Hello,

My name is Julie. I am 52, and have suffered for about 15 years with absolutely debilitating back pain. I have a couple of ruptured disks around L4 and 5, and loads of nerve pain. After being dependent on opiods (oxy, roxy, vic, diladud, you name it), walking with a cane since I was 35, and have procedure after procedure (over 30) trying to fox the problem, My pain management specialist suggested that I try a SCS made by Boston Scientific. My trial period was absolutly wonderful. I saw a 60 to 70% reduction in both my pain, and the drugs I had to take on a daily basis. I was able to do things that I havent in years...... (you all know the benifits)...... I then had the permenent SCS by Boston Scientific put in about a year ago. From the start, the permenent wasn't as effective as the trial. Still, I was living a much better life than before. I found that although I was offered "endless" programs before I had the implant, Once I had it put in i was told "Oh, I'm sorry it's not working well, but there are some things we just cant do". Then.... The lead slipped. During the revision, I contracted Spinal mennengitus. I was in the hospital for over a month, and really was, very very close, by all accounts, to losing my life. Because the SCS was a forign body, and my infection was so bad (my doc said it was the worst he had ever seen in a patient that surived, <and this is a big city "infection" hospital BTW>) My SCS had to be removed! This left me in a much worse spot than I had ever been in before, with even more pain. Now I have been infection free for 6 months, and I am seeing my pain managment doctor (who did the first SCS) as well as the surgeon who took it out when it was messed up. My pain management doc is suggesting that I try another Boston Scientific SCS, and says that he doesnt know anything about the Medtronics brand. BUT, my surgeon, (who my pain managment doc has GREAT respect for), says that I should go with the Medtronics one which requires that a peice of bone be taken out and the unit "fused" to my bone. This makes me very nervous as I have seen the effects of having one removed that WASN'T fused to my bone, but only sewn. So, a few questions,

1. Does anyone prefer Medtronics or Boston Scientific?

2. Does Medtronics offer any kind of "Trial" like Bost. Sci did?

3. My PM Doc says that while Bos Sci had the "Vibration" sensation that seemed to work for me during the trial, The Medtronics one (which he isn't familiar with) doesn't vibrate but instead uses some "different sensation" which he couldnt describe. Any Experience??

4. Do both companies offer "sewn in" leads like I had OR the kind "fused to my bone" (I'm kind of scared of the "fusing" part. It just seems so permenent)?

I lead a pretty active lifestyle (gardening, walking, playing with grandkids, decorating, So maybe the fused one is the way to go for me. I'm just scared, that if this one had to come out, I'd be completely bed bound for life!

My Doctor has an appt available to do a surgury for Dec 3rd. So I have to make a decision very soon. I'm sorry this is a long post, but you guys seem so experienced and helpful, and I'm a little bit scared of going through all this again. Does anyone have any advice? Thank you so much for reading all of this, and I hope you are all doing OK with your pain today. I know that just living a life, can be a day to day battle.

-Julie