R.I.P. Annie

[momw/ic]

I have been having a lot of urgency/frequency and increased pain that past several weeks. I found out yesterday that my interstim (her name is Annie) is DEAD. They said they had never seen one so dead - that they usually have at least a little bit of power left in them. Not the case with mine. I got it in March of 2006 so it lasted almost exactly 5 years.

Now I am having the surgery to get a new one. Hopefully my leads are still good so they don't have to redo that. Who has had theirs replaced? How does the surgery compare to the first time around? Did you find that it works just the same as the previous one?

I guess I'm worried it won't work as well since it has to be messed with. This thing has totally gotten me out of bed and I am one of the lucky few that it helps with pain as well.

[Madi's Granny]

I am so sorry to hear that you interstim is dead. You've had yours one year longer than I've had mine. I don't know about the replacement surgery. I do know that just getting the settings right after they have been messed up is really trying. I'm going through that right now and we don't even know why they messed up. I hope all goes well with your surgery and that all returns to normal quickly.

[tbabbitt]

I had mine impanted in April 2006. It was completely dead in november 2010. My leads were good. I had the old type programmer. You still have to be slightly awake for the replacement. I dont know if its the age thing or what , but I felt it took me a few extra days to recover. I got the new programmer which gives you more options as far as changing the frequency and location . I wish you well

[Madi's Granny]

It would almost be worth the pain involved with the replacement surgery to get one of the new controlers with the digital readout telling you what you settings are. I have made some head way in getting mine back to where I'm comfortable with the settings. Even my reprogrammer says the new model are easier to set and have more programs. I got mine just before the started using two of the new ones ( one in each hip).