Posted by Sharon B on 5/19/10

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I went thru a trial in Jan 10 where they pulled the lines
in 2 days because they were so positional and painful in my
neck. In one month they did another trial and put in 2
peripheral leads and the trial went well. In March they did
the implant putting 2 cervical leads in and 2 peripheral
leads. Sadly, this was a disaster. The surgeon put the
lines in my back and out to the muscle and connected the 4
lines with connectors and then looped extra line under
these connectors and put all of this mess between my
shoulder blades. He then ran the 4 lines down my back
inside a tube. This looked like a garden hose sticking out
of my back and it was all over my back down to my butt.
The IPG was placed at the top of my butt cheeck and that
also had 2 connectors and then a large loop of line coiled
up underneath that. So, in the end all of this equipment
stuck way out of my skin and hurt worse then my pain that I
started with. I couldnt press my back against ANYTHING. The
pain was unreal. The reps from ANS said they have never
seen a mess like this and the surgeon ignored me and told
me to wait it out for 8 weeks to see if the swelling went
down. He continued to tell me that I am too thin. I am 125
pounds..far from TOO thin. I just dont have alot of body
fat..a normal body. He couldnt bury the line coming down my
back so it everything showed. It was UGLY. The surgeon sent
me to a plastic surgeon to see if he could put cadaver skin
on top of all of this equipment it wouldnt stick up so much
but the plastic surgeon basically laughed and said I have
no idea what your surgeon did to your back. It took 8 weeks
of having to lay on my side with my arms spread over a
pillow in order to get this surgeon to see me and address
this issue and he really didnt think it was a problem. It
looked horrid. I called other surgeons and no one wanted to
deal with the mess. I couldnt move my arms or allow my
shoulder blades to press together, couldnt sit against
anything, couldnt lay on my back, couldnt drive and no one
would listen. When he finally agreed to see me, he said he
wasnt sure if he believed that this was really a problem
but if I wanted him to try to fix it, he would. Mind you,
my insurance company paid OVER $300,000 for the 2 trials
and the one implant surgery..all in error but they
said "its not your money why do you care if it was
overpaid"? I went back into the operating room for the 4th
time to see if this clown could fix this and he basically
told me, Im not sure if I can fix this and that this was
HIS fault because I was too thin and he shouldnt have put
this in. I think thats just a poor excuse for sloppy work.
I laid there naked and he didnt see that this caused a huge
bump in between my shoulder blades? He didnt see that the
IPG stuck way up? He didnt see that the tube he put in my
back looked like a garden hose? He must have been smoking
crack. The morning of my surgery I was a wreck and he
basically told me that he didnt know what he could do for
me and that he may just have to pull it all out. I said to
him "if I leave here unhappy today, I will drag you thru
the court system for years." He made me such a wreck that
morning because he was unsure of himself. In the end..this
all has turned out as ok as it could be. I still have a
line in my back that sticks out and hurts when I sit
against anything. The IPG still sticks way out and hurts
when it presses against anything. In between my shoulder
blades is a whole lot better, but everything still hurts to
press my back against anything. I really wish that I
wouldnt have done any of this. Its been a distasterous mess
and in the end...the bill came to over $400,000...I never
ever expected that this procedure would have turned into
this kind of a mess. Im a Registered Nurse and well
educated and just cannot believe that this happened to me.
If I could go back, I would never have done this.... The
spinal cord stim works well and I really am thrilled with
St Judes Staff with the ANS stimulator. If it werent for
them, I would never have gotten thru this. I wish anyone
going thru this good luck and I hope that no one else has
this experience.
Be well all

Re: SPINAL CORD STIM MESS, 6/29/10, by tj.

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