Follow up with my Spinal Cord Stimulator Doctor

About a month and a half ago, I felt it shift when I bent over to vomit. Since then, it's caused me nothing but pain. I followed up with the PA on Friday, and she did trigger point injections all around the stimulator site to ease up some of the more tense muscles. I cried because it hurt so badly. She told me to follow up with the doctor on Monday, so I did. I went and saw the spinal cord stimulator doctor yesterday, the same doctor who put it in for me. He confirmed what I said, that it had shifted. Instead of lying flat, like it's supposed to, instead, it is more of a 90 degree angle. He scheduled me for back surgery on Monday at 3:30 EST. He said that they'll try and put it back where it was but more than likely, they would have to make a new incision and put it somewhere else. I guess it didn't heal enough and the gastroparesis made it worse. So, now, I have back surgery on Monday and I'm nervous, even though I've had it done before. The last time I was put under anesthesia, I died twice. So, definitely nervous this time. But, I'll get through it, I always do! I'll let you guys know how the surgery goes. Below is a picture of my stimulator. You can see how badly it's sticking out. I wish I could take a better picture but it's almost in such an awkward place in my back that it's hard for me to get a good shot of it.

What is the spinal cord stimulator for, you ask? In 2009, while at field camp, I lost my footing and slid down a mountain on my knees. They couldn't find anything wrong with my knees except for nerve damage. The stimulator is like having a TENS unit in your back, and it blocks out the pain signals of the nerves for relief. It reroutes the pain signals so that my knees and back shouldn't hurt anymore. It does help, tremendously and allowed me to hike again until I kept bending over to vomit and knocked it out of place.

You can read more about it here: http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/spinal-cord-stimulation-for-low-back-pain

Post Spinal Stimulator Surgery - Day 1

I had my surgery yesterday to have my spinal cord stimulator put in. Information about a spinal cord stimulator is HERE. The surgery wasn't bad. They put me completely out. I didn't even realize they were doing it until I saw this huge syringe. It looked like a PVC pipe.

This is day one. I do not have as much knee pain as I did before. I can actually sit Indian style without having severe pain. My back is really, really sore from the surgery so it's a bit hard to sleep. I am a bit tired today but I'm feeling a little better. I want to sleep but every time I try, I lay on my back and it jerks me awake because it hurts so bad. I have staples in my back and they are going to remove the staples in a week. I can't bend, lift, twist, take a shower, or anything before the staples come out.

I vomited once last night after I got home. I hope that this stimulator will cut down the vomiting since vomiting is also my pain response. Since I no longer have to worry about my knee, I can focus on the gastroparesis and see if that's where the vomiting is from.

I bought a cook book for GP with recipes that will be easily digestible. The problem is that if I eat six small meals a day, one small meal will fill me up for the entire day. I'm not sure how this is going to work because nothing seems to stay down.

I looked at pictures of me from last Christmas and now - I've lost so much weight. My face almost looks sunken in and pale. This is not the way I wanted to lose weight. My stomach is also bloated and swollen. I have severe cramps when I do try to eat, even with yogurt. I've been drinking a lot of apple juice but that's hit or miss with the vomiting, too.

I'm looking forward to hiking again though. =)

After Surgery - Day 2

Well, surgery went well on Monday. I was amused because the anesthesiologist had to come in and place my IV because the nurses were too scared to poke me. The nurses said they didn't see anything so they didn't want to poke me 8 times. I agreed with them and thanked them for not doing so because I've had some horrible nurses who have stuck me up to 18 times, no exaggeration.

The IV went into my right wrist, so it was in an odd place. The anesthesiologist gave me the medicine to put me to sleep while the doctor was injecting numbing medicine into my back. I yelled ow a few times and he injected more. The anesthesiologist asked me if I felt the medicine yet and I shook my head no. She gave me two small syringes of something plus versed. Then, pushed the Propofol, twice. The doctor realized that my IV wasn't working and went over to my wrist and pressed down on it at a funny angle...and then ALL of the medicine hit. I don't remember anything after that, not even being woken up to see if the spinal cord stimulator (SCS) was working properly in the right area. I woke up and the anesthesiologist moved quickly to unhook my IV because the Propofol was still in there heading to my vein, trying to make me sleepy again. I was amused. The staff at this place are great. I would recommend them to anyone who needs pain management. Their bedside manner is fantastic and it's hard to find a doctor who will actually listen to you first.

After they taped me up, I went into recovery where they fine tuned the SCS with a computer. They gave me a remote where I could control the amount of stimulation myself or turn it off while driving.

I laid down when I got home from surgery and laughed so hard because the stimulation was turned all of the way up. I had to wait for my husband to bring the remote inside.

Last night, I slept without tossing or turning, which is something I haven't done in a long time because I couldn't feel pain in my left knee. I was able to walk around more. It was nice not to have that constant sharp pain along with aches. It was all gone.

Then, I went to sleep the wrong way with my back brace on and moved the leads. Now, they will only work if I'm sitting a certain way or if I lay down. So, I called the doctor and asked them to pull the leads out and that I would like to have the permanent implant done. The Rep for Boston Scientific (who represents this machine I'm using for the SCS) will call the doctor and put me on the schedule to have the leads pulled out tomorrow, which is good because I'm allergic to this tape. It itches like crazy!

So, I will be put on the schedule to have this one permanently and I'm excited about it. If I can get this under control, maybe I won't vomit as much because vomiting is my pain response too.

Then, I can just focus on my stomach. I need to get that taken care of. I have an appointment with the GI doctor on Monday and an appointment with the Nutritionist to go over a diet plan later next week. I'm still severely nauseated, but not as bad as I have been. That could be wishful thinking on part of the temporary implant but we'll see.

I'm just excited to finally have my knee taken care of and to have finally found someone who will help me. Then, I can focus on my stomach.

Pictures of my back are below: