I think that's the problem, Mary Jo. New members haven't gotten the
Guidelines. Old members are tryingn to preserve the basis of PIEN, and
some old timers who had problems before are reawakening. I'll see what I
can do re the G. What's really important is the family. P came out of some
chaos to become a real family. We want to keep it that way! Just keep
asking questions and hang on! You've got lots of friends here includilngn
me.
The possible move has many disturbed. All will be well.
E
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill & Mary Jo Hay" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2002 4:16 AM
I have enjoyed the article on Deboroah's surgery and have wept with
her. I pray for her sucessful future surgery. The following article
appeared in the Columbus, GA Ledger Enquirer on March 19, 2002. I hope it
is within the guidelines to send this...I don't really know the
guidelines... The subject is a list member.
Mary Jo
Steady help
BY LARRY GIERER
Staff Writer
Jimmy Stinson rose gingerly from his seat and made a small step
forward. He then took another. Then, another.
Stinson then sat back down and cried.
"After two years in a wheelchair I never thought I'd be able to walk
again without being off balance, without falling down," remarked the former
teacher at Arnold Middle School.
Stinson, 54, suffers from Parkinson's disease. He was first diagnosed
with the ailment when he was 31. It grew progressively worse to where he had
trouble walking and speaking. His hands shook.
"I'd just about given up hope," said Stinson, who still has a slight
speech impediment.
Then, Columbus neurosurgeon Marc Goldman came into his life.
"He saved me," Stinson said.
Goldman did this by implanting an Activa Parkinson's Control Therapy
device into Stinson's head and upper chest.
"It's like a pacemaker for the brain," said Goldman, the only local
physician currently trained, he said, to install the device. "The technology
has been around since the 1980s but it just recently received Food and Drug
Administration approval for use for advanced Parkinson's Disease."
How it works
The system works by stimulating areas deep within the brain that
influence motor control. Continuous stimulation of these areas blocks the
signals causing the disabling motor symptoms of the disease. A medical
device called a neurostimulator -- similar to a cardiac pacemaker -- is
implanted near the collarbone and delivers mild electrical signals to the
brain via a thin, implanted coiled wire with electrodes attached at the tip.
Until recently few could afford to get the therapy device. The disease
is most common in people older than 50, and until last year Medicare would
not help pay for the expensive procedure.
Goldman said nobody knows the cause for Parkinson's disease, a
progressive and degenerative neurological disorder. There is no cure.
The disease has several symptoms. "The worst is rigidity," Goldman
said. "The limbs and joints get very inflexible. The muscles are always
tense and contracted which is often painful and makes it hard to function."
Others include a slowness or absence of movement, impaired balance and
coordination, and the involuntary rhythmic shaking of a limb or the head,
mouth or tongue.
"There's a small part of the brain called the substantia nigra or
'black substance' and when it begins to degenerate the trouble begins,"
Goldman said.
Other methods
When the neurons or brain cells in that area die they deprive the
brain of the chemical dopamine, a neurotransmitter that enables
communication among the brain cells involved in motor control. The reduced
levels of dopamine lead to the symptoms.
"We use a drug called Sinement which replaces the dopamine," explained
Goldman, "but the side effects, which may include severe nausea and
vomiting, can keep some from using it. Another side effect can be abnormal,
uncontrollable movements which are worse than the problems already being
suffered. After a few years the body can become resistant to the
medication."
Brain operations have helped some Parkinson's patients but the risks
include stroke.
One of the operations is a thalamotomy, in which a surgeon inserts a
needle into the brain and destroys a specific group of cells in the
thalamus, the brain' s communication center. The procedure has been known to
reduce or eliminate tremors.
Another surgery is a pallidotomy, in which an electric probe is used
to destroy specific cells of the brain's globus pallidus that experts
believe are overactive in Parkinson's patients because of the lack of
dopamine.
As for the Activa Parkinson's Control Therapy, it's relatively safe.
Surgeons must have special training to do the procedure. Goldman, who
attended Hardaway High and the University of Georgia before entering Emory
Medical school, got his training at the Mayo Clinic.
"The patient controls when it's on and when it's off, using a
wand-like device," said Goldman. "It runs on a battery so a lot of people
wouldn't want the battery running down while they're asleep."
The battery needs changing about every three to five years, a simple
surgical procedure according to Goldman.
"I didn't have mine turned on for a couple of weeks while I healed
from the surgery," said Stinson. "As soon as it was turned on I could feel
the difference. I was so relieved. I was a changed man."
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