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Hi there,
My husband has a compression fracture in his T12 from metastasized prostate cancer. He had a vertebroplasty in October. It failed. He then had a CT injection in November. It failed. He just had a thoracolumbar medial branch nerve block -- failed. We're really depressed.
Now we're looking to get the intrathecal pump. Taking huge doses of oxy simply sucks.
He has a spinal cord stimulator and a sacral nerve implant. There are a lot of risks involved with this implant, but at this point, I feel that we have nothing to lose. Your comments have been great. If there's anything else you'd like to add, we're game.
p.s. My husband's weight has sharply dropped. He was at 240 and now he's under 180. He feels 100% better without the extra weight.
Replies to "Hi there, My husband has a compression fracture in his T12 from metastasized prostate cancer. He..."
@billcarlsonfilms I was told by a reputable neurosurgeon to get a pain pump because my pain specialist has tried 10 minimally evasive procedures, last being the spinal stimulator and that did not work. I had my hopes up. I asked him about the pain pump and he is against doing them. He said he use to do them but they cause more problems than giving me a pain killer orally. I trust his judgement. He has a 4.9 rating at the University Pain Center at Rush in Chicago.
I has a spinal fusion on L5-S1 that was a nightmare and a laminectomy at L3 that caused me to go to inpatient rehab to be able to walk again. Now the pain meds are not helping as much. I live alone and this will be a problem. I am pretty independent. I was planning on downsizing my home to a condo, but have 3 floors of furniture and not many people to help me. I take antidepressants because this has caused depression which I am told is not unusual. If I could lose weight, my GP said it would probably help my back. I cannot walk far or exercise too much. He put me on Wegovy which made me so sick that I stopped it. Back pain sucks. Reading these stories shows me that we are all in the same boat.
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@billcarlsonfilms Has the SCS helped at all? Mine worked well for about two and a half years. What would you say your husband's average pain level on a score of 1-10? I had a pain pump implanted three years ago after a successful trial. It's been a frustrating journey. So far I have had exactly ONE DAY of good relief since then. The pump's output has been increased to a high level, but still no help. Crazy, right? Nothing seems to make sense. If there are no other options left, then I would definitely get a trial set up. That will give you a good idea if the pump will help. I wish you well.