MINNEAPOLIS -- A new Medtronic device has saved years of excruciating pain for a Twin Cities woman. Even though Lisa Marie Widman walks with a limp, she carries a smile.
"Just trying to get better, to walk, and to get normalcy in my life," Widman said.
Widman was involved in an accident November 2008. The motorcycle she was riding on was hit by a truck. Widman said the driver of the Ford F150 was texting while turning left on green, without a green arrow.
Widman was seriously injured and doctors told her she would probably never walk again.
"They told me there was a very good chance I'll lose my leg," Widman said.
"My femoral artery was torn, I was bleeding out, I had multiple fractures in my arm and leg," Widman said.
E.R. doctors saved her life at Hennepin County Medical Center. But the ensuing pain in her leg was unbearable for Widman.
"Every step was like knives shooting through my leg," Widman said. "The nerve pain is like fire."
She lived through that pain for a year.
"It's like having someone hold a blow torch to someone's leg 24 hours a day," Doctor Brian Allen said.
Allen drew up a plan to save Widman's quality of life. He connected with Medtronic, and they agreed that a spinal cord stimulator device could work wonders.
"The spinal cord stimulator is basically able to take away her pain. It is remarkable technology," Allen said.
One part of the device, known as the lead, is placed in the epidural space which is above the spinal cord. The lead is attached to its battery pack which is implanted in Widman's lower back.
"It changes pain signals from sensations that are painful into a tingling sensation," Allen said.
Widman's sensation is comparable to the prickly feeling when someone's foot falls asleep. Widman feels that sensation during each step.
Though Widman's scars will never go away, most of her pain has, thanks to a little device.
"It's a sensation, it's not pain," Widman said.
Widman charges the battery once a week for about three hours. However the Medtronic rechargeable neurostimulator lasts nine years and will then have to be surgically replaced.
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