Still alive...

Yesterday was a much rougher recovery than the trial I had back in March. Apparently, my left eye was open while they were operating on me and must have been grinding into bedsheets or something, and it's been extremely agitated / sore ever since. It's much better today, but still painful. My mid- and lower-back is pretty sore, too - but that's to be expected, now that I have an electrical device/battery actually inside there now, rather than the external device I had last time.

Today, I'm at least able to open my eye without too much trouble, and it helps that they gave me a bunch of drops/medicine to put on it. I'm able to get up and walk around a bit, but they want me down as much as possible, so I'm pretty much watching (or listening, rather, as it's hard to keep my eye open for too long) to old Seinfeld reruns and occasionally looking at my phone.

I'm very hopeful/excited over the prospect of getting a lot of relief from the sciatica that's been affecting me for over 10 years now, and every time I crank up the intensity of the stimulator unit a bit, it's very reassuring.

Eye Grinder is the name of my new grind metal band.

Glad you’re on the mend. I hope this thing helps.

Good to hear you see light at the end of the tunnel. I started my first therapy visit yesterday in Indy with 11 more to go. Hope this helps. If not, laminectomy with spinal fusion on L4 and L5

Update?

After reading your posts, I really appreciate how things worked out for me. It was just one surgery and I was back on my feet again like nothing happened, except for the atrophied leg.

right on, Right On, RIGHT ON!!! Crank that shit right the fuck up!!!

That's amazing to me, dude - I'd be eternally grateful for anything like that to actually work for me. I've gotten no real relief for any more than a couple hours in the last 10 years, and long ago gave up all hope of any magic moment where the sciatica would suddenly dissipate.

I'm on day 3 after surgery now. My fucking back is sore, but I'm walking fine and can feel the soothing pulsations when I crank up the intensity on the e-stim. I'm looking forward to working with the doctors this Thursday to tune this thing in a bit better.

Back to hoping for great things

Good news Grimes. Keep up the good fight!

Update time...

Been 2 weeks since I became a bionic man. Recovery sucked at first but seems to be progressing well. The problem with my eye only lasted a few days and is mostly over with. Sitting without discomfort is a little tricky where the battery/device is positioned (back right side, pretty close to the beltline), as well as where the main electrodes go into the spine (about mid-way up my back, right in center), but it's a hell of a lot better now than it was for the first week.

Pain level is definitely becoming controllable/tolerable, and I've started reducing the amount of Gabapentin I was taking religiously for the last 10 years. This is a huge objective, and I'm really hopeful that this stimulator will replace most, if not all, of that.

Still have 4 more weeks that I'm supposed to be taking it easy on my upper body - which does keep me out of my shop - but I'm keeping busy in plenty of other ways (organizing my work areas, working on the Magnatone amp I got last year, etc.)

Thanks for the well-wishes, dudes. For anyone dealing with back pain/sciatica, I can highly recommend looking into this. It seems to be a game-changer for me, and is coming at a time that I really need it

btw... this is what the parts of the system look like. Those leads that go into the spine are no joke - they're WAY bigger than I thought they'd be. I was reminded by something from the old Alien movies

I'd love to see how this technology works. Apparently, they can target the stimulation in various areas/sides of my legs (mainly set up for my left, but the right gets some needed loving, too) by adjusting the current in the segments of the leads.

Glad you are getting somewhere. Therapy seems to be helping me a little.

Rock those body mods Homie !

Thanks dudes...

Pepi - happy for you, and best of luck

Put a Floyd Rose and EMGs on ya. Go full mod!

lol

Just don't do any divebombs!

Don't tell nobody, but I took a minor tumble off the ladder last night (3rd step)... At least I mostly landed on my feet and I'm in a hell of a lot better condition than I was at this point last year, but it was a wake-up call that I really didn't need. Knee is a bit twisted and I'm a bit sore overall this morning.


fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Tort ! Are you serious. Need to realize it’s a different world for a while. No ladders for me. If you keep this shit up I will call that ‘Leaf Gutter Guy’ on TV

Had to wear a brace on my knee for a few days, but am doing much better now. Been spending lots of time at the gym (just lower-body cardio work, but it's something) and am active in the garage again (no ladders, tho). Things are definitely looking up