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Hello List Friends,

Just wanted to report that I had the DBS STN  done on the second side two
weeks ago.  Had the first side done about two months ago.  I did not want to
get my hopes up too much before I went in, you know how it is, better to be
surprised by something better than what you expect, than to be disappointed
because you set your sites too high.  Well anyway the procedure has already
done more than I could have hoped for in my more pessimistic days.

When I went in to have the stimulator turned on two weeks after the first
surgery, I started having dyskenesia as soon as they turned it on .  Well
the doc said that was a real good sign because that meant the leads were all
in a good location.  But because of the fact that I still needed the same
amount of meds for the one side that was not done yet, they did not leave
the stim on then.  It was decided to wait after the second side was done to
turn them both on.   Well that day came a week ago yesterday, they came into
my room and turned on both sides of the stim to the minimum.  Well I went
through about six hours of the most awful dyskenias that I have ever had,
because I still had the medicine in my system.  But starting the next day, I
reduced the meds drastically and each day since then there have been some
good  signs to report.

I wish for all of you that you could have this done.  I feel like a person
again for the first time in a while.  I came home from the hospital today.
I was in the rehab unit for a week.  I still have a long way to go., but my
doc insists that I will be able to walk again someday when I have built the
muscles back up in my legs.  My medicine is reduced to 1/3 of what I was
taking.  For any of you that are curious, I am 53 years old, have had
Parkinsons for  about l4 years, although like so many of you, I had a hard
time getting a diagnosis even though my dear brother had it ( also young
onset) and I really knew what I had long before I could get the docs to say
it.  My brother died over a year ago after a long fight with the disease.
He died of a massive heart attack.  I am not sure how much of that was
attributable to the Parkinsons.......but I learned from him to fight and
finally I feel like I am  back in the ring instead of sitting on the
sidelines and watching life pass me by.

If anyone would like any other information, please contact me.  I will be
happy to tell you whatever I can.

Diane Leeds
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