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 We haven't sent a message to the list for a long while, but still read it
daily. There hasn't been too much for us to write about for a long while.
However, it might interest those with back or sciatic nerve problems that my
wife, Lynne, whose PD was dxed 4 years ago, was suffering so badly with
sciatic pains in her left leg that she was effectively chair and bed bound.
Any weight on her leg  was extremely painful and made it impossible for her
to stand or walk. An MRI showed spinal stenosis at two levels, L4 and L5.
Rather than continue as she was, Lynne decided on surgery after consulting
with our neurologist and the neurosurgeon to whom he referred us.
 Actually, when the neurosurgeon said that he had a high confidence level
that the pains could be eliminated by surgery, Lynne was ready to accept that
option immediately. Really, there were no other promising options except
continuing to be bedridden. But, surgery had to be postponed for two weeks
while the Eldepryl got out of her system. Notwithstanding the fact that more
than two weeks had elapsed since her last dose of Eldepryl, we still wanted
to play safe and be sure that no Demerol or other conflicting medications
were used. I printed up a listing of those medications that she should take
while in the hospital and on the same paper, the complete list of conflicting
medications. I gave a copy of that list to the surgeon, the
anaesthesiologist, the floor nursing station, and made sure that a copy was
in the nurse's file so that every room nurse would see it.
 All went well. The surgeon did laminectomies at two levels, L4 and L5, and
removed overlaying ligaments that were causing the pressure on the stem of
the nerves running down into her left leg. It was a 3 1/2 hour operation
under general anaesthia. Morphine was used for pain instead of Demerol and
post-operatively Percocet was used. The nurses (under the doctor's
instructions) had her walk to the bathroom the night of the operation which
was on Thursday and she came home Saturday (yesterday.) She still has lots of
pain and discomfort from the operation, but not the sciatic pains in her leg.
She is now able to be on her feet - three cheers!!  And there have been no
negative effects on her PD that we can detect.
 I know that we were were frightened about the surgery, having heard so many
stories about the negative effects that surgery can create for people with
PD, so I thought it might be worth pointing out that there is another side of
the coin as well.
Jerry Gleason               [log in to unmask]