pixiepoodle

I wanted to be sure you read my reply re: if anyone is happy with their pump. I had my pump put in on 2/1/02 so I have had it 1 1/2 years and I am VERYYYYYYYYYY happy with it. The only problem I had was that the morphine caused my feet and legs to swell and my med was switched to Fentanyl(it has the dr. mystified since it never happened to any other patient and he's been putting pumps in since 1983).

Before I got the pump, I came close to losing my job several times (I'm a paralegal) because of being so drugged up and my severe pain level caused my "Fibro" fog to give me short term memory and concentration problems. After getting the pump, my boss still can not get over how functional and alert I am. Most of my coworkers have commented how how bouncy and full of engery I am (which is because the pain is not eating up my engery). I recently saw one of my sister-in-laws who I haven't seen for 2 yrs. and she absolutely could not get over how well I looked and acted.

One thing that shocked me once was that 2 or 3 yrs ago on my birthday when it was time for my 4 yr renewal of my driver's license, they took a new picture of me. I remember having a low pain level that day and being happy because it was my birthday and deliberately trying to smile as nice as I could so my picture would not look like the typical "crimal" mug short. When I got my new license back a few weeks later, I was stunned to see the strain on my face caused by being in pain. Its no wonder that people think I look so much better now.

One other thing I wanted to mention is that my pain mgmt. dr. has most of his patients on the pump and every time I go in for a refill the pump patients do nothing but talk about how they love their pumps. None of them has anything bad to say about it, only good things. I sure there are people who have had a bad experience with one or who have had surgery complications as with any implanted device or surgery. There are always risks being put to sleep and risk of infection, but those were risks I was willing to take because I could not live with my pain level any longer.

I hope your trial goes well. If you have the short trial of simply getting an injection into your spine, please be sure to lay flat for the length of time the dr. tells you no matter how good you feel or you might end up with a horrible headache like I did that lasted for days.