echoshifting
Banned
Future War-age: two years ago I became a cyborg. This is an old thread. Please refer to the links at the end of this post for a list of updates! 
So, as I've mentioned in a few of my posts, I have a (what I understand to be) rare medical condition that affects my nervous system. I don't want to go into it too heavily but the gist of it is, I'm in pain all the time and fairly simple activity I once took for granted makes it worse. Standing, walking, lifting things or even sitting up straight for more than a few minutes causes debilitating pain. Sometimes when I'm lying down I'll experience a fairly awful attack of blinding pain.
This has been going on for about three and a half years. I tolerated it pretty well at first; I didn't want it to sideline my goals and after the first few trips to the hospital following a bad attack I learned to tolerate it. Over the past year, however, my condition has worsened substantially, and I have had to put most of my life on hold while my many doctors tried to figure out something that would relieve my pain enough that I would be able to resume some basic activity at least.
I have tried several procedures, ranging from simple steroid injections to having certain unnecessary organs removed to having the nerves along the affected area of my spine frozen. I've also tried a wide range of drugs known to provide pain relief; I'm currently on fentanyl, which I'm pretty sure is the strongest opiate available, and pregabalin, an anticonvulsant that helps with nerve pain. While these drugs help immensely in preventing the more serious attacks I used to experience and in resuming some light activity for brief periods of time, the side effects are sort of a bitch and I'm hoping to stumble on a solution that will essentially allow me to act like a normal person.
Enter the spinal cord stimulator.
My primary doctor at the pain center has decided to try implanting this device which, as I understand it, involves grafting electrical leads directly to my spine, inserting a battery pack in my gut, and giving me a remote I can use to change the sensation from one of pain to...something else. I'm not sure what.
Tomorrow is the test procedure, in which temporary leads are put in (leads and remote but no battery pack) to see if it will help. If it is successful I'll have the permanent device put in on the 23rd.
I've had major surgery before along my road dealing with this condition but nothing like this. I am pretty nervous about it, not just the surgery itself but also because I'm not sure where to go from here if it doesn't work. Anyway, I think the device itself is pretty cool; as I said in the thread title I'll be a cyborg. That has its ups and downs. The good doctor cautioned me that once I have the device I will probably never make it through airport security without a shakedown, I'll often set off store alarms and the device may "interfere with other electrical devices," whatever that means.
What is the purpose of this thread...hmmmm. I dunno. Support, mostly, but I'd also like to hear other crazy surgery stories from gaffers...post away.
Updates:
Major updates in bold
God Loves Foreshadowing
The Test Unit Goes In
Test Unit Details
Q&A
More Q&A
Last Question
Implant Day Approaches
After the Implant
Two Years Later, pt. 1
Dr. Stacey
Two Years Later, pt. 2
There are more as you go down but I can't get the hyperlinks to work properly anymore, the post count is all screwy for some reason...
So, as I've mentioned in a few of my posts, I have a (what I understand to be) rare medical condition that affects my nervous system. I don't want to go into it too heavily but the gist of it is, I'm in pain all the time and fairly simple activity I once took for granted makes it worse. Standing, walking, lifting things or even sitting up straight for more than a few minutes causes debilitating pain. Sometimes when I'm lying down I'll experience a fairly awful attack of blinding pain.
This has been going on for about three and a half years. I tolerated it pretty well at first; I didn't want it to sideline my goals and after the first few trips to the hospital following a bad attack I learned to tolerate it. Over the past year, however, my condition has worsened substantially, and I have had to put most of my life on hold while my many doctors tried to figure out something that would relieve my pain enough that I would be able to resume some basic activity at least.
I have tried several procedures, ranging from simple steroid injections to having certain unnecessary organs removed to having the nerves along the affected area of my spine frozen. I've also tried a wide range of drugs known to provide pain relief; I'm currently on fentanyl, which I'm pretty sure is the strongest opiate available, and pregabalin, an anticonvulsant that helps with nerve pain. While these drugs help immensely in preventing the more serious attacks I used to experience and in resuming some light activity for brief periods of time, the side effects are sort of a bitch and I'm hoping to stumble on a solution that will essentially allow me to act like a normal person.
Enter the spinal cord stimulator.
My primary doctor at the pain center has decided to try implanting this device which, as I understand it, involves grafting electrical leads directly to my spine, inserting a battery pack in my gut, and giving me a remote I can use to change the sensation from one of pain to...something else. I'm not sure what.
Tomorrow is the test procedure, in which temporary leads are put in (leads and remote but no battery pack) to see if it will help. If it is successful I'll have the permanent device put in on the 23rd.
I've had major surgery before along my road dealing with this condition but nothing like this. I am pretty nervous about it, not just the surgery itself but also because I'm not sure where to go from here if it doesn't work. Anyway, I think the device itself is pretty cool; as I said in the thread title I'll be a cyborg. That has its ups and downs. The good doctor cautioned me that once I have the device I will probably never make it through airport security without a shakedown, I'll often set off store alarms and the device may "interfere with other electrical devices," whatever that means.
What is the purpose of this thread...hmmmm. I dunno. Support, mostly, but I'd also like to hear other crazy surgery stories from gaffers...post away.
Updates:
Major updates in bold
God Loves Foreshadowing
The Test Unit Goes In
Test Unit Details
Q&A
More Q&A
Last Question
Implant Day Approaches
After the Implant
Two Years Later, pt. 1
Dr. Stacey
Two Years Later, pt. 2
There are more as you go down but I can't get the hyperlinks to work properly anymore, the post count is all screwy for some reason...
