. Maybe another reprogramming session will help as well, but if possible, I'd really like to be able to get rid of the scar tissue because if I don't I know it'll just keep causing problems for me down the line. But for now I'll just have to keep waiting until January 8th to see what he says. The waiting game- it's something that all of us have to deal with but I don't think we will ever get used to My doctor only sees patients on Tuesdays so he lucked out this year with how the holidays fell!