[Spiney95]

I am buzzing away 24/7. After three and a half days the battery is down one quarter. Does that sound normal? I am calling my rep tomorrow as she said not to touch the charger until my post op appt. and have no idea when that is. BTW, the rep who said she was my new best friend has not contacted me since the surgery about how the device and I were getting along. The hospital called the next day but not the rep. Hmmmmm. Not pleased. She has my number and the number where I was staying plus everyone's email addy.

I am still honked over the med situation. When I sat down and took a good look at my orders, the idiot actually wanted me on less medication than I was on when I entered the hospital. I am thrilled with the device but the incissions have been extremely painful and I am in a full Fibro flare now. This guy may be the bomb from a technical stand point but I wouldn't recomend him to anyone who had additional issues which so many of us do.

Based on previous experience, I think I am healing up on schedule. The incission pain is starting to quiet down, thankfully. I feel stronger. It's good to be home. I was ready for some privacy and I know my daughter was exhausted from keeping the kids and dogs from trying to climb all over me. I woke up this morning with a 125 lb pit bull on top of me. She had a fit when I called her to come get him. I thought it was rather funny. Later.

[Rrae]

Thank you for the update, Spine!

You seem to be doing very well, text-book case perhaps.
It does sound normal that your tank is down a quarter after almost 4 days. It all depends on how high you run it.
Some people charge every day, others can go 2 wks before charging.

Your surgeon sounds alot like mine. They preach very clearly that the SCS may only give 50% relief, yet when it comes to prescribing med AFTER the implant, they get stingy. Sometimes the Dr (because of arrogance) will hesitate to continue giving the pain meds because it can somehow reflect on their work. The last thing they want is for the procedure to appear to 'not' be a complete success......cuz they're 'perfect' you see. Fact is, most people DO continue needing meds, for breakthru and for the percentage that the unit doesn't cover. There are those who've been able to get off all pain meds after their implant, which is fantastic.
I remember going thru the very same thing. As time goes on and your surgeon gets buried with other implants, chances are your pain mgmt doc will get you what you need. I hope this is the case for you.

Rest up! mind the rules and you'll be well on your way.
Such perfect timing for your New Year to begin!

Rae

[yellow]

Glad to hear things are going well for you! The battery down one quarter sounds normal, in fact even better than mine Your post-op appointment should be about 1 week to 10 days after, so they can check up on the healing, and especially if you have stitches they need to be taken out.

Rae's insight about the doctor not giving pain meds because it reflects on his work is very wise, and something I wouldn't have thought about, but it makes a lot of sense!

[Spiney95]

Originally Posted by Rrae

Thank you for the update, Spine!

You seem to be doing very well, text-book case perhaps.
It does sound normal that your tank is down a quarter after almost 4 days. It all depends on how high you run it.
Some people charge every day, others can go 2 wks before charging.

Your surgeon sounds alot like mine. They preach very clearly that the SCS may only give 50% relief, yet when it comes to prescribing med AFTER the implant, they get stingy. Sometimes the Dr (because of arrogance) will hesitate to continue giving the pain meds because it can somehow reflect on their work. The last thing they want is for the procedure to appear to 'not' be a complete success......cuz they're 'perfect' you see. Fact is, most people DO continue needing meds, for breakthru and for the percentage that the unit doesn't cover. There are those who've been able to get off all pain meds after their implant, which is fantastic.
I remember going thru the very same thing. As time goes on and your surgeon gets buried with other implants, chances are your pain mgmt doc will get you what you need. I hope this is the case for you.

Rest up! mind the rules and you'll be well on your way.
Such perfect timing for your New Year to begin!

Rae

Originally Posted by yellow

Glad to hear things are going well for you! The battery down one quarter sounds normal, in fact even better than mine Your post-op appointment should be about 1 week to 10 days after, so they can check up on the healing, and especially if you have stitches they need to be taken out.

Rae's insight about the doctor not giving pain meds because it reflects on his work is very wise, and something I wouldn't have thought about, but it makes a lot of sense!

Having had eight previous spinal surgeries, I am quite familiar with the surgeons' attitude. It's still annoying. Hopefully I won't have to deal with anymore "slice and dice" boys. Off to bed and hopefully get a decent night's sleep.

[Spiney95]

Judy came and I did get a decent shower and got my butt buzzer reset with no problems. I can deal with about anything as long as my butt keeps buzzing.

