Do you have the image?

If you want to enjoy that moment and other similar moments you will have to do something to preserve your quality of life for as long as you can. You already try to do that with many of your possessions. You maintain you automobile with oil changes, tire rotations and front end alignments. You keep your yard well groomed, fertilized and weed free. (Well you should!). You change the filters in your A/C units and the batteries in your smoke alarms.

What do you do to maintain your quality of life? You know you need to save money for retirement, what do you need to do to to help your body last as long as your money?

Three areas that need your attention.

Exercise, spinal care and weight control.

Exercise prevents a condition called sarcopenia. Osteopenia is a condition where bones become thin and brittle. Most people over 50 are aware of this condition. Sarcopenia is a gradual change in the muscles of your body where the muscle tissue is replaced with fatty tissue and fiber. Ever wonder why older people get weaker and need help sometimes even getting up from a chair. Have you ever seen those late night commercials where the chair lifts you up to help you stand? Sarcopenia is a condition that can be helped with exercise, but you need to start now. Exercising all the way into your golden years will help prevent this condition. Look at Jack LaLanne!  Our sister website www.ReturnToExercise.com will help you with exercising when it goes live in a few weeks.

Research shows that spinal decompression helps get nutrients into the discs. All joint degeneration involves a breakdown of the disc. The sooner people realize that maintaining the normal movement in the joint will help it last longer, the happier they will be in their later years.

Watch what you eat. Most of the medications prescribed today are to treat symptoms from obesity. Blood pressure, cholesterol and antiinflamatories all can be helped with a loss of body fat. You already know that!

Think of it this way. As you make decisions regarding your finances into the future, make healthy decisions regarding what you can do now to enjoy your future.

Website                 http://www.MeyerChiro.com

Blog:                     NoSpineSurgery.wordpress.com

Like us on:           Facebook.com/MeyerChiropracticCenter

Follow us on:        Twitter.com/MeyerChiro

Phone:                  817 GOT-PAIN

E-Mail                   MeyerChiro@GMail.com

I had my permanent spinal cord stimulator implanted 11 days ago today.

As you know, the stimulator is used to reduce the chronic pain that CES has blessed me with.

The Stimulator is doing it’s job, lowering my pain down to a level of “3″ or “4″ on a scale of 10, when I am using it. Without it on, the pain goes right back to the usual 7-8 levels.

I have always had problems with bowel incontinence due to the CES. In the period right after the Stimulator surgery, I increased my pain medication. This caused me to become constipated, which caused me to take laxatives. As such, I battled loose bowels for many days. However, now 11 days after the surgery, I STILL have the loose bowels and cannot seem to get back to my “normal” routine.

Since I got hurt in 1999, my bladder issues with CES has always been the inability to urinate. I have no sensation of having to urinate, cannot start a stream, and have to sit down and squeeze my pelvic muscles in order to pee. Although this method is strongly not advisable, I have been tested and the tests showed no damage to my kidneys or bladder, though those tests were done about 5 years ago.

Yesterday, I was laying in bed in the morning, when I suddenly got an overwhelming urge to urinate, like I was going to explode. I got up and started for the bathroom, but the urine started coming out before I could make it. I also was unable to stop urinating once it had started. This had not happened to me in over 13 years. About 4 hours later, I was actually out walking around our neighborhood, with no problems and no feelings of having to use the bathroom, when suddenly the same feeling hit me. I felt as if I was going to burst. I barely made it home and only made it into our bathroom before I lost all control and lost it right in front of the toilet. If it had hit me 30 seconds earlier, I would have peed all over myself in the street.

I then went from 2pm until 5am with no problems whatsoever. I felt no urge to urinate, and I did go in and sit down and force myself to go multiple times in that span. At 5am this morning, I was again awoken with the feeling that I was going to explode. I made it into the bathroom and onto the toilet, so there was no accident.

Each time, the amount of urine passed was nothing extraordinary, my bladder was far from full on each occasion.

I went to the Surgeon who put in the implant this morning. I explained again all my CES-related symptoms since the surgery in 1999. I then explained all the new symptoms that have popped up since my stimulator surgery of 11 days ago.

Bottom line: He does not think they are related. He says he has never had a stimulator patient report bowel and bladder issues after the surgery.

