Part 6 – More Waiting
May 5, 2008. I hope that the hard parts
are over now. [I should have known better!] The DBS device was implanted on April 10. That was an eleven hour surgery that I had to
be awake for so that my brain could be mapped out. Then, a week later, April 17, I went back to
have the battery pack installed under my collar bone, with wires tunneled down
the side of my head and neck to join the battery to the device. Before I left
the hospital, my neurosurgeon turned the device on at a very low setting just
so my body gets used to it.
The next step is to wait six weeks to
heal before going in to have the device programmed. They do this in stages as
well – so I have three appointments in June to get hooked up to a computer.
This is a rather amazing medical technology. I will have to avoid magnets (no
airport security for me!), for the rest of my life, and always carry a remote
control in case the device is accidentally turned off.
You may have noticed that I have not been
swaying and squirming as much as before. Apparently the probing done during the
surgery before the permanent leads were installed has already had some effect
in reducing the side effects of the medication. That benefit is wearing off. I
will be taking medication as usual during this six week interim, so I am back
to my “Roller Coaster” days that start off with the normal Parkinson’s symptoms
of stiffness and painful dystonic muscle cramps, and cycles of dyskinesia
(uncontrollable movement) during the day.
This surgery is not a cure for
Parkinson’s disease. At best, it will buy me five to ten years of symptom
relief with fewer side effects than medication. But perhaps by then there will
be some medical breakthrough, so I won’t need a day pass from the nursing home
to attend the girls’ weddings. [As of today, those events are still in the future.]
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