SCS Trial

When it comes to Ben's pain, we've pretty much exhausted all our treatment options. The last thing for us to try before just managing the pain with medication was a spinal cord stimulator. It's a little device where they put leads in his back that sends electrical impulses to the nerves that helps to kind of stun them so they aren't sending the pain signals. He had the trial unit put in on Friday and then taken out yesterday. And wow what a difference it made! Instead of his pain being in the 7-9 range, it was down in the 3-6 range, which is a HUGE improvement. It didn't completely get rid of the pain, but it sure helped. They only put one lead in, when they usually do two. They were having some trouble getting the one in, and didn't want to keep torturing him trying to get the second. But even just the one really helped. We decided that he will have a permanent one put in, but it will be a month. We have to wait at least two weeks just to let the back heal first and then they can go in again. But due to scheduling conflicts, he won't be able to have it put in until October 21st. So it will be another month of hurting, but after that hopefully things will get better quickly. And there is really no reason why they shouldn't. They will put in the 2 leads giving him a wider range for relief. It's just a matter of waiting now.
On a plus note, as soon as this surgery is done we can start the med board. And since he'll have this put in, it's pretty much a guarantee that we will be getting out of the military. Yay! As good as the military has been for us, we are ready to be done. I don't know when we'll be getting out, it all depends on how long the med board takes. But we should be done by next summer-ish. :)