I used to be an Intelligence Analyst in the Military. I tend to logically analyze or over-analyze things. To me, I don’t see how I can go 13 and a half years without a change in my bowel and bladder issues and then all of a sudden, I get a change only days after a surgery on my spine, just a half-inch away from the site of the surgery that crippled me. Again, I am not a Doctor, but I find it hard to believe that these new symptoms and the fact that I just had surgery are NOT related.

Anyway, I am being passed on to a Urologist to investigate the new bladder issues. The earliest he can see me is this Wednesday.

I am sitting here now, nervous and scared beyond belief, waiting…….. waiting to see if, and when, the next sudden incontinence episode might strike. I have gone over 8 hours now and everything SEEMS normal. Then again, things felt normal right up until each episode that has hit me in the last two days. It’s like waiting for a bomb to go off.

I’ll post more after the Urologist appointment on Wednesday.

Right now, I’m just trying to figure out if this is a temporary speed bump that CES has put in my path, or whether this is the beginning of a new Mountain that has been placed in my path.

This nightmare never ends….

There are 144 different movements in your spine and anyone of these can jam!

The loss of movement is the beginning to the process of spinal degeneration.

What exactly does that mean? A loss of movement to any joint, will alter the function and increase the speed of wear. Osteoarthritis is a wear and tear process that destroys the joint.

Can’t turn your head to one side as far as you can the other? Can’t bend to the left as well as you can to the right? You can’t raise your left arm as high to one side as you can to the left? These are all examples of loss of motion. The first step in the process of degeneration.

I would know if I had arthritis in my spine from the pain. Not true! Loss of movement is the first sign. Pain comes later and often many years later. You may have altered movement for many years and not even be aware of it. When we start treating a patient, it’s amazing how restricted they are when we measure their movement. Most of the time you have no idea!

Bending from the low back to touch your toes may be misleading as well. When you bend over, movement comes from two places. Your low back and your hips.

Your low back should bend about 60 degrees in the normal person. The movement of your hips take you the rest of the way down. Many times the movement of the spine is restricted, but the hips are so flexible that they carry the movement to give the appearance of normal. Sometimes it’s difficult to explain to a patient that their low back is restricted while they have their palms flat on the floor.

What can you do to help prevent further degeneration? Have your spine range of motion checked. Even if you have no pain, why wait until it gets to be a major problem.

Remember, I’ve seen spinal degeneration in patients as young as 13 years old! Treating the joints is the best way to improve  the movement. The more towards normal the joint moves, the less wear and tear.

Website                 http://www.MeyerChiro.com

Blog:                     NoSpineSurgery.wordpress.com

Like us on:           Facebook.com/MeyerChiropracticCenter

Follow us on:        Twitter.com/MeyerChiro

Phone:                  817 GOT-PAIN

E-Mail                   MeyerChiro@GMail.com

My CES story began when I started to suffer leg weakness on my left leg, in late 2006, which became so painful that I could barely put weight through it at all. My GP was very unhelpful. He said that there wasn’t anything wrong with me and that I should try losing some weight and that I needed to exercise more! (the usual stuff they say to anyone over weight). At this point I thought, “OK I will do that…, Well he is a doctor so he knows what his talking about right?”

I continued to struggle at home, not really knowing what else I could do. I lost over 2 stone in weight. Although only because the constant pain meant that I wasn’t eating.

I went back to see my doctor several times over the next four months or so. At this stage I couldn’t walk more than two steps before crippling pain hit me. When I went out I had to keep stopping and sitting down as my leg would really hurt.

Eventually I went back to my doctor and was a little curt with him to say the least.
I just wanted the pain to stop! So I became a bit aggressive with my GP and demanded that my leg get checked out properly. (I had never been like that towards anyone before).

The result was that he finally agreed to send me for an xray, which of course showed absolutely nothing wrong, Other than some wear on one side of my left knee. He explained that this was effecting my Gait.
My GP’s only real help was to send me to see a Physiotherapist for treatment to strengthen the tendons and muscles in my leg.

The pain became much more intense during the weeks of Physiotherapy treatment. I also started to get a constant low back pain like someone was pushing my spine inwards. My legs felt like electric shocks were being fired down into my feet. I also started having problems passing bowel motions. Eventually I could not sit/stand or lay down for more than 20 minutes at a time. So I wasn’t sleeping or eating. It became so bad that I couldn’t even leave my house.

