It's Not FDA Approved??

Sorry for the delay in writing...

So two days ago I made an appointment to meet one of my Saint Jude Medical reps for some adjustments to my stimulator (I have two, Alicia and Jennifer). Jennifer called me the day after surgery and she had indicated that there are many different parameters that they are able to adjust with their computers that I am unable to adjust on my unit. Alicia is my clinical specialist rep who met me at the surgeon's office to do the adjustments. I cannot rave about Alicia and Jennifer enough. They are both really awesome at what they do. Plus I LOVE their jobs. So maybe when I get well they can put in a good word for an interview. ;) Ok ok. So back to the point. I sat down with Alicia and she hooked up an HP handheld device to my stimulator. She then began to tweak my current programs by adjusting the frequency, which is a measure of how many electrical pulses per second. At a higher frequency the stimulation feels like a more constant buzzing. At a lower frequency its a slower pulsating feeling like a boom-boom-boom. After toying with a few programs I realized that my preference is a lower frequency of about 30, whereas my previous programs went up to 90. She created 3 lower frequency programs for me and one additional one that was the same frequency, just at a higher strength (in case I became to used to the others). I am very happy with the programs now and I am getting great relief, except for in my left shoulder where I think the lead isn't place deep enough under the skin.

I also learned a lot of really great information from Alicia about my procedure. Numero uno being the fact that field stimulation for the trunk, which is what I have, is not actually FDA approved yet. Peripheral Nerve Field Stimulation actually refers to stimulation of the limbs. I am not sure how I was approved for the surgery since FDA approval trials have not even been scheduled yet. Oh well. All I know is that I am lucky enough to try it and hopefully it will become FDA approved so more chronic pain patients like my self can benefit from such amazing technology. I am pretty pleased at this point. I am not saying I am exactly looking forward to the final surgery, but I will look forward to the results.