It has been a telephone battle, all day, over my post op check up. The surgeon told my girls that Pain Man could do the post op check up. Now, I am glad that I don't need to go back up to Louisville but the surgeon did not consult with Pain Man about it and when I called today to set up the appt, he said he did not do post ops on another man's surgery. I understand that. The Medtronics rep. said I had an appt in Louisville on Wed. The surgeon's office was closed, of course.

The surgeon and I really locked horns on Wed. They all but wheeled me from the OR to the car. He is unhappy with me because I fussed the entire time he was doing the procedure. I was grossly under sedated and it hurt like heck until they put me down to implant the buzzer. I remember everything up to that point and just layed there asking the anesthesiologist to smack the #$%@ out of the surgeon when it was over. He was pretty hot under the collar when it was over and is probably praying there are no problems that he has to get involved in. We agree on that much.

After plenty of tears and telling him that there would be no follow up if he didn't do it, Pain Man finally agreed and has a rep. coming in on Wed. I don't know what I would do without him.

[Hannabananna]

Originally Posted by Spiney95

Judy came and I did get a decent shower and got my butt buzzer reset with no problems. I can deal with about anything as long as my butt keeps buzzing.

It has been a telephone battle, all day, over my post op check up. The surgeon told my girls that Pain Man could do the post op check up. Now, I am glad that I don't need to go back up to Louisville but the surgeon did not consult with Pain Man about it and when I called today to set up the appt, he said he did not do post ops on another man's surgery. I understand that. The Medtronics rep. said I had an appt in Louisville on Wed. The surgeon's office was closed, of course.

The surgeon and I really locked horns on Wed. They all but wheeled me from the OR to the car. He is unhappy with me because I fussed the entire time he was doing the procedure. I was grossly under sedated and it hurt like heck until they put me down to implant the buzzer. I remember everything up to that point and just layed there asking the anesthesiologist to smack the #$%@ out of the surgeon when it was over. He was pretty hot under the collar when it was over and is probably praying there are no problems that he has to get involved in. We agree on that much.

After plenty of tears and telling him that there would be no follow up if he didn't do it, Pain Man finally agreed and has a rep. coming in on Wed. I don't know what I would do without him.

how awful...I don't even know what to say...

[pooh_ac]

to spiney and her wonderful pain man! I have several suggestions about your surgeon.... (he,he,he) BUT the guy you wanted to clock the surgeon was at fault for your lack of sedation, the surgeon SHOULD have used a local on top of what the gas guy was giving you.
z

[Spiney95]

Originally Posted by pooh_ac

to spiney and her wonderful pain man! I have several suggestions about your surgeon.... (he,he,he) BUT the guy you wanted to clock the surgeon was at fault for your lack of sedation, the surgeon SHOULD have used a local on top of what the gas guy was giving you.
z

Oh, I told the anesthesiologist off too. I assumed if I made enough of a fuss, they would give me more just to shut me up. The two of them chatted on and said I wouldn't remember a thing. Horse Pucky!!!!! They changed their minds when I told the anesthesiologist that I was sorry he was married to an ungrateful witch who didn't appreciate her Christmas gift. He rambled on about that for quite a while. The girls had a fit when I said that and wheeled me out in a hurry. No More Surgeons.

It is good to be home. I am finding it awfully hard to totally follow orders relative to BLAST to the letter. I am by myself now and there always seems to be something happening that is a violation of one thing or another. I guess I just need to be as careful as possible.

Happy New Year, everyone.

[Mark56]

Now you see??????

There was some merit to the old pillory long since politically correctness discarded as "cruel and unusual punishment" as it would be nice to see anesthesiologist and surgeon locked in public and mocked for their horrible demeanor while folks throw rotten potatoes, tomatoes, and such at them....

I like it.....

suppose we could find one up there somewhere?

[Mark56]

The old "she will never remember any of this anyway" garbage is been known to spark courtroom furor over wholesale disregard. One of my fears having been in the OR so very many times was the possibility of merely having a twilight effect when general anesthesia was prescribed...... you know, so I could hear and experience the old sawbones cutting of bone, drilling of pilot holes, insertion of the mega anchors [like deck screws] while everyone else in the room was yukking it up.

Pathetic, that is what it is, PATHETIC,


You wanna hear how I really feel about those shenanigans?
Nah,you probably don't,
Sing me