Can't sleep because I'm thinking about all this stuff and going over the literature again and again.
kozmo7 said:
I like how you'd be able to design your own programs but I am confused a bit by that. Do you change the type of stimulation that goes on? I'd be afraid I do something that set off my bladder or something; although I don't think that's the slightest bit realistic. :lol
Hmmmm I hadn't thought of that. :lol I doubt it's possible but I'm sure I could cause some weird stuff. The range of available stimulation is obviously pretty wide as far as the way it feels and the area it affects goes, though. The programs I received yesterday were quite different from the programs I received the first day. Furthermore, some of them worked better for sitting, standing, walking, etc. but none were quite perfect. I imagine that over time I could come up with some cool stuff, or at least fine tune the programs they give me to be more precise.
There were definitely a few weird moments - no loss of bladder control - mostly with my legs even with the programs the first tech guy set up. I had it set too high for walking at one point and my right leg started to go out with every step as though I had been hit with a taser or something. I thought it was pretty funny...my mom, who was with me at the time, not so much.
When they pulled out the leads - thinking it was already off and unplugged - I got a huge rush of sensation in my legs...thought I was going to start dancing or something.
Once it's finally in, do you have any restrictions on movement? No lying on back or twisting a certain way etc. I only ask because you reminded me of myself when you said you had to stay straight for the day. I ended up being stuck in a face down position several times while my eye was healing. Even though it's all healed [again] I am not able to lay on my back at all.
Bleh that sounds awful. I'd hate to have to do that.
The recovery period is 8 weeks; I am supposed to keep my spine straight during that period. After that I just have to be careful...the more physical activity the greater the risk. No Thanksgiving football.
One that really bums me out is scuba diving. I am not supposed to go below 33ft. If you have ever scuba dived before you know that's not that deep at all. Scuba diving is one of my favorite things and it's a little soul-crushing to know I may never do it again. A bit weird, I know, since there's no way I could have done it safely with my untreated condition. But with the condition you can always say maybe it will be better someday, with the device it's permanent. /livejournal
I would not be surprised if the day comes years from now when I say to hell with the risks and just go for it. My doctor said the literature suggesting diving would actually damage the device isn't terribly convincing.
Overall, though, I'm fortunate enough that I'll basically have the entire range of motion available to me, and I'll be able to decide for myself when a risk is worth taking. One of the booklets they gave me warns that if you sit in a sauna or a hot tub you should immediately get out if you start to feel it heating up...yeah those would be good examples of risks I probably won't take, heh.
Anywho, very happy to hear this worked out for you. Imagine sex WITH the sex leg sensation turned on. Although that might cause a short-out or something. :lol
Thanks! It's hard to believe it worked out so well, even though I always kind of expected it to.
Some questions I missed:
Pterion said:
PM me the name of your condition. I'm a surgeon-in-training, if that helps. I'm simply puzzled by this procedure, as it is quite rare (and I thought it was limited to scoliosis patients).
As I said a few posts up, my doctor describes this as "chronic neuropathy" or "chronic peripheral neuropathy" for the purpose of legal forms, but beyond that he hasn't really assigned a name to it (and he says those terms don't exactly describe my condition). No one ever has.
And these sorts of devices are used for all kinds of things, I've come to find out, to treat pain and other conditions all over the body. Maybe you are thinking of a different procedure? If you go to Medtronic's website you can see the wide range of conditions they treat with this device or similar devices.
Darkman M said:
Good Luck with the operation man, out of curiosity how much does a surgery like that cost?
Good question. I think the test is $6,000-$7,000 all by itself, and I don't think that factors in anesthesiology and all the other charges they tack on for any procedure like this. I know the big one is easily a five figure sum...my doctor half-joked about it being $100,000 but I wouldn't be surprised about it being about that much when all is said and done. I'm really not sure, I am totally naive to the cost of the procedure. My wife is pretty awesome about handling that so I don't have to worry about it, and at this point the insurance pays most everything.
That reminds me, earlier in the thread in a reply to White Man I claimed that after my high deductible was paid I didn't owe anything, but it turns out we are still paying 20%; we continue to do so until we hit $100K. In addition, her employer matches up to $2500 put into a health savings account (constantly drained for us), so that helps too.
AlexMogil said:
Will you *ever* be able to bend and twist your spine, or is more because the surgery was so recent?
Covered this in my reply to Kozmo above, I think, but to be clear, I should have a full range of motion after an 8 week recovery period with the implant, but there will always be certain risks associated with heavy activity. No more bar fights, damn.
I think that's it, if you asked a question and I missed it I scanned over it, slap me and I will respond.