Thankfully I had a wonderful neighbour and she helped me to cope with the day to day tasks. Washing, shopping, school runs etc. By this point I was desperate for help and becoming more and more worried that something was really wrong with me, but I didn’t know what else I could do. My neighbour even rang on call doctors out to my home because she was worried for me. Although the on call doctors had no helpful advice either other than to give me more pain relief….. which didn’t help at all.

After about a month of treatment to my leg. My physiotherapist said that my leg wasn’t improving and that he felt my leg was actually a red herring. He didn’t believe that my leg was causing my problems at all. He said that he believed that I was suffering from something called Sciatica. He explained that it is caused by a disc in my spine pinching on my nerves. So, I asked him to put it in writing for me so that I could take it to my doctor.

So, feeling that finally I had an answer for all my problems, I made another appointment to see my doc a few days later. My partner Garry came with me for backup. At this time my constant visits were leaving me in tears begging to be listened too. Garry handed my doctor the note I had been given by my therapist. My doctor read it and said “OK” …. “well.. it will go on it’s own within a few months”.

I was not to worry about it.

At this point I was utterly deflated. I cried all the way home and long into the night.
I had visited my GP constantly over a period totaling more than 18 months. Each time being told that it would go on it’s own and that I was not to worry about it.

By this time, I was also taking large doses of pain killers, some of which were not prescribed to me (not recommended that anyone do this). I simply had become so desperate I would have taken anything to make it stop. Only sleeping for short periods at a time, not being able to sit down or even stand for anything more than a couple of minutes at a time. The pain was unbearable unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I knew I was in trouble as it had become more and more frequent. Two hours of sleep became just 20mins of sleep at a time. I was constantly having to roll over and try getting comfortable again. Only people who’ve experienced Sciatica will know what I mean. I was constantly having to move. It really is the worst thing you can imagine. Another sufferer once said to me that she would rather give birth to a child every day than ever have to have to go through that again…….

I totally agree!!

Over the following weeks, I became increasingly angry that no one was taking me seriously. There were many moments that I considered ending my life.

I was that desperate.

On my next visit to my doctor (who I’d known since childhood. He was my whole family’s Doctor), I angrily demanded that he refer me to see a specialist at our local Lumbar Spine Clinic. At which point he said “they will only tell you what I’ve already said”. My reply was a very angry “I dont bloody care!!!”

“I just want it checked!”

Anyway, I got the appointment around 6 wks later. The specialist was friendly and helpful.
I explained what had been going on and he asked me to strip down to my underwear for a full examination. The female nurse was by my side throughout so although I felt embarrassed I didn’t care if it meant I’d finally get some help.

That was the first time ANYONE had even looked at my back. Within minutes of him asking me to bend down (as much as I could) so that he could feel my discs, he said I think you have a large disc bulge. He explained that he would send me for an MRI scan to confirm it Asap. Then, when the results were back, he would bring me back in to discuss my options.

The hospital rang me 5 days later with a cancellation.

I didn’t need asking twice!

Laying there while they did the MRI scan was near impossible. It’s not easy to keep still when every fibre in you is screaming in pain. The nurses were helpful and very understanding but I found the whole thing difficult. A mixture of pain and discomfort, lack of sleep and just sheer frustration came to a head. After they finished the scan four nurses came in to help me sit up, which I thought was a bit strange. I felt that they were acting a bit odd around me. As I walked back to the changing room with one of the nurses. She asked me how long I had been suffering for. I chatted with her for a while explaining what had been going on. She then said “I shouldn’t really tell you this but it’s definitely your back and not your leg”, Saying “you’ll probably hear from the consultant very soon.”

I went home and waited for the consultant to phone me. Feeling a mixture of fear and relief. Over the following weekend I become increasingly concerned and in great pain. I just felt that something wasn’t right. My thighs and feet felt really weird and I couldn’t wiggle my toes on my left foot anymore. It kind of felt like it does when you have been to the dentist and have that numbness in your lips. My bowel movements had also not happened for several days and I had no feeling that I needed to go either. That evening, my neighbour had to phone the on-call doctor out to me because I was in such a state. I simply just could not cope any longer. The on-call doctor arrived and gave me a shot of morphine in my bottom and told me to contact my GP when the clinic opened at 9am the next morning. The receptionist wasn’t much help, the results of my scan had not yet been sent to my doctor’s office.

