Breaking

Maybe one day I will be able to go into more detail about this segment of my life but right now, I only am ready to talk about the skim of things.

My pain dr finally contacted me to say he was ready to schedule the SCS trial (you know the thing I didn’t want but then came to terms with but still waited for 8 more months). I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. This thing terrifies me. The surgery, the healing, the long term commitment with it. All of it.

SCS is the initials for spinal cord stimulator. this device is used to mask pain signals before they reach the brain. It’s a small device that they implant under your skin. Thin wires carry the currents from a pulse generator to the nerve fibers of the spine. This stimulates the nerves where the pain is.

Will it take away all the pain and be a cure? No, but it will interfere the signals from the nerves to the brain causing much less pain. They usually say 50-75% pain relief is considered a successful one. Where my pain is and the device I will have my dr is sure to get me 85-90% relief.

There are different makers of the SCS. I will be getting a fairly new one in the USA (used in Europe with mostly positive feedback). The benefit of this one is you will not feel the wave lengths where the others you would feel a warm almost sensation. I am very sensitive to anything touching or vibrating the left leg so this is a big advantage for me. My dr has used this one a couple times since it has come here and all success stories, all saying within couple days of trial they could barely feel any pain.

Another note on the SCS devices is you want to make sure there is a trial for it. It’s a pretty invasive surgery and any surgeries make the CRPS worse so it’s better to do a minor one and see what happens. They do like an epidural or like the nerve blocks I have had in the past. This is done right in his office. I have to shower the night before and the next morning with antibacterial soap. A Valium about 30 minutes before is all that I will be put under (just like with the nerve blocks I have had done). They will hook me up to an IV for antibiotic. They shoot one wire in up the spine (lots and lots of numbing stuff that helps mask the pain as well). Then they tape the box to my back and tape me all up. They will play with the electro waves to find the best relief for me. He is kind of certain where and what to do with all the findings he has done with me in the past 2 and half years.

If this trial does the job, then in 5-7 days he will do the permanent one. This surgery is a little more invasive. They use all the same equipment as if I was having heart surgery. It’s just 2 small incisions, one at my spine where 2 wires will be placed and then a small one at my lower back for the box to go in. This one I will be put under (of course) and again IV antibiotics. He doesn’t feel I will have to stay the night because it’s a easier one to do. What has helped me be an even better candidate for this is it’s all (for the most part) localized to my left leg, the pain that is.

Now healing differs from person to person just like CRPS differs from person to person. They say about six and half weeks is what you should expect. For the trial I will not be able to move much or the wire will slip. Then of course the same with the permanent until it heals.

This is something that I will probably have for the rest of my life (change them out as need be). My pain dr told me he has to like the patient because it’s almost like a marriage. Routine check ups and everything. And the person needs to have a healthy relationship with the device. I will be able to get back to my “normal” life depending on the pain relief it gives. All the things my family enjoys together.

Couple new tools that I will have is a remote control and a battery charging pad. The control will help program the electro waves. It will be programmed by your normal day, but say you decide to push a little further and you may need an extra dose that day, this makes it possible. There is a such thing as doing too many waves too just like doing too much. It will help regulate that not knowing what’s too much and not enough. The charging pad is a pad that I will lay on my back (can do it sitting) and have to sit there for like a half an hour to charge it every day.

It’s taken a long process to get here, a journey I honestly thought would never come. This past weekend brought me to my lowest. I had to reschedule some sessions due to the stimulator being put in. I had 4 this past weekend and it was a lot of walking. I couldn’t sleep much last night and not able to walk much today. Nothing is touching the pain. It is making me sick and grouchy. I think this is my breaking point where I can’t go on anymore, Gods got to step in. Then I get the phone call. I believe there is relief for me. I will always have hope. Each new stage and trial and error, I will always have faith. I will trust in His timing and His process. Just so he holds me during the times I can’t go on.

So I would appreciate all the prayers for this Friday and the coming weeks. For my fears, give me a calming spirit. For my pain, some pain relief is all I’m asking. For my doctor. For my family, yet again their world is being flipped and more inconveniences expected. I just want to be able to function. I want to get to a point where I don’t have to rely on all my out of this world expensive toxic medicine. I am ready to show the world that I can and I will move this mountain with God on my side. I want to show my three that look up to me just what God can do. This hasn’t been the prettiest of our seasons but I know it’s been the most fruitful.

I will keep you updated as I journey through this new segment! 🧡