Today my husband received a "bone stimulator", called SpinakPak II, it helps with the healing of the fusion of the bones, with the titanium rods and screws, that the surgeon did on John's L1 - L3 vertebrae. It has a battery pack and electrodes that plug into it. The two electrodes are placed on either side of the spine and it uses electric energy to help strengthen and heal the bones. Electric Energy - The use of electric energy for bone growth dates as far back as 1841. Since then, numerous studies have demonstrated that due to the positive and negative charges of bone, electrical technologies, such as capacitive coupling, stimulate bone growth.
Capacitive Coupling - The Technology - The technology that powers the tiny, yet powerful SpinalPak® is called capacitive coupling. The two wafer-thin electrodes, placed 4" to 6" apart, adhere to the skin on both sides of the spine fusion site to conduct the electrical treatment into the vertebral bone.
Clinical Study Efficacy - A randomized, prospective, double-blind clinical study was conducted to determine whether SpinalPak® increases the frequency of overall fusion success, using the combination of clinical and radiographic assessment. Patients who were treated with SpinalPak® Fusion Stimulator demonstrated statistically significant (P-value = 0.0018) fusion incorporation in comparison to patients that did not receive treatment.
So, John will be wearing this 24/7, except for bath times. We hope it DOES indeed work the way it's intended to work.
We still haven't heard the results of the CAT scan on John's left hip area, and all his staples on his back incision weren't taken out...there is still some healing to do yet, so he goes back next Monday to get the remaining staples out (the nurse did take out a few lower ones), and before then we hope to know more about that CAT scan and what is messing up his left hip and leg.
I look forward to more normal life (I hope) when John is off his pain meds too and able to drive and do more on his own too. We had to tell one of our work crew to sign up for unemployment this week because John and our son, John, are still trying to line up work and keep the customers we already had signed on for major projects coming up in the months ahead. Hopefully they will stay with our construction company once they know John is still very much involved, he just needs some time to heal more.
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