Right on Bill. I think we are privileged to have  DR. CHRIS on the list.

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----- Original Message -----
From: William Harshaw <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, October 03, 1999 6:22 PM
Subject: Re: surgery But NOT pallidotomy!!!!


> Poor Chris has been dumped on by just about everybody for offering his
> professional opinion - as distinct from our amateur opinions - on the
> relative efficacy of pallidotomy, pallidal stimulation and STN stimulation
>
> My views on the topic are conditioned by my experience.  When I had my
> pallidotomy in Dec. '93, it was at the cutting edge - DBS had not yet been
> invented.  My results were highly satisfactory as reported in the Lancet.
>
> My DBS was pallidal stimulation even though I had, and still do, have an
> electrode implanted in my STN.  It  was not hooked up because the test
> stimulation of my STN produced severe dystonic contractions.
>
> I had the first DBS in North America, and it continues to be spectaclarly
> successful. Chris' experience is backed up with clinical studies.  My hat
> goes off to him for tolerating us.
>
> Bill
> , -----Original Message-----at
> From: George J. Lussier <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Sunday, October 03, 1999 6:26 PM
> Subject: Re: surgery But NOT pallidotomy!!!!o
>
>
> >Chris,
> >   I think I've read most of your previous postings and I certainly have
> >read those that followed and I must admit that I tire of people who are
as
> >opinionated as you. I would argue that you have the right to say what you
> >would but enough is enough. You don't have all the answers.
> >    When I had my 1st Pallidotomy back August '95 the List's wisdom was
> that
> >what ever decision I made was the correct one for me. The same was true
> when
> >I had my second in Sept '96. And I'm still going strong. If I had waited
> any
> >longer I would be dead,nuts or/and in a nursing home
> >    I currently know two people scheduled for brain surgery; one for a
DBS
> >and the other for a Pallidotomy. The DBS involves a 50 year old man with
a
> >history of a failed Pallidotomy and a 20 year history of PD. I believe
that
> >he has made the correct decision for him. The second involves a 48ish
woman
> >who also has  20 years of PD. The reason she chose a Pallidotomy was in
> part
> >based on the fact that the average time on the operating room table was
> >about an hour and 20 minutes and another hour plus for the MRI etc
whereas
> >the DBS
> >takes, what 16-18 hours? And a weeks hospitalization. This woman is
> terrifed
> >of the MRI, the plastic drapping and the surgery in general. So what does
> >she do? I think she has made the correct decision for her.
> >   You haven't walked in my shoes so please be respectful.
> >
> >  george Lussier
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >At 10:18 AM 9/30/99 +0200, you wrote:
> >>> Ron,
> >>>
> >>> I can highly recommend neurosurgery for Parkinson's
> >>
> >>But NOT pallidotomy!!!!
> >>
> >>Chris
> >>
> >>
> >I may not know much, but I know chicken shit from chicken salad.
> >           LYNDON B. Johnson (about a speech by Richard M. Nixon)
> >