So, she said there was nothing else they could do.

I struggled all day with the pain. The only thing helping me to relax was a hot bath so I went for a bath again that evening in the hope I might sleep better that night. As I lifted my foot up to climb into the bath, I felt what I can only describe as a whooosh like sensation kinda like a big puff of air being blown into my back and then a really sharp pain. At the time, I didn’t think too much of it as i had been in so much pain anyway. There was no one else I could call to help, so i just went to bed.

The next morning I woke up and sat on the edge of my bed, quickly realising that I couldn’t feel anything in my legs or my bottom and I didn’t feel the usual need to go straight to the toilet straight away to pee (women will know what i mean there).

I rang my Doctor, again speaking to the receptionist. I explained what was happening but she again said that there was nothing that they could do as my MRI results still weren’t back yet. So, feeling even more worried and not knowing what to do, I rang the only person who I could think of for advice, my Physiotherapist. I explained what had happened when I got in the bath and also when I woke that morning. He told me to go straight to A&E (accident and emergency) as soon as possible.

After arriving at A&E with my neighbour (who’d taken me there in her car), I was sent straight away for an emergency MRI scan. The on-call consultant did some checks which I remember agreeing too, but didn’t really notice. Then they did a rectal examination and some tests on my legs and feet, which I barely noticed.

I was really panicking at this point, my head was all over the place.

The on-call consultant Neurologist came to speak to me and explained that the MRI scan had shown that my L4-L5 disc had shattered into my spinal cord and that I needed immediate surgery to decompress the spine.

I think I went into autopilot at this point as I don’t really remember anything in-between being told and actually going down to the operating theatre. They did an emergency decompression of my spine and I was in hospital for several weeks. They were very difficult days and I was told that I probably wouldn’t be able to walk or use my bladder again for some time, if at all.

My consultant came to see me regularly while I was in hospital. He kept me informed about my progress and was completely honest about my chances of returning to a normal life again.

I only found out some time later that if I had not had the surgery within 24 hrs of the disc shattering, I would have been left with permanent damage to everything below my waist, including bowel/bladder function, including feeling, and also being able to use my legs again.

I started getting feeling back in my right side after a while and I could move my right leg and foot. They wanted to move me from the hospital to a Rehab clinic but I refused. I’d had enough of hospitals and doctors! It was another two weeks before I could attempt to stand on my legs. The lack of progress was frustrating. Over the next few weeks they removed my catheter and I tried to pee on my own. I finally did it on my own!, so they left the catheter out and monitored me closely, measuring how much urine I was passing.

Over the following weeks I also stood and took a few steps unaided, building up from using a walking frame onto crutches.

Then, the day I thought would never happen came.

I was allowed to go home!

(Although an Occupational Therapist had to first visit my house and make adaption to allow me to be safe)

My partner Garry & my sons moved my bedroom from upstairs into my lounge downstairs. It wasn’t very practical it meant going home so I didn’t care. Garry also moved in with me (LEAVING HIS FLAT AND JOB) to become my full time caregiver. Occupational Therapy arranged for me to be moved from my home of 15yrs into a wheelchair adapted bungalow in a town 15miles away. They said I was at serious risk of harm due to stairs. After we moved into the bungalow my life returned to a different kind of normality. I can walk now with crutches but not far. There are still times I’m stubborn about my wheelchair and I refuse to use it. However,without it, I would be stuck inside my house, so I look on it as a tool to get me from one place to another, kind of like taking a bus.

To say that I’m angry that this has happened to me would be a huge understatement, but I also know that nothing can change it now. This is me for the rest of my life. I’ve had 3 1/2 years to get my head around what happened. In many ways it’s only now that I finally feel able to cope with it. It’s been a very long, hard, and at many times difficult, journey. My whole family have had to adapt to my disability not just me, mentally as much as physically.

I’ve wanted to end my life on many occasions and have sank into a deep dark depression, which left me bursting into tears if anyone so much as asked me what happened to me. Many, many times I found myself crying on the bathroom floor thinking “why me !!!”. I sometimes wonder how anyone could stand to have been around me during those days, but I have a wonderful fiance, great friends, and a supportive family. They are the ones who got me through those dark days.

I know that my journey with CES is far from over. In many ways, it’s barely begun. I still face daily challenges. I have permanent damage to my left leg which has needed further surgery, and I’m still living with the constant pain in my back but for the most part, my life is back on track.

