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After 50 years of suffering, thalamic stimulator helps steady man's hands TUCSON, Ariz. (July 10, 1998 00:57 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - By scientific standards Jerry Bolt is a medical marvel, living proof of the growing link between computer technology and surgical technique. But it's the little stuff that matters to the 50-year-old Tuscon resident, born with hands that never stopped shaking - at least not until his recent surgery. It's being able to write something clearly enough that he can read it later. It's being able to shave without pushing his hands together in a vain attempt to steady them. It's being able to hold a wine glass by the stem, a goal that had eluded him throughout his adulthood. "It thrilled me," he said. "The things people take for granted, granted, never really think about." Bolt now has a thalamic stimulator, a device recently approved for implantation in the brain. In the past, surgeons treated patients with tremors or Parkinson's disease with medication or by burning a lesion in the brain. That killed healthy brain cells to restore the balance between good cells and deteriorating ones, said Joel McDonald, the University Medical Center neurosurgeon who treated Bolt. The new device, however, stimulates deteriorating cells instead of destroying healthy ones, McDonald said. While the stimulator can be adjusted or removed, a lesion is permanent. During Bolt's procedure, a silver dollar-sized generator was implanted below his left shoulder. Tiny under-the-skin wires weave up his neck and behind his left ear to an invisible entry point at his hairline. From there, a lead the size of angel hair pasta dips into his brain and four attached contacts deliver tiny electric shocks to brain cells. "It's just sort of kicking them a little bit," McDonald said. Bolt was awake during the surgery, directing McDonald where to put the stimulators based on where they best eased the tremors. He watched in awe as his shaking right hand fell still for the first time. "It was just like looking at someone else's hand," he said. So far about 2,000 patients worldwide have received the device. Some, such as Bolt, have a lifelong condition, known as essential tremors. Some have Parkinson's, which begins later in life. Despite the procedure's newness, Bolt sought it out after reading about it in a national news magazine. He wrote the manufacturer for information and began searching for a doctor to install it. By that point, Bolt was willing to try anything. He was born with the condition, which doctors said he would outgrow by his 18th birthday. He didn't. Despite the constant shaking that was especially violent in his right hand - his writing hand - Bolt headed to the University of Arizona with dreams of becoming an archaeologist. He tried taking notes in class but couldn't read them later. So he relied on his memory, paying close attention in class and trying to pull facts and figures from the recesses of his mind for tests. The challenge eventually proved insurmountable. He dropped out after his junior year. Bolt worked mostly in construction, where his responsibilities were limited by his disability. Not allowed to operate machinery or tackle detail work, he spent his time pulling nails from boards and cleaning job sites at the end of the day. Now, living a normal life for the first time, the dreams he squelched for decades are growing again. He hopes to get started soon on the career he's always wanted. Maybe archaeology, he said. Or perhaps photojournalism. "I really want to do something that requires some thinking," he said. In the meantime, Bolt continues to marvel at his newly calm hand, occasionally writing notes to himself just to admire the neat, legible writing. "I'm glad I was born at a time when I could take advantage of this procedure," he said. "It's opened up a whole new world." By JILL JORDEN SPITZ, Arizona Daily Star. Distributed by Scripps-McClatchy Western Service Copyright 1998 Nando.net Copyright 1998 Scripps-McClatchy Western a new voice: http://www.newcountry.nu/pd/members/janet/index.htm pwp event calendar: http://newww.com/cgi-bin/do_cal?c:pwpc 51/10 - endocarb/selegiline/fluoxetine - [log in to unmask] janet paterson