Today, Dr. van Praagh shared with us that prior to our initial contact with him, he had only just encountered the Nevro technology. He also indicated that initially he found himself responding very skeptically to the claims that Nevro was making. Nevertheless, with a persistant Canadian "knocking at his door" and an equally persistant Dutch aunt advocating on his behalf, he made the decision to proceed with the implant for me as a way of gaining first hand experience with the technology. Moreover, after reviewing my medical files, Dr. van Praagh recognized that my situation was about as complicated as it gets, and he decided to respond out of sincere human compassion.
However, it was only today, that he expressed to us his initial skepticisim concerning Nevro's claims. With this in mind, it was extremely interesting to hear him to speak of the Nevro technology as a REVOLUTION rather than an evolution of spinal cord stimulation technology -- the first radical shift that he has seen in his 20 years of practice. It was also extremely satisfying to hear him speak of his hope for other patients for whom he has had little to offer. Now, with my success in front of him, he recognizes potential for other complicated patients.
If ever there was any doubt about coming half way around the world to the Netherlands for a anew, expanding technology, all doubt has been erased in our minds. Here in the Netherlands, the right combination of compassionate medical staff, revolutionary technology and premiere facilities came together tp create a success for me.
This is by no means the end of the journey, however. Like we have said before, time is going to b e needed for both my mind and body to heal. Today provided a poignant reminder of this fact as the most recent drop in my morphine levels (now at 100 mg a day where they were at 8,000 mg 3 months ago) caused withdrawal symptoms to set in: muscle aches, head aches, hot/cold flashes, upset stomach, diarhhea, With this report, Dr. van Praagh revised the schedule to drop very slowly over the next 9 weeks. I am already counting down the days untilI I am morphine free.
Tomorrow, I will share a bit more about my thoughts on the "next chapter". Right now, I am feeling to lousy to continue.