Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Trial implanted!

I had the leads to my trial stim implanted Monday the 13th and had the battery hooked up and the stim turned on Tuesday afternoon.  It has only been a little over 24 hours so it has not magically taken all my pain away.  I still have quite a bit of incision pain where the surgeon made incisions and then shoved wires through those and tunneled them under the skin - is that why I am hurting ya think?!  I am hoping in a couple of days I will be able to tell more of a difference.  The stimulation does feel nice.  It feels like a light massaging sensation to me.  I would trade that for excruciating pain any day!  I will post some pictures but if you are squeamish beware the bandages do have some blood on them.  I go back next week to have the trial removed and if it was at least 50% successful in relieving my pain we will plan to do the permanent implant surgery in 2-3 weeks.  At least I have a good excuse for lots of trips to Tennessee right?!  The people there are super friendly.  The entire staff at Cool Springs Surgery Center was awesome, not to mention my wonderful surgeon Dr. Rupert and rep from St. Jude, Rod - who was very patient with me and created several programs according to what I asked him for. I have one lead that I cannot use at the moment under my eye.  It hurts to stimulate it and the area is just really sensitive.  I am just going to use the other 3 leads for now and wait to see if that area feels better soon so that I can try that lead again. 

1 comment:

elissagt said...

I am so thankful that all your hard work and persistence paid off, I know it has been such a very long, extremely painful journey. I love you so much, and I know that all the people who are searching for help online appreciate your chronicling your struggle to beat this.