Finding the right medication to keep my pain levels at a manageable level has definitely been vital in helping me to feel able to cope. Having a supportive ear to listen to all the worries we can’t always voice to those around us also makes a huge difference.

If any of my story rings a bell with you. Please don’t bottle it up like I did. …..It nearly destroyed me.

If you can talk to someone, anyone, even if it is through a group on Facebook, please Do It!!! We are all in the same boat and most of us have been in your shoes. We understand completely what you’re going through.

It’s a strange thing to say and believe me I didn’t think i’d ever say it, but you really do adapt to life with permanent pain and disability.

OK ….. It’s not the life we might have planned, but it’s still very much a life worth living!

Please tell everyone you know with back or neck pain to take advantage of this offer. On behalf of Missioin Arlington, thank you for your support.

Hurry.  All appointments must be made by July 11.

While I’m gone on vacation this week, here is your homework.

Follow through with your take home exercises. Any complications, call the office. Dr. Fogle will take care of them.

If you don’t have home exercises and are not a patient, but you have back pain, then call the office for an appointment.

Happy 4^th of July!

Website                 http://www.MeyerChiro.com

Blog:                     NoSpineSurgery.wordpress.com

Like us on:           Facebook.com/MeyerChiropracticCenter

Follow us on:        Twitter.com/MeyerChiro

Phone:                  817 GOT-PAIN

E-Mail                   MeyerChiro@GMail.com

Marvelous
This sunshine today

Marvelous
Having today off to enjoy the sunshine

Marvelous
My weekend with my best friends in NJ

Marvelous
Seasons 1-6 of weeds on Netflix

Marvelous
Having Netflix on my phone to watch weeds anytime, anyplace

Marvelous
Only 14 days till Mexico!

Marvelous
My pawpaws recovery from spinal surgery this past Thursday

And last but not least..

Marvelous
My guest post being published on fit & fun in third!

What is marvelous in your monday?

A few days ago, I had a permanent Spinal Cord Stimulator implanted in my back in order to try relieve some of the chronic pain related to my Cauda Equina Syndrome.

I went into the Hospital and was being prepared for surgery by the Operating Room Nurses. A few times in my conversations with them, I mentioned that I had Cauda Equina Syndrome.

As has been the custom over all the years I have had this dreaded condition, my mere mention of CES was met with blank stares from the Nurses.

There were no “Oh my Gosh…that is a terrible thing to have”, or “Gosh…you are the first CES patient that I have ever treated” comments…

I just got the usual “I have no earthly clue what the Hell you are talking about..” stares.

Face it, in most corners of the Medical Community, this thing is unheard of.

My own Family Doctor has all of her patient charts, records, reports, and tests stored on a small tablet computer that she carries with her as she visits each patient. She does all of her notes on this tablet, in a program especially designed for Medical Doctors. Even her tablet does not recognize “Cauda Equina Syndrome” as a valid diagnosis.

My spellchecker feature on this blog does not recognize “Cauda Equina Syndrome” and underlines the words in red every time I type them.

I recently called to set myself up for an evaluation at the World Famous Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, one of the finest healthcare facilities in the world. When the gal I was talking to asked what my diagnosis was, I told her CES, and she then spent minutes trying to find it in her system. She could not. She finally ended up listing me as a “Spinal Cord Injury” patient.

In my opinion, The Social Security Administration here in the USA does not recognize CES as a Disabling condition by itself not because they feel the condition is not disabling, but I rather I think that they just don’t know anything about the condition.

I can understand you walking down the street, stepping in front of a random person, sticking your finger in their chest and screaming “Hey Buddy! What is Cauda Equina Syndrome????”, and of course, you’re going to get a blank stare from them. At the very least, they are going to think that your Horse is sick, in that Equina sounds real similar to Equine and most people here in Texas know all about horses….

But, it’s so frustrating when you run into Doctors, Nurses, Hospitals, Clinics, and other Medical Professionals that have no earthly clue what Cauda Equina Syndrome is.

I can understand the public not knowing a thing about this condition.

It’s pretty scary when I know 99% more about CES than the people who are supposedly treating my CES.

I bet most of you have run into the same experiences.

Blank stares from strangers, family, and friends….

