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An Electric Moment: Pianist Overcomes Parkinson's By Marie Szaniszlo SOURCE: Boston Herald, MA WWWeb: http://tinyurl.com/5hqtp Saturday, November 20, 2004 The first sign came eight years ago. Carol Farley was preparing for a piano recital when her right hand suddenly faltered. Farley didn't think much of it at the time, but as the months went by, other signs followed: the tremor of a muscle, a slowness of movement, a peculiarity in her gait. They mystified a string of acupuncturists and physicians, until one offered her a prescription for a drug used to treat Parkinson's disease. If it worked, it would relieve the symptoms. It also would confirm a hunch they hoped was wrong. "It was devastating," the 51-year-old Cambridge woman said. "It was difficult to walk. . . . Not being able to play the piano was like having your soul amputated." And yet yesterday, as she gave her first public recital in eight years at Boston Medical Center, there was no hint of the progressive neurological disease that nearly ended her career. There was only her, and the piano, and Bach, and in the audience, a medical staff moved to the verge of tears. "It was amazing," said Dr. Jules Nazzaro, the hospital's chief of functional neurosurgery. "It was one of those moments that sends chills through you." Last summer, Nazzaro led the team that reduced Farley's need for medication through deep brain stimulation, a treatment that calls for an electrode to be inserted into the brainstem while the patient is awake. The end of the electrode is hooked up to a wire inserted under the skin from the head to the chest, where it is connected to a battery that sends electrical signals to the brain, interrupting the abnormal ones caused by the disease. The treatment is not a cure, Nazzaro stresses. Farley occassionally still catches herself off balance, or finds her leg fidgeting as she sits at the piano. But if her playing yesterday was not entirely up to her exacting standards, it was not for want of skill. "I'd forgotten how nervous you could get," she said with a smile. SOURCE: Boston Herald, MA WWWeb: http://tinyurl.com/5hqtp * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn