7/18/14. The post where I try out my new equipment.

7/18/14:  guess who got a 97% sleep score last night??? And I was able to sleep with my foot under the covers.  Rolling over was quite a chore between the soreness in my lower back from the lead wires and trying not to disconnect the device accidentally, but apparently it didn't bother me too much.  When I woke up this morning, my back felt terrible, but my foot felt great.  

I had considered staying home, but I had a second day of class today and I felt well enough to try it.  Fortunately I was attending the class with a co-worker who also happens to be a neighbor and one of my closest friends, so he drove and helped me get my things inside.  Because I could not get through a day of class with less than five pounds of supplies, of course.  In addition to my purse, which could already get me through a month stranded on a desert island, I needed a sweater, an umbrella, my iPad, some reading material, a water bottle, spare batteries for my device, and several days' worth of food (no repeat of yesterday's mealtime disappointment, please).  

I made it through the entire day.  Standing was great, sitting was okay, the process of standing up and sitting down was unpleasant.  I went through each program the rep had set into the device and wrote down what each one felt like and what the differences were.  If you have ever sat in a massage chair, it is a very similar feeling.  (Except that in my case, the massage chair is sitting in me instead.)  Some programs have a constant vibration, some pulsate, and the programs are set to affect different areas of my foot and leg. They had warned me that the stimulator is "positional" - in other words, the intensity of the vibration changes based on gravity, pressure, etc., so you have to be careful when shifting positions.  I managed to shock myself just once.  Maybe shock is too strong a word.  It is not an actual shock and not painful or dangerous, just a very unexpected, intense vibration.  Which can be quite shocking.

I also managed to unplug the device from my back accidentally just once, another thing they'd warned me might happen.  I caught the wire on a cabinet handle when I turned around.  It results in the opposite of a shock.  The vibration completely stops because the device is disconnected and an alarm sounds.  Now that I think about it, it can also be quite shocking.

The good news is that the permanent device will not have the same issues, at least not to the same extent.  Because it is completely internal, it can't catch on anything and the intensity does not change as much based on your body's position.  So I just have to get through the one-week trial without giving myself a heart attack.  

All in all, it was a very successful first day.  I had very little pain in my foot and when I did, a change in program or an increase in volume did the trick.  I think I'll have an even better idea of its effectiveness in a few days when I have healed from the wire insertion.  While I plan to take it easy this weekend, I am going to walk tomorrow and see how it feels with the stimulator.  I'm hoping for another good night of sleep.  Who knows, if I keep my sleep score up, I might get into the honors sleep program.