Hello Everyone, My apologies for writing this to you all at once, but I am so exhausted after my long day of Intrathecal Baclofen trial that one universal note is all my tired fingers and aching body can handle. The TRIAL ITSELF WAS A GREAT SUCCESS. I did NOT have to take oral medications (morphine, clonazepam, Oxazepam or Amytriptyline for 12 whole hours after Intrathecal injection. There just was not any pain to speak of. I got a reduction in tone with only 50mcg of Intrathecal Baclofen. The therapist today again confirmed that the writing movements I have in my arms, legs, face, and sometimes eyes, is indeed secondary dystonia, While the injection did not lessen their frequency, it did lessen their intensity. The intrathecal baclofen injection also somehow got rid of my piriformis pain syndrome temporarily--- and I could feel the sole of my right foot and the back of my right leg for the first time in eight months. My gait improved as well-very little intoeing or scissoring-a benefit I did not expect since I has thought Ihad reached my full potential for improvement of gait post-selective dorsal rhizotomy. I did not even require a walker or extra support to move or transfer, and the therapist had to stop me from running down the hallways independently! My walking speed and number of steps taken in a certain time period actually increased as the day wore on, and the drug itself was wearing off. I found it so much easier to climb stairs-could do so one foot at a time, rather than placing two feet on one step as I normally would. It was easier to roll over, to go from sit to stand. My posture in my wheelchair and sitting tolerance improved greatly post ITB injection. I had no real side effects ( urinary retention, headache, etc.). My handwriting improved as well, and I was once again able to sit cross-legged and bring one leg up to rest on the opposite knee to do up my AFOs (leg braces). Usually I am forcing my feet in them in a downward motion, and this sometimes hurts a lot. I will sty in London for a few more weeks (MOST LIKELY TILL READING WEK FEBRUARY 18-24TH0, because, though there will be no immediate surgery, they want to do more testing, (an EMG, etc), and some videotaping of me walking, performing tasks without ITB injection. One of my physio sessions was videotaped today, so they want it for comparison. I was so sad when the drug wore off and I was forced to go back to taking morphine, gravol, oxazepam, etc. I almost cried, because it has been so long since I could actually say, or mark down on a physician's pin scale, that I was in no pain. I still marvel that this lasted for 12 hours. The waiting list for surgery is a little long, so it will probably be in the summer. This is not necessarily a bad thing, because it will give me time to work with my own surgical team rather than running around trying to find physicians familiar with the pump in Ottawa IMMEDIATELY. I am sad that I will probably have to live on morphine for the rest of the semester, but God has a reason fir everything, and I must leave it in His Hands My Mom is having to fight with our private insurance company to cover the drug, but she has found ain advocate in the Human Resources Dept.to help her in this area. I am also going to have the doctor fill out a section 8 form so that the Ontario Disability Support Program will cover the drug should insurance refuse not to. This is so that all the bases are covered, so to speak. I wish the surgery could have been sooner, but God has His reasons for everything. Dr. Parrent (the neurosurgeon), who rushed in after being in the OR to see me at 5 at night, said that the whole team had discussed every possible candidate's situation at a meeting last week, and I was one of the lucky ten to receive a pump this year. Thank you for all of your prayers. I will let you know how all if the other testing goes. I am doing my homework from London, and e-mailing it to my Professors. I find it even too difficult to attend class when in Ottawa because the antispasmodics/morphine put me to sleep. So they send me lecture notes, and I send them back assignments. Though surgery isn't happening yet, there's still many medical appointments to go to. Please keep me in your prayers that all goes well, and that the time until my surgery is booked will fly by It is such a hard experience to go from having no pain, back to my excruciating, pain which necessitates morphine within a few hours. Perhaps time will go by faster than I expect.I never in my wildest dreams thought the intrathecal baclofen injection would bring with it so many positive outcomes, and I am sure it is due to all of your prayers. Please say a few that this little insurance mess gets cleared up, and that surgery occurs sooner rather than later My thanks for all if your support through my tears and frustration How I wish I could have just left with the pump implanted today-but God has another plan in store, for the moment, I guess My thanks for your prayers, good thoughts and love, Jenn