It's happening.... my SCS story.

Spinal Cord Stimulators (SCS) have incredible success rates. Numbers that even a worker's comp insurance company likes. Initially, I said HELLLLLLL NO to the idea of implanting something into my spine, but as my pain reaches new found levels and body parts, I found myself cheering and texting a bunch of friends when I got the text that said my SCS trial has been approved.

Photo Cred: reddit user jonsnowmustlive

So what does a trial mean? It's like one of those three day test drives on a luxury car. I will go in on a Tuesday to have the leads put in place in my spine, but the battery packs and all that will be taped to me externally. Then, three days later, they will take the whole thing out. During the "test drive", the SCS rep amd my doc will work with me to try out different settings for the stimulator. This is when we will find out if it will really help me with my pain. If it does, I should be relieved of at least 50% of my pain. That would be such a huge deal! We are talking wayyyyy-worse-than-active-labor pain....boom... cut in half! (Or more!) The thought makes me giddy!

Just as I think it's too good to be true, I take a look at the patient care instructions during the trial. No bending, reaching, twisting, raising arms overhead, or lifting more than 5 pounds! It then specifically says no laundry, vaccuuming, lawn-mowing, etc. I can't say I'm not sad about getting a doctor's note to be off of laundry for a few days, but I have four kids and two dogs that rely on me!

I'm not going to lie and say that I am typically a perfect patient. I have been known to turn in a doctor's note at work after I finished up my work or semantically-derived that walking around Wa-Mart is entirely different than going "on a walk", which was forbidden. But here's the catch this time: if I do any of these things, it can affect the catheters or leads in my spine. If the leads move, they can become completely useless. Long story short - surgery for naught. Well, shit. I'm going to need help.

Right now, we have a tentative date of February 4th. The scheduler needs a paper before he can confirm. I know this paper exists and I know who has this paper. So I know it's like 99% sure it's happening. As soon as I get the 100% confirmation, I will be calling in the favors to help us out Feb 4th - 7th. But before I shake everyone's schedules up, I want to be sure I need to. Wish me luck!