pain pump & revision surgery

[taylor]

[COLOR=PurpleHas anyone had revision surgery or any spine surgery while they had a pain pump inplanted. Was it removed during the surgery, was in re-installed during the surgery? I have a medtronic pain pump & am concerned because I also have stenosis so severe that we were sent out of state because no one locally could feed the cathather. I don't know if the revision surgery will correct the stenosis? I don't really want to give up the pump just yet as it does a good job of taking care of the pain until the last 1 1/2 yrs as the pain began to get worse because of curve changes, pseudo getting worse, neck pain much worse, etc, all the normal changes[/COLOR[/SIZE]].

[Diane BCSW]

Taylor, I don't know if my experience will help you or not. I had an epidural pain pump installed in all but the last (5th) surgery. I cannot remember the reason my doctor did not put one in that last time, other than I really didn't have that much pain and just regular pain medication controlled what I had. Generally, the pump was taken out around one or two days after the surgery. Hope this is of some help.

[Susie*Bee]

Question...

Taylor-- are you talking about one of those pain pumps that is in there pretty much permanently??? To deal with long term pain? I think a lot of people may not know about those... I have a friend who has tried pretty much every avenue of dealing with her scoli pain-- she had fusion surgery with no instrumentation (but a whole year of being in a cast), probably back in the late 1950s or early 60s. It failed after awhile and she is very curved now (about 100º) but also inoperable. They have told her that at this point the only hope for pain control is a morphine (I think) pump implant, but she doesn't want that, as she feels she would then lose control of her body. Is that the sort of thing you're talking about? I hope things work out in your situation. I would think (hope!) they would address the stenosis problem as part of the revision surgery-- my surgeon did some procedures to correct the severe lumbar stenosis that I had, but mine was a 1st time surgery, not a revision. I think there are many others whose revision surgeries dealt with stenosis, but I could be wrong. That's probably a good question for your surgeon.

[taylor]

Suzie*Bee

Yes, my pump is an implanted Medtronic intrathecal pump. They make a pocket & place the pump just to one side of your navel or in that area. The cathather is fed up the spinal canal to deliver very small amounts of medicine to the sites of pain. I have had it 3 yrs now. I have been in so much pain that nothing else was working. I had no quality of life before the pump. I hope you will tell your friend to not be afraid. It is a wonderful thing. The medicine does not flow through your blood stream so their are no side effects. Oral meds kind of cover up the pain. The pump erases it, it is as if their is no pain. The 1st few months are difficult because it takes awhile to get the dosage at a level that will work for you. But, when nothing else is working it is worth the process.

However, as we all know with scoli, stenosis & all the other things that come with this; as the curves get bigger, the spurs come in, the stenosis closes up several areas, the pseudoarthrosis gets wrose, then it becomes time to see the dr one more time. It is only recently (the last 6-9 months) that the pain has begun to break through the pump. However, the pump does nothing to help with the neck pain & my neck has brought me to my knees for the last 3 yrs. I had a plate put in last Sept. It was a total failure. Trying to decide now, if I should just get the neck done 1 more time, or go for the entire revision, or wait til the pump wares out to get the revision. Dr. LaGrone says flatback & other problems could be addressed with revision. However, despite all the success I read on this forum, I just don't know if I can bite that bullet. I have had 3 surgeries that were awful, 2 that were good, but none of them have left me pain free. It seems that it is always this is fixed, but now there is something else as a result. The arthritis certainly gets worse with each surgery. Honestly, I am tired of the whole thing. I just wish the pain Dr would up the meds enough to take care of the pain so that we could skip the OR one more time. I hope I answered your questions. Please forgive me if I sound negative. I am just in one of those moods where I am tired of pain, & all that comes with it. I realize that I most likely will not ever be free of pain, but never did I know that finding a qualified Dr could be so difficult. Not did I know that it would require so much travel. We live in the country, have animals & it is hard to make such trips. I just don't know what to do. Thanks so much for your reply.

[acubfan]

pain pump

I personally had a Medtronic Baclofen pump which is a medication for spasticity. My first posterior spinal fusion they thought I would be fine but the surgeon cut the catheter and then of course I couldn't use it. A few years later I had a revision b/c of flatback, stenosis, and severe pain so since it was Anterior & Posterior we just decided to remove the pump at that time. I'm sure it could be done for you but it would be very difficult given the extensive work that will be done in your lumbar spine. I have had 4 total spine surgeries and I know that each one your wish it that you come out pain free but new problem always seem to arise. I am fused from T2-sacrum and my neck is just a mess. I have been getting several cervial facet blocks but they just aren't helping with the pain and headaches. There just isn't really an easy answer and believe me I share in your frustration. You just have to decide how much risk are you willing to take to possibly get some relief from pain. If you do decide to proceed with the revision I would definitely stress and have your pain dr. stress to the spine surgeon how important it is to you to keep that pain pump in and without damage. Good luck and hang in there...