Wanted to post some comments about Nevro HF10 success.

My wife is 10 weeks past implant.
We have finally found a setting that gives here the relief she experienced in the trial which took pain level from 8-9 to 3-4. Percentages are hard for her to figure out so we just told them pain numbers and they could figure out their percentages.

No reduction in pain pills yet. But she feels like she has a life now.
During the trial it was the first time she smiled in probably 3 years. I could actually give her a full hug

Some info that may help people when deciding to do this.
Educate yourself. I did probably 40-60 hours and interviewed 2 doctors. My wife has a complicated case she is fused from T10 to sacrum. The worst joint causing the pain is the T9-T10. Because of all the hardware we wanted someone who was good. There is no medical qualifications to do these and are a big profit center for them so a lot of dr.'s do them but may not do a lot.

I found 2 doctors who probably do the most implants in Minneapolis MN which is where we live. 1 was at her pain clinic. Her pain is Thoracic which is not common so I did tons of research online of studies. if I did not understand something I learned and wrote notes to ask doctor.

It is very important to ask a lot of questions as this is a last resort for most people and is not as simple a process as they make it out to be.
My questions were very specific to my wife's case and I kept asking until I understood answers. I was told by 1st PA that she had never had some of my questions and was more than happy to discuss. The pain clinic Dr. even asked if I was a Dr.

We chose the doctor based on the fact that he had viewed her x-rays before he even came in, acknowledged the difficulties in her case and was confidant he could get leads in, answered all my questions, had done thoracic implants, low infection rates (1 in 10 years), he kept answering even though he was between surgeries and nurse kept coming in to tell him his patient was ready. I was also able to contact him later for more questions and he called back personally and found a study that the HF10 was more adjustable an had shown good results in Thoracic.

I personally don't think the type of unit makes as big a difference as the Dr.'s experience and the company reps. The docs use the companies that they feel the most comfortable with. Ask what their infection rate is? How long have the reps been working with them/
The doctor had no contact basically with aftercare. The reps do it all. They are in the surgery and fully involved. our reps were great. Always available for questions. I drove them nuts I think.

The trial was easy surgery wise not very intrusive, The implant surgery was no joke. It took a couple hours and for my wife who is 62 a full 3-4 weeks to recover completely. The battery pocket was the worst pain and the fact I think that the entry for the leads was right at her problem joint.

The after surgery programming was complicated and time consuming. I can see why some people give up. I will do another post on it.

Bottom line she is happy at this point but doesn't expect to be pain free or get off all pain killers, She knows that a certain amount of pain will be for ever and she will never be ale to do some things.

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