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Hello all!
 
I'm forty three years old, have been diasgnosed since '84. My PD was
characterised mainly by severe stiffness and fatigue, with bad dyskinesias on my
left side. i was told that my youth and symptom profile made me an ideal
candidate.
 
On July 21, 1995 (my "re-birth day") I had a right side pallidotomy performed by
Dr. Anthony Lang's group - neurosurgeon Dr. Andres Lozano ( a great guy!) ran
the show in the O.R. This at the Toronto Hospital, Western Division. This team
uses an approach similar to De Long in Atlanta and Dogali in Irvine, i.e.careful
micro-electronic recording & stimulation to avoid incorrect lesioning affecting
vision and/or motor areas. MY surgery took three hours. Pre-surgical MRI, 55
minutes. Total time in sterewotactic frame, around five hours. Thanks to my
family and close friends, I was able to get through this gruelling procedure,
and the results have been , in a word, excellent. Prior to the surgery, I had
been living my so-called life in short dyskinetic bursts of about forty five
minutes, two hours apart, and this at best. Now I feel as though my life has
been returned to me, and, is life ever sweet! I can do anything I want, when I
want to. My medications have not been reduced, although I feel I could manage
with a bit less. "OFF" is now a sensation of slight drowsiness instead of "kill
me now, I can't take this any more"
 
.If you are a good candidate for a pallidotomy, and you are prepared to take a
3-5% risk of bleeding in the brain (it happens) Toronto is a good alternative
 
William Berman.