 |
 |
Dennis G... I assure you, m'dear, I'm not in ANY way a "superbeing!" <in this case!> (smile). I was able to go back to work the day after my pallidotomy because I worked out of my home office, and all my work was done online. If I got at all tired or didn't feel well, all I did was power down my 'puter, walk outta the office, go upstairs, and go to bed. The fact of the matter is I felt pretty darn good after the surgery, except for having a mild headache for a coupla weeks, ESPECIALLY considering how godawful I felt BEFORE the pallidotomy, and THAT'S why I was at my keyboard the day after the surgery! I've had my ups 'n downs since the pallidotomy with "good days and bad days," but the good days predominate. Mind you, these "good days" AREN'T the same as "good-days-before-and-with-NO-Parkinson's." Instead, I'm honest enough with myself not expect that (YET!). I have good days for a PD sufferer, and "bad days," and the bad days are NEVER as bad as ANY 'bad day" was before the pallidotomy!!! Also, they're "different-bad,"... different symptoms, for the most part, than pre-surgery. Prior to the surgery I felt SO miserable that I couldn't have pinned down any one symptom as the worst-- I was just a bundle of misery. NOW when I feel crummy I can usually figure out why, and often work around whatever that aggravating symptom(s) is/are. I also give myself permission to feel rotten every so often 'cause there are just some days when I can't fight it. And then I sit down with my kitty Scooter and tell her alllllllll about this steeeeeeeenkin' disease and how much I hate the damn thing, and she's always SO sympathetic <smile>. By the way, the best advice I received prior to my pallidotomy was given to me by a lovely lady named Barbara Yacos whom at the time I was considering the surgery was the only person I knew of who'd had it. In fact, Barb was in her second year post-surgery at that point. In our brief phone call when I was searching for all the answers to my many pre-surgery questions, I asked Barb about the "good days and bad days." Barb replied with what has become my pallidotomy motto --- "If you have a 'bad day' after your pallidotomy, just remember what you felt like BEFORE the surgery." With that in mind, I have something to weigh today's "bad days" against, and as I said above, none are as bad as they were before the operation. "Superbeing?" Not in THIS life! <smile> Barb Mallut [log in to unmask] ---------- From: Parkinson's Information Exchange on behalf of Dennis Greene Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 1997 3:17 PM To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN Subject: Re: Pallidotomy -- Outpatient?? I have been following with interest the accounts of various listmembers who seem to have 'droped in' to the hospital for a pallidotomy. Here in Australia, (Perth specifically) where the procedure is performed in govt funded hospitals with no direct billing to the patient (we do pay of course - indirectly via a 1.5% levy on every taxable $) the patient enters hospital nearly a week before the surgery. As most Australian centres performing the surgery are involved in research, I suspect this is to accomadate the battary of tests they want to do, rather than any advantage to the patient. Most are sent home for the week-end, reporting back on Sunday night to be available for more tests monday morning. Surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, and tuesday afternoon and wednesday morning are spent in the High Dependency Unit. More tests wednesday afternoon and thursday morning and home thursday pm or friday am. You wouldn't think it was the same operation. I am in awe of those superbeings (eg Barbara Mallut) who report being back at work the day after surgery - they must be made of sterner stuff than I am. Whilst I certainly felt better in PD terms from the next day, it took me weeks to really feel 'well'. Perhaps in my case two procedures in as many weeks gave me an atypical reaction. Asked to speak at the recent Australan Conference as the patients representative on the surgery forum, I said that pallidotomy had given me back my life, but that it was not something to be undertaken lightly. It is a procedure for patients with very specific criterior, amoungst which was that they had to have used up all their other options. This is not having a tooth pulled. This is having a hole drilled in your head and a bit of your brain zapped. Whilst I applaud those of you who have felt happy to leave hospital early I am troubled by a system which demands that so serious a matter be treated on an outpatient basis for fiscal reasons. Someone always bears the cost, and I fear that the savings of the Insurence companies is being underwritten by the patients risk. Dennis. ++++++++++++++++++++ Dennis Greene 47/10 [log in to unmask] http://members.networx.net.au/~dennisg/ ++++++++++++++++++++