The stimulator uses bluetooth, and the company rep uses an ipad to "program" it. It's a more flexible program than I realized. They can change the location on the leads that gets charged - essentially activating different nerve bundles - which provides a different location/kind of relief. He has an iphone controller and can turn up/down how much electricity is coming from the stimulator, which is just an implanted battery.
The morphine pump has been doing it's job just fine, since install. But it didn't help with the muscle spasms he was getting; stimulator does. So that's what got adjusted. Last rep, insisted that new research was indicating that more relief was had from the absolute minimum amount of electricity - and never looked at his x-ray for location of leads - so that program just didn't work for someone with actual, severe spinal damage. They get a lot of people who are conditioned to react to any amount of pain - as if their arms are being cut off without anasthesia. And are mostly begging for oral painkillers. (which isn't their primary treatment protocol)
B's proprieception is pretty danged good. And he's good at describing how things feel. But the little bit of reading I've done on the neuro side (and neuro-psychological) sometimes gives me clues about what's really going on - that isn't technically a bio-medical issue. Anything that is actually physical is usually externally visible. Twitching or involuntary movement. Even though he has had more than enough practice controlling that in public. Sometimes, it causes him to fall - and while that could be dangerous for someone frail, he's not. And he's learned how to roll. LOL.
When he's frustrated or upset - and these days, with things still not working the way they're "expected" to in the medical & gov't insurance realm- he's way more susceptible to pain. Notices every little thing, in fact; which is a lot like hypervigilance. And of course, as long as he was in the military - and active in those dangerous situations - his hypervigilance is well developed and a survival skill. That's just one example of how the neuro side of things impacts pain... but in his case, he has an actual old injury that ONLY can be medically mediated, so far. He's mastered pushing through a lot of little stuff. Embracing the suck, as they say in the military.
So the new girl at the previous appt just assumed he was one of those chronic pain patients that are hypersensitive to pain and that it was mostly psychologically based. SMH. He is NOT depressive, in the least - nor does he have a shred of any victim mentality. He's funny; he endures to the best of his ability without whining about it; but he does expect these devices to enable him to function. I'm trying to convince him (maybe wrong-headed here) that at 66, he's always going to have SOME aches & pains NOT fixable by these devices. That they may be 85-90% effective on his physical pain, until he attempts some physical feat that not even a 40 yr old guy thinks is doable by himself. And that with Hol's and my help - he doesn't HAVE to do it by himself. She's strong; I'm still almost that strong.
But these changes are going to be slow; his conditioning (prior life experiences) has taught him he has to keep going at that level without asking for help - because there simply isn't any to be had. This trips Hol's & my conditioning triggers and things get a little "lively" - no one's angry, just we don't want him to hurt himself when we're right here. He's acknowledged before, that he's simply not used to this in his reality. Since all 3 of us, have done the same things for the same reasons at different times... we get it.
