Susan's Story*

Susan’s pain began where she spent so much of her time—in a classroom filled with children. A teacher for more than two decades, Susan had her foot broken when a little girl accidentally brought a chair leg down on it. The injury was so severe that surgery was needed to correct it, and Susan later developed the classic symptoms of a chronic pain condition.

“Burning…stabbing…pins and needles,” are words Susan uses to describe the pain that spread from her foot to her leg. She went to several doctors for help, but they eventually ran out of ways to treat her. When her pain became too intense, Susan was admitted to the hospital and given powerful drugs to ease her symptoms. After returning home, she sometimes needed a plastic boot or wheelchair to get around, which she stored in the garage when not in use.

“A real estate agent saw the wheelchair in our garage,” Susan recounts, “and asked my daughter if her grandmother lived with us. My daughter said, ‘Those aren’t my grandma’s, those are my mom’s.’” Moments like this made it clear to Susan how disabling her pain could be. Even so, she was daunted when a specialist suggested that she try neurostimulation. It was the mid-1990s then, and few doctors were using the therapy. “I was scared beyond belief,” Susan says. “I didn’t have pamphlets or books I could look at. It wasn’t like today.”

Susan’s reward for overcoming that fear was a pain level that is a fraction of what it used to be. Consequently for her pain, she no longer goes to hospitals and only occasionally takes pain medication. “It’s brought me from being someone who was drugged up in a hospital,” she says, “to being someone who could manage a home and a family and teach little kids.” She also notes that people now have lots of ways to learn about the therapy before trying it. “Don’t be afraid,” she says. “The support that’s available is wonderful.”

*The above testimonial is the experience of this individual only. It is an individual result and we do not claim that it is representative of the experience that all or most patients achieve and is not indicative of future performance or success.

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