Its.... ALIVE!!!!!!

After nearly 6 months without having a Intrathecal Baclofen implant. I have recently had one.... implanted.  Technical I am a cyborg.  Again.

That sounds very science-fiction-y.  I am reborn.  Sort of.

Readers to the previous entries will know that I have had an implant for the past 22 years - changed every 4-6 years of course (batteries don't last that long).  Then in March, not long after my 40th Birthday, I was rushed to hospital with an infection and the implant was removed under emergency surgery.  On a Sunday.  That's how much of an emergency it was.

From that point in March I was concerned to hear that I would not be "re-implanted" until late August/September (well, I was told that, I think in May).  Simply because the doctors wanted to be sure that the infection was gone before I underwent more surgery.

My concern was... how will I cope?  After having Baclofen delivered intrathecally (inside the body, straight to where it was needed) for what amounts for over half my life, how would I live without it?

Well, obviously I survived, as I wouldn't be here writing this blog. (and it is me writing the blog - NOT the machine inside me).  Although the computer inside me might disagree.

But I'm not Frankenstein's monster, despite the doctors using staples instead of sewing me up.  I'm sure that they were sterilised first.  They didn't just run back to the office and grab the stapler from the desk.  Surely not.

Having an implant after a break of 5 months has changed my perspective on having it.  After months of counting down to the surgery, and then having the surgery, I realised that although it was a difficult process, I did cope, although it wasn't without its challenges.

The whole reason for having a Baclofen implant is to improve the Quality of Life of a person.

Mine wasn't lost when the implant was removed in March, but life did certainly have more challenges.  Relying upon oral medication was one of the main challenges.  Dealing with the effects of taking oral medication was another.  But I have to say that as the time grew closer
towards having the implant, I learned to adapt, even cope without it.  People with disabilities - indeed all people - (humans) are very good at adapting.

But whilst I was adapting to life without an implant, I wasn't quite the same person that I had been before.  Taking the Baclofen medication orally meant that I would have to be ready for the wave of inevitable fatigue that comes with taking the medication.  Therefore I timed the dosages so that it would impact on my ability to drive.  But yes, I admit it did slow me down at work.  But I felt that being at work, I was more productive than not being there.

Now I have a new implant that wave of fatigue no longer hits me, as the dosage is computer controlled and continuous.  And very low, because a lot isn't needed at the moment.  But a dosage given internally is never the same as the strength of oral dosage, otherwise I probably wouldn't be able to feel my legs!  

But for a while it was a strange feeling to have an implant again.  Not just on the stretching of my skin, but also the weight of the implant felt strange and heavy.  Like something was pressing on my stomach.  Which it now is.  Plus I have to face the face that there is a a slight raised protrusion on the right side of my stomach, which obviously is more visible when I take my clothes off.

Thankfully I don't do that in public very often.

At the moment, my level of physical activity is low, so my level of spasticity is controlled relatively easily with a low dosage, to the point that the implant needing to be refilled will be nearly 6 months away.  As I become more active and start doing silly things like going back to work, that will change.

 
 Whilst there are risks to any surgery, the benefits have paid off and I am part man, part machine.  Again.  My wholehearted gratitude goes to the relevant NHS staff.  They know who they are.

Now I am home, I can spend lots of time reading the whole series of Harry Dresden novels by Jim Butcher.  They  are wonderful reading.  Exciting, intriguing and very funny.

And I want to think about where the Portal is going (I need to revive that).  And work on changing the way that I write so that it is more structured and less off-the-cuff.  Boy that is a challenge!  But a nice one.  Not half as painful.