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Jeff, Joan and Jane, Congrat's to all of you for your courageous decision, I wish you the best your long-term recovery and I cheer your remarks, which help put the issue of neurosurgery in clearer perspective. I had 2--bilateral, "staged", i.e.6 months apart--pallidotomies and I can relate to a lot of your comments. Based on a lot of media reports which I chose believe before my first pall., I was expecting to dance out of the operating room, straight to the tennis court. Instead, I remember feeling vaguely like I had been hit by a freight train. And although I returned to work after a week, that was a mistake because it took a month before I really regained my strength. Some of my improvements were immediate while others showed up weeks and months later--and beyond that. Although there were some difficult and unpleasant complications immediately after the second, I'm very pleased with the results which, knock on wood, are still holding steady today (the pall's were done in ''96). And, like you say, Jane, there are others who have had very different experiences. I'm hopeful and happy for all of you. Janre, pardon my ditrectnress and my ignorance, but is a dead battery post-DBS comparable to changing a flashlight battery or is it more like changing a car battery? Marty Polonsky