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My mother had her pallidotomy on June 17th at USC. We are just now all beginning to realize it is over. It's been 2 years and 2 hospitals and about 4 appointments of testing. Her surgeon was Dr. Dogali. Everything went well and the procedure seems to have been a success. I say seems to be, as it is still quite confusing trying to figure out what is a result of surgery and what it medication oriented. (Prior to the surgery she was having very bad troubles with a psychotic reaction to the sinemet, along with lots of anxiety.) Immediately after was like a miracle for about 24 hours. Her body and mind seemed relaxed. Then the confusion returned along with some stiffness. My conclusion at this point is that the pallidotomy has probably done just what Dr. Dogali predicted, which is given her some relief with her major symptom of cramping and bradykinesia. (He predicted 40-50% improvement there.) She did not have much dyskinesia but for those who do he predicted a much higher rate of improvement like 80-90 percent improvement. She has been extremely confused and tired so unfortunately has not been able to be aware herself of how things have changed. She seems more depressed to me than before and this concerns me. But from the outside we all still see a great improvement. She sits in chairs she has not been in in at least a year, and moves with far greater agility. Her hand seems much more agile. I found the hospital at USC medical center to be great, the staff communicated very well with the family during and after the surgery. Except for shaving her entire head there were no surprises. She was off meds since 6 pm the night before and no food or drink after midnite. We got to the hospital at 5 am and after a couple hours of waiting and prep they took her to put the frame on her head and do an MRI and then the actual surgery was about 2 hours. We were surprised it went so quick, but all the better (waiting was no picnic!) Has anyone else experienced more depression, or new forms of confusion (Mom keep screaming that she had wrecked her pallidotomy) after a pallidotomy? Debbie [log in to unmask] Mom 74/12