I think you are right in your theory that Parkinson's
is not one, but a cluster of, diseases. There is
relatively new research to suggest that Schizophrenia,
which is, in a very simplistic fashion, the opposite
of Parkinson's,is a cluster of disorders. The brain is
a very mysterious thing, the last frontier of
medicine.                      Carole H.


--- William Harshaw <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Chris,
>
>     I presume you wold agree with Lewis Thomas'
> observation that these
> surgical therapies, and indeed all the drug
> therapies are based on halfway
> technologies and will remain so until the causes are
> discovered and cures
> developed.
>
>     I believe that PD will be found to be not one
> disease, but a cluster of
> similar but different conditions.
>
>     By the way, both my mother and maternal
> grandmother had PD.
>
>     Cheers,
>
>     Bill
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris van der Linden <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Thursday, August 05, 1999 4:07 AM
> Subject: Re: Lazarus with pallidotomy?
>
>
> >Dear Bill,
> >
> >A very nice poem, which I assume was written about
> 5-6 years ago.  I wonder
> >whether you are still Lazarus at this time, because
> on the long run, I
> >believe the only surgery to really become Lazarus
> is the bilateral
> >subthalamic stimulation, which is available in some
> countries in the world.
> >But it does surprise me that electrical stimulation
> of the subthalamic
> >nucleus in Parkinson's disease is still not wide
> spread available in the
> US.
> >As a neurologist living in Ghent, BELGIUM, I have
> now experience with 50
> >Parkinson patients with this type of stimulation
> and the results are really
> >overwhelming; Much better than pallidotomy, which
> should be stopped because
> >of all the risks, side effects and poor results
> (see the
> >scientific literature). Pallidotomy on both sides
> is even more riskier.
> >Unfortunately too many patients in the US now
> undergo pallidotomies, where
> a
> >little part of the brain is destroyed.  So for
> those who are lined up for
> >pallidotomies in the US and other countries, where
> STN stimulation is not
> >available, think
> >about it before you have it done.
> >
> >Or am I wrong, Bill?
> >
> > Chris van der Linden, M.D.
> >St. Lucas Hospital Ghent
> >Dept. of Neurology
> >Groene Briel 1
> >9000 Gent
> >BELGIUM
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: Carole Hercun <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: <[log in to unmask]>
> >Sent: Thursday, August 05, 1999 6:42 AM
> >Subject: Re: Lazarus
> >
> >
> >> Wonderful.    Carole H.
> >>
> >> --- William Harshaw <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >> >     Here's the poem..  Sorry for the goof!
> >> >
> >> > LAZARUS
> >> >
> >> > Mornings were a dull routine
> >> > Immobile
> >> > Many hors would pass until my brain's command
> >> > My anxious limbs its tortured message reached
> >> > And permitted steps, first halting
> >> > Like a child would take
> >> > Then runstumble
> >> > Strangers asked:
> >> > "What troubles him?
> >> > His legs like branches on a mishaped tree
> >> > Do move in deformed harmony."
> >> >
> >> > I
> >> >
> >> > The day began normally for me.
> >> > Up at five.  Run.
> >> > At seven leave.
> >> > Drive there on the 401.
> >> > Arive shaking from the tension
> >> > Of driving.  Or so I thought.
> >> > Until the doctor said:
> >> > "Parkinson's" Esther cried.
> >> > The doctor said:
> >> > "You will tie flies agan"
> >> > The fool had no sense of what's important.
> >> >
> >> > Nor had I.
> >> > I tried to hide the shaking hand
> >> > The dragging foot.
> >> > To no avail.  One day I said:
> >> > "No, not hangover. Parkinson's
> >> >
> >> > No pain
> >> > No movement
> >> > No work
> >> > Pension at forty-five.
> >> >
> >> > A baker's dozen year now
> >> > I raged like Samson
> >> > I did not curse God
> >> > I tried to understand
> >> > Why me?
> >> > There is no reason
> >> > There never is
> >> > So, why not me?
> >> >
> >> > It is perverse
> >> > Some days I move at will
> >> > Others cannot despite my will
> >> >
> >> > It moves in leaps as if to curb
> >> > My pleasure.
> >> > I am trapped inside my body.
> >> > But not in prison.
> >> > For I have much to do before I go
> >> > I must complete the task,
> >> > Fulfil the vision.
> >> >
> >> > II
> >> >
> >> > There are otherswho do not know
> >> > Why they are different
> >> > Or what makes them so
> >> > They live in squalor and
> >> > Fear
> >> > Of what they do not know.
> >> >
> >> > Because we are indifferent
> >> > Because we care more for the far away
> >> > Than the near
> >> > Bosnia, not Regent's Park
> >> > New neighbourhoods to us
> >> > Xenophobia is powerful
> >> > We are afraid of what we do not know.
> >> >
> >> > The Good Samaratin shared not our fears
> >> > He helped without reward
> >> > We have neither
> >> > Soul nor imagination
> >> > We care what others think
> >> > Emotion does not show
> >> > It is unmanly
> >> > To stop before satiety
> >> > Or so we think.
> >> >
> >> > III
> >> >
> >> > He said: "The poor are always with us"
> >> > Do not make Him a liar
> >> > For He is perfect
> >> > And cannot lie.
> >> >
> >> > We are or brother's keeper
> >> > Providence keeps us.
> >> > We defy it hedonically
> >> > Always testing limits
> >> > We are the hollow men
> >> > And do not now it.
> >> > We whimper at affronts to comfort
> >> > And repeat old words
> >> > That cleanse guilt
> >> > Like silver polish
> >> > No effort.
> >> >
> >> > We go about from day to day
> >> > Seeing nothing but footsteps.
> >> > Smelling only the ordinary and execrable,
> >> > Feeling nothing but itchen textures and
> >> > Bedroom emotions.
> >> >
> >> > What closes or eyes to wonder?
> >> > Our touch to the exquisite?
> >> > Our minds to the unknown?
>
=== message truncated ===

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