Infection post neurostimulator surgery

4 weeks ago yesterday I had my permanent neurostimulator placed in my back. This was placed due to chronic low back pain that radiated down my left leg after having 3 previous back surgeries from rupturing my Disc at L4/L5. As far as the stimulator it is working great. I absolutely love the relief I'm getting.

I had 2 large incisions from having this procedure done. One in the middle of my back between my lower part of my shoulder blades to get to my thoracic spine. It was closed with 11 staples. Then the other is on my upper left butt cheek right below my belt line. It was closed with 10 staples.

The one in my upper back has nearly healed and you can barely see it. However, the one on my butt is another story. It has always looked rough. I went in at 2 weeks post op to have the staples removed and when he removed them it actually popped open a bit in the center. He put a bandaid on it and told me to only shower for the next week. But that it was ok. I even asked do u think it might be infected bc it looked a bit red to me. He thought the redness was from the staples and since I had no other symptoms he didn't think infection was a problem.

That was 2 weeks ago. Monday night when I set down I noticed it seemed more tender. A couple hours later I felt wetness on my pant so I reached back there (remember this is a bit below my belt line) and came back with pus. I looked in the mirror and pushed on my incision and it poured out. I had a appointment with my PM dr Tuesday so I decided I could show it to him to get treatment instead of fighting with the ER.

So when I went he said it was definitely infected and pushed hard on it to get as much pus out as possible. He also started me on an antibotic Keflex 500mg twice daily. Then he told me if it wasn't better in 10 days then I would more than likely have to have the stimulator removed along with all of it's components. He said then they would repeat the surgery once the infection was gone.

I thought I was getting better. The drainage has slowed to almost nothing and until about 11pm Thurs night I felt great. I then began (vomiting 2 times only) and running 103.2 fever. Which has responded to ibuprofen. It has started draining a little more and is a bit more tender but still not as bad as Tuesday. I have not ran any fever this whole time except today.

So my question is has anyone had an infection after having the neurostimulator put in? If so did meds work to get rid of it or did u have to have it removed? I'm worried sick as this machine wasn't cheap and I can't afford to have another surgery and to be off work again. Any and all advice and info would be great. Thanks in advance!!

Thanks,
Angela Stewart

proudmomx2 I would be going calling up the surgeon who put the stimulator in, and calling quickly! I will admit I am not familiar with implanted stimulators but is the infection where they put the controller/battery pack in? Can they not just take that out and leave the leads and paddles in place? How about a course of IV antibiotics? I would think that a trip to a wound care unit would be in order first???? If your running a fever with this you should definitely get thoroughly check out, sometimes infections like this can lead to sepsis and then you have some real problems to deal with!

Please don't wait, no matter how much you like the relief from the unit, this infection, is definitely not something you want to mess around with!

I wish you the best! See another doctor if you need to, or go to the ER but get seen ASAP!

White Beard

No one that's had an infection from this or even a pain pump?

I am kind of surprised that they did not culture the site, so they would absolutely know what antibiotic to use to fight it with! It always helps to know what kind of bug is causing the infection, especially since it is most probably a nosocomial infection and any more, allot of them are resistant to allot of antibiotics.

I had a nurostimulator put in July 23 of last yearto take care of pain in my left leg and foot. Pain started becaused a laminectomy at L4-L5 did not help the pain. Every thing healied well and the pain was gone! Then on Jan.9th a large bloodblister appeared on the back scar. The Dr. drained it and put a bandaid on it and said it would heal. Well it continued leak fluid and has not healed sence. Another Dr. said that there is an infection from a wire. It may have to come out. Two weeks from now they are going to open it up and see whats going on and possibly take the equiptment out! Then the PAIN comes back. I feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place! Has anybody gone through anything like this???