Which one do you have? I'm toying with the idea of getting one as I use a MacBook Pro and could upload photos straight to iCloud rather than transferring from android (iPhones have great cameras as well as Samsung which I currently use).
My Samsung devices automatically sync using originally Samsung cloud but now Google's equivalent so the pictures I took on my tablet show on my phone. It happens quite quickly as well given that I'm using satellite broadband.
Wow. Technology today is amazing. I am so glad that you are able to have that kind of control over your pain! It took me 15 months to even get an appointment to pain management (they require you do six months of physical therapy BEFORE even getting assigned to a pain management doctor). I prefer not to take narcotics so it's nice to see someone who is willing to consider other options.
I know it's hard but, as you well know, being your own advocate goes a long way. Think of me on those days when you're ready to throw in the towel. I'll be that little cheerleader in your ear saying "You got this!" (((((((((((((((((((((Hugs (if they are okay)))))))))))))))))))).
I've been through the British NHS twice with chronic pain so I know what it is like.
I could wait 2 years to see my consultant through Medicare, but when we came out to Australia pay of the package wag that the healthcare was equivalent to the NHS. But we already had private healthcare through Bupa with his work so it had to be equivalent to what we had. And my back had gone after he started working for the company, so it needed to be covered. That combination didn't really exist in Australia, so they pretty much covered everything except artifical conception, (sorry I'm having a blank on what it is called). All pre-existing medical conditions were covered in full. We even get all of our medication costs back through his insurance.
When we choose to stay in Australia and he moved to an Australian contact somehow it was negotiated that we stay on the company health care but pay privately for our part. I don't know the ins and outs but I do know it is a good deal of cover. We obviously pay quite a bit for it but that was taken into account with the deal he was offered to stay on here, as were housing costs (our housing was covered whilst he was here on secondment).
So I know the pain and anguish. I had to accept strong pain meds right from the start when my back went. I wasn't coherent without them. I came out to Australia on them and was moved over to the Aussie preferred versions and once it became clear that there was permanent nerve damage and my consultant here happy that it was real and not someone trying it on, I was offered the stimulator. That was about 3 treats ago. I only picked up the courage to have even the trial last Christmas. I know no one with it and as I've come across physiotherapists I've asked questions and they have all said the same thing. The results they have seen from it have been astonishing. So after the successful trial, I was due to have the implant in May (hubby had is able fused in feb), but with my parents stranded here for 6 months, it was just not possible. Plus I need to weigh up the real possibility that I could have to have it removed prior to both hips being replaced and then put back in. It is full on spinal surgery to fit it and the device is implanted in the back as well but separately to the electrodes (think of 2mm shielded 'wire' with the last 15cm unshielded. That last section is actually intelligent.) When it is tuned after surgery they can actually control which part of the unshielded wire is used for the pulse to be delivered from on upto 3 cables per device. All 3 cables were inserted for the test device, inserted only 2 for the actual device itself because I'm on the non-rechargeable battery. There is a rechargeable battery version that is implanted closer to the skin and recharges through a pad that you ready on your skin or sit against in a similar way to electronic devices that can charge without any cables. But that can't go in an MRI (yet, it hasn't been cleared to do so even though it was built to do so). That fact was the single controlling fact in decision making because i knew i would need more MRIs in the future because just a month before I had the trial I was diagnosed with severe OA in both hips.
The device is simply another aid to controlling chronic pain in the same way that medication, weight and exercise all are. And obviously my aim is to get off the pain meds. I've done it before with my left wrist. That took 15 years in total but by that time I went off to cycle around the world which uses the wrist and fingers constantly and before 11 surgeries, my wrist was dislocating 20-30 times a day. That was all British NHS.
And remember, I'm 6 years in on this injury now. That is how long it had taken to get it though changing countries slowed things down a touch, it did also offer new opportunities. My private UK back consultant told me that Australia leads the way for spinal surgery and everything that goes with it. He was correct in that aspect.
