The Nevro HF10™ test is over. To say it was disappointing would be a mild understatement. None of the settings gave me at least 50% relief, which was the goal of the test. The closest I came was 30%, and that wasn’t enough to justify a permanent implant.
The process of removing the wires was interesting, to put it mildly. After the physician got the mattress of tape and gauze off my back, he removed a staple that had been holding the wires in place. He then told me to hold my breath for a second and very rapidly pulled the wires out, like sucking spaghetti from a plate. I got to see the wires: the inserted parts were about eight inches long, barely a millimeter wide each, and had exposed electrode leads spaced along the last half.
I had some nasty side effects from the removal. My equilibrium was screwy for about an hour. I had a bad headache. My left hand shook, and I felt cold. Fortunately, my wife took us to a Schlotzsky’s where I could get some hot tomato basil soup inside me.
So, where do we go from here? The person at the Pain Management Center at Baylor Scott & White in Downtown Dallas looked over my CT Myelogram report again and found a couple of spots on my spine that might be categories for surgery, specifically near the L5 and S1 boundaries. He’s going to text my regular pain management doctor, who will supposedly look into surgeon options prior to my appointment on November 29th.
Until then, it’s pain medicine and waiting.
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