And worst of all, blank stares from many Medical Folks that are SUPPOSED to know a lot more about this condition than we do.

So, I guess that makes you and I the Cauda Equina Syndrome Experts!

Have you been enduring years of chronic pain because of your Cauda Equina Syndrome?

There is one option you may want to ask your Doctor about…

Late last year, I underwent a tendon transfer surgery on my left foot and ankle to try to alleviate the effects of the severe foot drop that I have.

Within weeks after the surgery, the foot started to roll right back to it’s bad position that it had been in prior to the surgery. Not only did the surgery not work, but the pain level in both feet dramatically increased.

I finally just got to the point to where I went to my Family Doctor and asked that she refer me to a Pain Management Specialist, figuring that I was going to need heavy-duty medications for many years to come.

The Pain Management Doc did a thorough assessment of me and my history with CES and determined that the pain would indeed be a chronic condition that I would have the rest of my life. This particular Doctor really likes to use any methods possible to alleviate pain that will DECREASE the amount of addicting pain medications that patients need.

He brought up the idea of trying a Spinal Cord Stimulator.

I had never heard of the thing.

He explained that a relatively easy procedure could be done, under local anesthetic, in which leads were inserted adjacent to the spinal cord. These leads would be attached to a power pack that I would wear on a belt for a period of 4-5 days. When periods of severe pain would hit me, I could turn on this unit, causing it to send impulse waves to the leads in my back. This impulse is felt as a tingling, almost tickling sensation. He informed me that the tingling impulses would block the pathways to the brain that the pain impulses use to transmit pain signals. In theory, the tingling would keep you from feeling pain, or at least, much of the pain. You have complete control over the amount of tingling impulses via a small remote control that you carry with you. The device only masks the pain, but does nothing to eliminate it. Once you turn off the unit, any pain you are experiencing will come roaring right back. The power pack does utilize a rechargeable power source, so it is possible to leave the unit on 24 hrs a day if you so wish.

He said that I could try the trial version for 4-5 days and that if I had a good deal of pain relief, I could then have a permanent unit implanted in my back during a later surgery.

I had the trial version put in back in March of this year. The Surgery was done in a Day Surgery facility and I was awake during the whole procedure. I was placed face down on the operating table and was then given local injections of anesthetic to deaden my back. The Docs then used specialized equipment and cameras to insert two leads into my back, adjacent to my spine. I felt nothing at all during the procedure. Once they had the leads in place, they turned on the unit and asked me to report where I was feeling the tingling sensation. I felt the tingling along my lower back, butt, and down both legs. They were not able to get the tingling into my feet. Once they were happy the leads were in the correct position, they stitched me up, covered the surgery site with a bandage, and then connected the unit to the power pack on the the belt I would wear for the next 4 days.

With the temporary unit, I was not able to shower or bathe for the 4 days, and was just able to do sponge baths, as they did not want to risk getting water on the unit.

The unit gave me about a 60% decrease in pain overall. The tingling sensation took a full day to get used to, because it really was almost like someone was tickling me. I went shopping and was able to walk further and for longer durations than I normally can tolerate, so that was a great improvement.

You are not supposed to use the unit while driving, just in case the tingling might cause you to flinch involuntarily.

It did cut down on much of the pain, but not all of it. My feet still hurt a great deal since they could not get the sensation into my feet. Sure enough, once I shut off the unit, all the pain would instantly come back.

Once you get the permanent unit installed, you cannot ever have an MRI again for any reason, and you have to be careful going through any kind of security devices that use magnets. Any magnetic equipment runs the risk of moving your leads, possibly doing damage to your spinal cord and nerves. I was also warned that going through some of the security devices located in department stores might cause the unit to give you a quick jolt, but I did not experience anything out of the ordinary in the stores I was shopping in.

After the trial unit was removed, it took a few months before my Insurance Carrier would approve the Permanent implant. They are VERY expensive.

I had the surgery to implant the permanent unit on June 28, 2012.

There are numerous manufacturers of Spinal Cord Stimulators, but I imagine the process of installing them is pretty much the same.

