Hoping to help others by sharing our life and our health challenges with heart disease, chronic back, neck, arm, hand and leg pain.
by Ken and Pauline
My name is Pauline and my husband’s name is Ken. On August 15, 2016, Ken was in a terrible car accident that totaled our 2015 Malibu. A person in a large van ran a red light and hit the driver’s side of our car. Our car was totaled, my husband was dazed, and he was injured. The fire department used a long spinal backboard to slide him out of the car through the back passenger door and EMS took Ken to the hospital.
Since that accident and in the years following the accident, Ken has suffered from chronic back, neck, arm, left hand and leg pain. Ken has had many medical tests and procedures, and he has had numerous surgeries to try and alleviate his chronic pain. He has had five surgeries on his back, one surgery on his neck, and one surgery on his left arm. The purpose of all these efforts were attempts to reduce or stop his pain, to improve function, to reduce the number of pain medications taken and to avoid or delay future surgeries. However, all of the procedures and surgeries, along with Ken’s exercising, physical therapy and weight loss, were not much help for his chronic painful situation after the accident.
Ken has had Electromyography (EMG) which are tests that measure the electrical activity of muscles and nerves. He has had several cortisone shots in his back and hip which consist of steroids and act on irritated nerves that are causing the pain and reduces swelling and pressure. He has had ablation procedures for his back for pain management where radio waves are sent through a precisely placed needle to heat an area of the nerve. This prevents pain signals from being sent back to the brain and is considered for long-term pain conditions, especially of the neck, lower back or arthritic joints that haven’t been successfully treated with other methods. Many of these tests and procedures results only lasted for a short while or did not help at all resulting in him eventually having to have surgeries on his back, neck, arm, and hand.
Ken was finally offered the option of trying a spinal cord stimulator and this option requires two procedures. The first procedure is a trial which allows the patient to experience how well the stimulator might relieve his pain. Ken had a wireless handheld programmer which let him adjust the stimulation during the trial enabling him to experience and assess the different levels of stimulation the system could provide. The procedure to receive the trial system takes about 30 to 90 minutes and is usually done in a doctor’s office or in a same day surgery center.
The trial lasts up to about 10 days. Once the doctor and Ken decided the spinal cord stimulator was right for him, a date was scheduled for him to have the surgery to implant the permanent stimulator. Now that my husband has had the permanent spinal cord stimulator surgery, we are both very happy that he is experiencing about 80% less back pain, and he is back to exercising and working out.
Ken also has heart disease, and over the years, he has taken charge of
his heart health by going through several medical tests, procedures, and
surgeries to keep his heart disease under control. Ken was previously overweight, and he has had two bariatric surgeries to help him lose weight. He had lap-band surgery where a band is placed around the upper part of the stomach to create a small pouch to hold food. The band limits the amount of food you can eat by making you feel full after eating small amounts. This procedure eventually was not successful for him because despite losing weight, he quickly gained it back. Ken next had gastric sleeve surgery where 75 to 85% of his stomach was removed. This surgery has been successful for him, and he has lost about 120 pounds which has helped the function of his heart.
Ken has had cardiac catheterizations to diagnose and to help evaluate the condition of his heart. From 1998 to 2007, he had angioplasty surgeries which resulted in nine stent placements. Unable to input any more stents, the next step was seven-bypass surgery. Ken tries to maintain a healthy diet, but he does admit that sweets are the culprits which are sometimes hard for him to resist. He stopped drinking socially approximately 25 years ago and he stopped smoking about 35 years ago. Ken gets annual check-ups from his cardiologists and from his primary care physician. With his heart health under control and now that he has the spinal cord stimulator, he has become more physically active and he has resumed exercising and working out regularly. I teasingly call Ken my “Bionic Man”.
Through it all, I thank God and I appreciate that Ken has always been a fighter, and he has always been determined for us to be able to continue living our lives to the fullest. Now that Ken’s back pain has been mostly alleviated, we are looking forward to continuing our active lifestyle. We enjoy entertaining family and friends, and we enjoy visiting our family and friends. We also love going out to restaurants, parks, movies, traveling and riding our Harley Davidson Ultra Classic that we had custom converted from a motorcycle to a Trike.
Ken and I realize there are many people who have gone through a lot more health adversities than he has. However, we are hoping his lifelong learning, and his health experiences will help to inspire others, especially those who are struggling with health issues like his. I admire my husband for his resilience and for his determination to have always worked hard over the years at improving his health. I appreciate his devotion and his desire for us to continue to enjoy our active life together.
We are hoping that by sharing our survival journey, we are offering possibilities for relief for anyone suffering from chronic pain. We know it is essential to raise awareness about these issues and to provide support and understanding to those who may be going through similar struggles. By sharing our experiences, it is our desire to help create a sense of community and solidarity, where individuals can find understanding and encouragement. We hope we are helping to break the stigma associated with these health conditions and helping to foster a more empathetic and inclusive society.
Ken and I are blessed that his health has improved tremendously. We are also very thankful to have shared more than 35 years together. We are appreciative and happy that our lives are full of people we love, the fun places we have been, and the beautiful memories we have experienced along the way. Through our faith in God, we wish everyone love and peace and we continue to look forward to living, loving, laughing, and enjoying our life together.