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Dear List-family... Yesterday was the third anniversary... or as I call it, my "RE-birthday,"... of my unilateral pallidotomy. To this day, I'm SO thankful for having had the surgery. The pall. was performed by Stanford University Neurosurgeon, Dr. Gary Heit (my hero!), at Loma Linda University Hospital, with Loma Linda's outstanding and innovative Dr. Robert Iacono assisting. I couldn't' have been in better hands anywhere in the world. The surgery was performed on the left side of my brain to relieve PD symptoms on the right side of my body. Beneficial results were immediate, and the surgery itself was painless - I know, 'cause I was awake and undrugged throughout the entire hour long procedure (I still find that hard to believe - that I was undrugged, wide awake and in no pain!). Today, my right side remains exactly as it was after the surgery - EXTERNALLY there are no visible Parkinson's signs at all (right side only). There has been no visible diminishment of the benefits I received from the surgery. The disease has since moved into the left side of my body (darn it - the "thang" just never stops, does it?!), and there are whole-inner-body symptoms and sensations within my body on both sides (i.e., both vocal cords involved, but not limbs on both sides - just primary left side). I AM troubled by profound daily fatigue. Still - as bad as it can be, no day I've had since the pallidotomy has left me feeling so utterly rotten and hopeless as I felt before the surgery. Also, in the three year interval since the surgery, the world of medical research has FINALLY started bringing out new drugs to ease the Parkinson's symptoms. In these three short years (long years if you're awaiting a cure!) the I've read about dynamic exploration and mapping of the brain, and that offers me hope that in the relatively near future this beast-of-a-disease will be tamed. While I get angry and frustrated by the PD symptoms as they develop on my left side, the pallidotomy seems to have got rid of the "Barb-imitating-a-slab-of-wood" look and feeling that I had prior to the surgery (THANK GOD!), 'cause, when it came to stiffness, I ran a close second to Muhammad Ali!! Pallidotomy isn't a cure, but for ME, it gave me back the feeling that I was back in the human race, the external PD symptoms on the right side were gone, and I'm pleased I was given a chance to be a "reborn PERSON," as well as a "reborn Parkie." Barb Mallut [log in to unmask]