@mmalone1804 Yes these are all very important aspects to consider. However most of us are typically so bogged down in pain dwe fail to consider the aftermath of how to live with and use this pump day to day. I know a lot about this issue because I went through quite the nightmare myself before I found my current setup of pain management.
For the first two years it was a complete disaster. I had to see this doc weekly for titrations, but he didn’t understand how to bolus and essentially he didn’t understand this tech at all, so I got zero relief and I mostly got tons of anxiety and even grief for how it didn’t work throughout that entire period, all because my pain management doc at that time was utterly useless. It was a very scary time because I could see how uncomfortable and anxious this doc was when dealing with the pump. And this in turn made me scared. Eventually it all came to a head when this doc gave me an overdose of ketamine (600 mg) causing me to puke for three days straight. During this godawful process I was so exhausted from my crps pain not being controlled that I became suicidal. Consequently I was referred to an emergency pain psychologist for help, and it was through this group of psychologists that I found my current pain management doctor. They put me in contact with a woman who also had a pain pump and she was very happy with her doc and I finally made the switch. But it didn’t stop there: when I consulted with Dr Diaz for the first time he simply said he didn’t like anything about my pump setup so he booked me in for surgery where he redid the whole thing; he placed the catheter much further down on my spine and he made a new pocked for the actual pump too since it had sunk down and rested on my hip bone. Moreover he changed my meds too, I had a bupivacaine hydromorphone mix at first but he traded that for a clonedine hydromorphone mix. He also preprogrammed 6
boluses which flushes the nerve with more medication at specific times during the day/night when my pain typically spikes. In other words, it took me over 2 years to figure this pump out. Had I seen Dr Diaz from the get go I would have saved myself from a lot of fear, pain and discomfort and I woud have gotten some relief after just a few months of titration. So please do your due diligence before you get this pump. Your ability to cooperate closely with and communicate well with your pm doc is imperative.
And lastly I live in Texas but if you live in California you should be able to find some sound pump doctors over there. I hope you figure this out, best of luck to you