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-- [ From: Donna Kipp * EMC.Ver #2.10P ] -- On August 7, at !:00 at the University Park United Methodist Church, 4024 Caruth at Preston, Dallas. Terrie Whitling and Terry Ogden, both of whom have had Pallidotomies at Emory University in Atlanta, will each tell their story and answer all your questions about this surgery which has changed their lives. Mrs. Whitling, in fact, works now as a Patient Advocate at Emory and is the "Star" of one of their before and after videos. One of our fellow list members went to a similar meeting and this was his report; Our support group met with Terry Whitling and Terry Ogden last Sunday. They are both recipients of single side Pallidotomies in the Emory program. I must admit both were virtual walking and talking miracles. They both had video's of the before and after and they really had major big time improvements. Whitling had been mostly confined to a wheelchair and Ogden had lost so much speech and movement capabily that both were unable to work. On Sunday when we saw them we knew they both had PD but they had no functional loss, speech in Ogden was much improved and both claimed virtually complete freedom from the bradykenisia (slowness of movement). Both continue to take their medications, both experienced changes in which ones, how often etc. . Both had stopped taking antidepressants. Both continued to have symptoms on the opposite side that was not operated on but the operated side had so much benefit that they were able to overcome those problems. Whitling is a medical social worker and is now working in the OR at Emory and acting as patient caregiver and family intermediary during the hours and hours of time spent in OR duirng the extensive brain mapping process that the team does before the actual surgical lesioning. Hope some of You will be able to come...............Donna