I had a really good appointment with Mr Mundil, the neurosurgeon who will do the spinal cord stimulator surgery. He started off by explaining that, due to the significant amount of scar tissue around the area of my previous two operations, he would need to go further up the neck for the implant, but unfortunately the full spine MRI doesn’t show quite enough detail of the neck area. He asked how I got on with the MRI last time, knowing I’ve found them very painful previously. When I said I’d taken some diazepam and slept right through the 45 or so minutes, we concluded that 15 mins for my neck would be fine but he’s going to ask the GP to prescribe some diazepam in case I need it.
We then got on to discussing the types of implants some more. I asked about how limiting the less invasive surgery version would be and talked about the pretty moderate level of activity that I’d like to be able to do – gentle swimming, cycling etc. he said that I would be fine as long as I be quite protective of the surgery for 2 or 3 months. That will give time for scar tissue to grow around the electrodes and help keep them in place. Having concluded that the less invasive option was clearly the best, he described the implants themselves. There is a standard and a rechargeable version. The control/battery unit both need to be replaced every 8-9 years, but the rechargeable one is smaller as it doesn’t need to hold as much charge. Obviously the downside is that you need to recharge it fairly frequently, probably 20 mins a day, or a few hours if not done for a couple of days. You also need to remember to take the charger with you if you go away. He’s going to send me a brochure to get more details before deciding.
His plan is that, presuming the MRI shows there is sufficient space in my cervical area, he will be able to offer me a date in October for surgery.