SCS for 83 year old?

There is NO reason she has to lie on her stomach what so ever!

Any qualified, certified MT will be able to work on her seated or on her side.  Think of when they work on pregnant women!  Surely they cannot lie on their bellies.

A good and familiar MT will either have a cradle to support her on her side, or even use pillows for support.  She doesn't need to budge.  She can be worked on from any position at all!!  :)

M.

Any thoughts on a TENS unit? She has had one used on her in PT, and said it helped. I guess I know it wont help immensely, but my main question, is there any reason NOT to try one. Can it cause any more pain or damage?

They seem to be really reasonably priced, so was thinking of giving one a shot.

Just thought I would update from our visit to the PM doctor on Tues.  It was an odd visit.

He went over the notes from the surgeon he sent us to, and decided to immediately move ahead with the SCS trial, and said he hoped to have the permanent one installed by Christmas.  My poor moms eyes were growing larger and larger the more he talked.  She kept looking at me, waiting for me to stop him.  I am of the mind that we paid the doctor, so I should listen to everything he said.  I let him tell us everything, then started asking questions.  When I brought up concern on her age, and the severity of surgery, he let me know that it was a minor surgery compared to "cleaning out" the stenosis around the nerves.  He said if she had it done in the morning, she could go home the same day.  Every concern I brought up, he had an answer for, and had I not done a lot of reading and asking questions here, I would have gone for it.  I felt like he was a salesman for a product.  Made me wonder, do they get an incentive for selling these devices?  I really like the doctor, and like to think he has our best interests in mind, but with the hard sell feeling I had, makes me wonder.

Anyhow, I told him that I wanted to try less invasive therapy and meds first.  He then looked at the pain level chart I filled out when we first walked in, and was shocked that her pain level was at a 4 (5mg Hydrocodone was just kicking in).  He then absolutely agreed that if meds were working that well, that is the direction we should take.  He suggested slowly increasing her dosage of Hydrocodone until we saw the maximum relief we could get, without her suffering side effects.  I asked about the Zohydro, and he had never heard of it.  He said he knew that something similar was in trials, but had not been released yet.  When I told him I thought that they actually HAD been released a couple of weeks prior, he asked the name again, and said he was going to look into them, and that usually drug reps were beating down his door when new drugs were released.

When we left, mom had tears in her eyes, and told me she thought I was going to "sell her out", haha.  She really is afraid to have surgery, rightfully so.

Her pain is either much better, or she has gotten used to it.  She is almost back to where she was BEFORE the injections that caused so much extra pain.  She is able to go to restaurants using her walker if I drop her at the front door.  For the past month we have had to use a wheelchair, so that is a definate improvement.  She is also back to being alone at night, with just her lifeline necklace.  That was important to her, and a huge relief to me also.  She is not spending all day in bed like she was, and is back to hosting her weekly crafting/gossip meetings, with a little help from her caregiver.

While I am not under any illusion that this is over, and everything is peachy, it is a nice respite.  It is comforting to see her slowly improve to the point that she is able to enjoy at least the simple things again, and hold onto her independence a little while longer.  I am becoming more and more convinced that advocating for ones care is a must in todays "fix at all costs" mentality, and not blindly follow doctor advice.  I saw it with my sister, who battled breast cancer for 10 years.  At the end, when it had spread to her brain, the doctor wanted to do some type of gamma knife surgery, even though her organs were already shutting down.  We said no, enough is enough.  She passed 2 days later.  Will never regret that decision.

Thank you for all of your support, and I look forward to a long relationship with people here.  Hopefully I can give the same support to someone who needs it as desperately as I did.

Wade

Post Edited (tatterdema) : 11/21/2013 4:29:48 AM (GMT-7)

Yay!!

I was getting nervous when I started reading your post about "going ahead with" with the SCS.

But as I read on, I wanted to raise my hands up and shout "Yes!!"  Way to go.

Very nicely handled.

You're right, taking this one step at a time, even one day at a time, any moment where she's feeling more in control.

I can imagine her sense of relief after feeling afraid.  You're awesome!

M.

I'm not sure I have any particular answers for you, per se, but I can lend you quite a sympathetic ear.

I've had numerous, complex back "issues" for years. Two years ago, the pain in my back and one knee were so severe, I received complaints, through the landlord, from the downstairs neighbors that I was making too much noise because I was crying in pain.

Come to find out, I needed a new hip. Had the replacement, and thought this time, I'm going to be fine, assuming full-well that was the cause of this.

Momentarily, it helped. The knee was referred pain. Then my back hit rock bottom, I could not walk (I would crawl to the bathroom, it was easier than trying to bear weight walking), avoided stairs, became reclusive and avoided all activity.

I opted for being bed-bound than get back to using the walker.

But then I got "spinal reconstruction" involving fusions and decompressions,...there I was back to needing help just to stand, back to the walker and bedding changes. But I thought his time, I'm going to be fine, assuming this was the cause of this.

Then my right hip went. The groin pain was the first place I felt the deep, intractable pain, and it worked its way right up to the outside of my hip and into my low back. I got the right hip replaced, thinking come on now, this has to be it,....right?

It's all so connected.

It's been 11 months since my back surgery, and 5 months since my right hip replacement (and that had 3 complications),...and yet, there I was, back with a walker, crying from the pain, didn't want to be a burden to anyone, afraid of what that would mean....and the doctors all stating I "should be fine" and not be in pain.

But the truth is, (and this is what I am doing), you need to find someone, maybe a physiatrist, who will look at the whole body and how it's all connected. You simply cannot isolate each hip as single units, the lumbar spine, the sacrum, and treat them separately, and not consider how they all impact the function of each other.

It's been only a recent eye opener for me when I realized how poorly I've been assessed up to now because I was XRayed and looked at as body parts.

Even if XRays of whatever body part look sound, that doesn't mean all the parts have a healthy symbiotic relationship to her well-being. I wish I learned this earlier than I did.....




M.

Lol, just an update. Hopefully I wont be posting in the "chronic pain" forum any longer, as moms pain has gone away. She is a new person. Don't ask how, or why, because I have no idea. She still has minor pain, but is walking with her walker again, and not taking any pain medication at all. This all happened the day she received her electric wheelchair. Suddenly she was not complaining of pain, but could not move her legs at all, and I knew from past experience that she was suffering from a UTI.

Having said that, I have now moved into the Parkinson's forum, because I am hoping my horror story there can help someone prevent a problem with medical facilities.

It was a very rough end to last year, here is to hoping 2014 is a better year for all of us. Wishing everyone wellness in health.

That's one time i can say Im glad to see you go back!!Lol . Its so frustrating to see an elderly person in so much pain and drs being reserved in their treating it.

Your a refreshing reminder that our kids will battle for us when we come to that point in our lives we nolonger can.

I think we neglect to remember is that the elderly do not present normal symptoms to issues . All nerve conduction paths are well old and seen a lot of use through the years and pain one place may show up as a problem somewhere totally different and especially in light of someone with a disease such as parkinsons .

Early in my nursing training i had an instructor who had spent a good many years working geriatrics tell me the first sign of a bowel blockage was cold symptoms? I thought she wouldnt ever take care of my Mother !! Well 30+ years later and my hand to God i can't count the times i used that to prevent a patient from ending up with a bowel obstruction surgery . Ive never seen it in a medical book ,never heard a Dr say it and have no idea where other then experience she learned it but it goes to show how different diagnosing them can be.

Please do stop in from time to time and update us. Glad you will continue visiting the Parkinson forum as i know your experience would be helpful there as they get many caregivers and family seeking answers and support .