Posted 4 years ago
AnythingOb…
(1778 items)
Model NS-2CA/DX by Life-Tech, Inc. of Houston, TX.
Now all y'all know just as much about this thing than I do -- but doesn't it look like it should do something SCARY and FUN...????
<menacing BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA laugh>
I bought this little box for a buck or three (don't remember, it was cheap) at the State Surplus Property warehouse several years ago, for the last part of that last sentence above -- it just looked too interesting to pass up?!! ;-) :-) It still has an old property label showing it was from our UAMS Hospital. (lots of old medical stuff gets to that warehouse when retired)
It seems to be some sort of electrical stimulation device, having one big 1 - 10 dial on its front with a nice further assortment of switches, knobs, connectors to hook wires to, and etc. Takes a pair of 9v batteries, I think I remember opening it up when I first got it and finding one or both of the wires from the batteries to be broken, so I've never really messed with it any further.
Given the way some of its controls are labeled, it just sits around somewhere collecting dust until somebody might notice it and ask "what the h*ll is THAT"?? I don't really know the true answer to that question, but its fun to make things up...?? <giggle>
When I was younger I worked in a mechanic shop with my friend. He had a problem where sometimes his hand would open up and he would drop tools. I had to take home to a specialist that hooked him up to a similar machine. Basically it was overriding his brain function and testing to see if his nerves worked manually..They'd give him an electrical pulse and his hand would close or his fingers would twitch, responding to the machine.
OMG! The agony of a peripheral nerve stimulation test! I had such a procedure a few years ago to locate the exact spot of a nerve injury that was causing severe pain. I, personally, could put my finger on the exact spot of the injury, but, doctors and insurance companies want ‘official data’, not just the patient’s first-hand knowledge....go figure...
Anyway, a series of small needles are stuck in the extremity along the path of the nerve in question. My case required needles from shoulder to thumb. Those needles are connected to wires from the machine like yours.
As the (possibly sadistic) technician administers numerous rather painful electric jolts, it can be determined where exactly the nerve is damaged.
Having that info, a surgeon is assured of finding the exact spot to fix it.
In my case, a nerve was encased in scar tissue from a previous surgery and causing tremendous pain. Removing the scar tissue and putting a conduit around that section of nerve to protect it resulted in a certain level of pain relief (on a pain scale of 0-10, pain reduced to 5-6).
That’s probably TMI and just plain long-winded but just be prepared if AO’s device becomes part of your medical assessment plan. ;^)
No fun at all!!
It was probably a device like this one Dr. Frankenstein used to get his monster working !
Its an instrument for assessing the level of neuromuscular blockade during anesthesia. We still have one in clinical use! we pull it out every so often.