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Main Boards => Prayers/Concerns/Honors/Ailments => Topic started by: Winterhawk1960 on August 16, 2013, 10:19:00 PM
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After a very long and painful journey for the past two years, I finally found something that gave me some relief. I did a test-run of a neuro stimulator a couple weeks ago and was very pleased with the results that it gave me.
The insurance has approved for me to have it permanently implanted on Monday August 19th. I am greatly looking forward to living my life a little more "pain free" than the last two years have been. I don't expect to become a 20 year old again, but I do have hopes of being able to stand on my feet long enough to attend some of the wonderful traditional shoots that are put on around the country.
It will also be nice to be able to sleep in a bed again, which I haven't done since November of 2011. Going trout fishing with my wife in the mountains again and being able to sit on stand again in the fall woods will also be a welcome feeling. Last, but not least, playing with my Grandchildren again like a normal 53 year old would, instead of being trapped in this recliner that I'm typing this from. In many ways, I have been in prison as a result of the never-ending pain. It has gave me a REAL lesson in appreciating so many things that I had started taking for granted.
I am very thankful for this opportunity and I thank God each and every night for EVERYTHING he has given me. It is so true that he won't lead you to anything, that he won't lead you through......IF you ask. He has gotten me through some very tough times in my life and to him alone, I will be forever grateful.
If you can find a place on your prayer list for an old country boy like me.......please pray for him to guide the surgeon's hands and for me to be able to enjoy life's simple pleasures once again.
Thy will be done......
Winterhawk1960
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:pray: Will be praying and thinking about you. God Bless
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Don,
You've had more than your share of trials the past few years... and done it with Grace and character.
I will be honored to pray that your implant surgery goes well and that it results in the ability to regain your life, to live life to it's fullest and continue to witness to His Glory and Grace!
Keep the Son in your eyes!
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Will pray for you, and your Physician. Trust in The Great Physician.
Tom
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Amen & praise God!
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Don,
Praying for The best!
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Don :pray: :pray: :pray: :pray: big time
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Praying that your doing well
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Don, We are waiting for your report. I hope you are out playing. (No clue here about what is involved with the implant surgery.)
Best wishes and prayers,
Killdeer :wavey:
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Any update?
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OK.......long overdue update. It has been a tough week on this end. The surgery went well and was much less painful than I had led myself to believe it would be.
I had, what the surgeon said, a "not uncommon" reaction to him cleaning up the adhesions in my lower back caused by various different injuries over the years. All that I can tell you is that it felt just like someone had been punching me in the ribs from the time I woke up in recovery, right up until yesterday morning. The "culprit" turned out to be an irritation of the nerves that run from your spine, down each rib to your sternum. As soon as they ruled out more serious things that it could have been and started me on some anti-inflamatory medicine, I started to get some relief.
I was well prepared for the pain from the two incisions on my back, but that abdominal pain was very simply kicking my ass. I haven't willingly taken any kind of a narcotic painkiller since January of 1990 due to my "addictive personality". To me, it's like putting a band-aid on a bullet hole. It doesn't fix the damage done that can't be seen and is nothing more than a "temporary fix" at best. I've gotten through a lot, without taking their pain-killers.......just fine, so.....no thank-you.
Anyways.......I have two incisions on my back. One is vertical and runs down my thoracic vertebrae for about 5 inches. The other one is horizontal, at my belt line on my right side for about 4 inches. The upper incision was for the power unit and the lower one for the lithium ion battery pack that requires me to recharge it for about an hour a week by holding a charging paddle over it on the outside of my skin. Both units are completely imbedded and unable to be seen externally.
I have a remote that powers it on and off and allows me to totally control the amount and strength of the electrical stimulation that I am receiving. Pretty cool......huh ? I'm healing up well and the staples they used to close the incisions will come out tomorrow afternoon. The whole procedure has been a walk in the park......except for the abdominal pain, which is slowly subsiding.
I want to personally thank each and every one of y'all for your well wishes and most especially your prayers. It means so much to me and my family. May God bless you ALL in a very special way for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers.
Winterhawk1960
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Sounds like quite an ordeal, Don.
Makes my 2011 L3 Lamenectomy sound like a walk in the park. they had me up and walking the day of surgery... even with the L4, L5, and S1 roto-rooter of the nerve channels.
I didn't even know we had nerves along the ribs, which is silly on my part, given how much cracked ribs hurt and I know about that!
You sound like the bionic man! I bet you set off airport scanners big time... :)
Glad to hear that things are starting to iron out on the pain side of things and I applaud your narcotic free attitude... it can be a bit tougher, but it keeps you in touch with what is going on...rather than in a stupor where you might wish you were aware of something that should be reported and attended to!
Continued prayers for strength and all the gizmos to work to give you more relief and an increased active lifestyle!
Keep the Son in your eyes!
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LOL......Yep, I now have a card that I have to carry to explain "why" the scanners go off. It'll be all I can do when I hand it to them NOT to make some comment about being a good cover for sneaking some C4 past their security.
Oh. and I had some rotor-rooter on the L3, L4 and L5 also. In all seriousness though........this abdominal pain has had me wanting them to take that stimulator BACK OUT. It is slowly going away......thankfully.
Winterhawk1960
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God's best!
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When it comes to nerves, no matter how careful they are, when they get to cuttin and poking, stuff gets ticked off! Sometimes, BIG TIME!
glad that gut pain is lessening! May that continue to decrease and you have fun learning to play with your new gizmos! May the effort be rewarded with new mobility and less overall pain!
Keep the Son in your eyes...
Oh, yea, bite your tongue re the C4! :scared:
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God bless
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Good luck and fast recovery,Don.
Prayers sent.
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Hope you are feeling better.....
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Prayers for a successful outcome.
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Hopefully you are well on the way to recovery!
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:wavey:
Killdeer
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Good Luck with the Surgery & God Bless.
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here's something I got by way of update from Don:
The abdominal pain that felt like someone was pounding me in the ribs and stomach has been resolved.......thanks to two different steroid packs. I am still getting some "stimulation" through my ribs from the neuro-stimulator but my contact from St. Judes Medical (the company that makes the stimulator and makes adjustments to it) assures me that when I get totally healed that it can be adjusted out.
I have been able to get more restful sleep on most nights and the daytime pain is about half what it used to be. That alone has been a wonderful relief. Quite honestly, what I am hoping for is for them to be able to take my own stem cells and grow me two new discs so that they can be replaced sometime in the near future.
The neuro stimulator comes with both pro's and con's.......as most things do. Not having but half the pain is quite a relief but not something that I really want to live with the rest of my life........IF they can fix the problem and I can be even more pain free. I have managed to make it this far without any of their wicked pain pills........and that has been quite an accomplishment. The pain clinic that I go to is quite astonished that I'm not the "typical" patient that they see. They tell me that they admire my willpower and I tell them that I have no willpower on my own that I turn those kind of things over to someone much greater than I. They just don't understand.......but that's okay. They apparently haven't had anything in their lives that they have had to admit to themselves that they were powerless over..........yet.
I know we all who visit here wonder how folks in our prayers are doing, and pray that Don will not be offended that I shared what he told me via PM.
Don seems to have a handle on his issues and is trusting in the Great Physician, as well as the fine medical teams.
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Prayers sent for you Don , God has laied you on my heart several times