Unlike the trial version of the stimulator, I went into this surgery and was put to sleep for the permanent implant. I was still awake when I was wheeled into the operating room and had to transfer from my gurney onto my stomach on the operating table. I was placed face-down on the table with my hips and pelvis being raised up higher than my head and shoulders. I was then knocked out so that they could make the incision for the implant, which is deep in my right lower back, and then they used x-ray equipment to thread the leads up adjacent to the spinal cord. When the leads were in place, they briefly woke me up from the surgery and turned on the device to have me verify if I was feeling the sensations in my legs and feet. Once I said that everything was good, they knocked me back out again and went about sewing me back up. Whereas the temporary trial stimulator had only taken 30 minutes to insert, this operation took about 2 and a half hours total from the time I entered the Operating Room.

When I awoke in recovery, I noticed real quick that the spinal cord stimulator does nothing to mask the pain from the surgery site. The right-hand side of my lower back had a great deal of burning pain and my whole back itself felt like someone had hit me square in the back with a truck. The Nurse then informed me “You are REALLY going to hurt tomorrow!”.

I have staples and sutures at the surgical site, and have a wrap around my abdomen and back to keep pressure on the surgical site. I have been told that I can only do sponge baths for the next two weeks until the staples and sutures are removed. I have also been told to do no twisting, bending, and no lifting for the next two weeks.

The unit itself has a small hand-held remote that I can clip onto my belt or pants, and there is a separate charging unit that plugs into the wall. You charge the charging station throughout the week and then once a week, you lay down and place the charging unit directly over the top of the implant in order to charge the implant. You then lay for about 3 hours to charge you up with one weeks worth of power.

I have tried the unit and it indeed has the tingling sensations throughout my legs and feet. I really won’t be able to give it a good workout until I get the staples and sutures out and then can resume normal activity. I had a 60% reduction on pain with the trial version, and am hoping to get a little bit more with this permanent implant.

Hopefully, with this stimulator now in place, I can soon cut my dosages of pain medication in half.

What is it? What is so severe that makes the pain is unbearable? The disc bulges and compresses the nerve against the bone. Somehow the words “pinched nerve” only undermine the suffering and anguish the crying gentleman experiences. “Crushed nerve” would be a better description. The force of the disc on the nerve is great. The flow of blood to the area is greatly reduced by the pressure constricting the blood vessels. The heavy dose of medication circulating in the blood stream can’t even get to the pain site.

That’s pain enough to make a grown man cry.

Gently, you place the man on the adjusting instrument. That’s what Dr. James Cox calls his table for spinal decompression. The table he designed. Dr. Cox is the author of a textbook on the care and treatment of low back pain. I am one of his pupils of many years. The man makes it to his stomach. With one hand you guide the rear section of the table slowly and carefully as it begins a slight decent toward the floor. Your other hand is placed above the injured disc, securing the vertebrae above the disc. As the vertebrae are pulled apart, the pressure in the disc drops. The central part of the disc moves away from the outer rings giving back toward the middle relieving the pressure to the now swollen nerve. The beginning of freedom is at hand.

Ninety days later, he walks from the office totally pain free and able to function without drugs and without surgery. Now his family is crying. They have their father and husband back to normal.

Website http://www.MeyerChiro.com

Blog: NoSpineSurgery.wordpress.com

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Phone: 817 GOT-PAIN

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The cards were actually stacked against her. Her mom bought these new “white corn” crunchy taco shells which tasted like white cardboard. She did not take inventory of what was in the refrigerator prior to starting dinner, so spinach had to be substituted for lettuce. There was cheese and she did cut some carrots and celery as side dishes. She cooked the ground beef and then added the taco seasoning mix with water. My wife only uses about half the packet because of the sodium content in those packets is too high to use at full strength.

Her finished product was a salty tasting slurry on white cardboard. I could only eat a few bites. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings because her intent was good but her knowledge and experience were lacking.

How many times do I think the same thing when someone calls our office to become our patient? They may have been to other places where their disc condition was treated with good intent, but the experience and knowledge were lacking. There is a lot to be said for knowing how and why something happens. When treating discs, there needs to be a beginning and end to the active treatment. A back condition that continues past the “normal” required healing may need to be reevaluated. Normal healing time is just that. The normal time it takes a disc to heal around 90 days if you use decompression to treat it.

Website                 http://www.MeyerChiro.com

Blog:                     NoSpineSurgery.wordpress.com

Like us on:           Facebook.com/MeyerChiropracticCenter

Follow us on:        Twitter.com/MeyerChiro

Phone:                  817 GOT-PAIN

E-Mail                   MeyerChiro@GMail.com