Some of you may already know that back in August, I was implanted with the deep brain stimulator. On August 26, I was at the Vancouver General Hospital getting my brain drilled open. It was an interesting operation, as I had to be awake for the first half of the operation. It was quite interesting listening to my head being drilled, and listening to the two doctors discuss what they're finding.
The second half of the operation involved putting in the controller and the wire running down from my head. They put me under for that part.
On October 7, they turned to the stimulator on. The implant is on the left side of my hypothalamus, so it controls the tremors in my right side. The stimulator does a lot to control the large tremors, but it isn't able to do much for the small tremors. So, I am still finding out what it helps with and what it doesn't. Things involving fine motor control, like typing and working a mouse, still aren't very good. That said, it has done a lot to help me with my work in the shop and around the house. I am now even able to cut my own meet at supper. It isn't easy, but I'm doing it.
I guess this officially makes me a cyborg. Unfortunately, it does not help me pick up the mothership. :-) In November, they will fine tune it to little once everything gets settled down. I have a remote to turn it off when I'm sleeping, or not doing much. This helps conserve the battery as well as make sure the brain doesn't start working around the stimulator.
Rainer

Well, it's done. We've sold the Piaggio Fly 150. We are about to go to deposit the cash and take it off of our insurance.

It's a sad day for me. :(( At least it looks like the bike has found a good home.

Rainer

We saw my MS neurologist for my yearly check earlier this week. It was an enlightening meeting.

First, she is a little unhappy that I have heard nothing from the doctor that does the brain stimulator implants. She had the nurse call their office again, but it's closed for the month. As soon as August ends, the nurse will be calling. (The nurse is very efficient; I got my updated Copaxone travel letter already from her.)

We also talked about the CCSVI, or "Liberation" treatment. The doctor is a little frustrated by how slow things are moving. There are known risks with the treatment, but with the trials moving so slowly and in such limited fashion, we are not able to quantify those risks. And that's causing problems.

For one, people are going to Poland, India, or wherever to get the treatment and they're coming back in a lot of pain. They're getting stents, which--I assume due to the mobility of the neck--move around. Dr. Zamboni, the "founder" of the treatment, has made it clear that this should only be done with angioplasty, not with stents.

But that's another problem: angioplasties are not permanent. (Again, influenced by the neck's constant movement?) So, the angioplasty will, after two, seventeen, or forty nine months, have to be redone. With the small, slow-moving trials, we don't know how long the treatment is expected to last before needing redone. That's the third problem. How many angioplasties will neck veins tolerate before they collapse? Again, we don't know. We only know that veins collapse after a number of angioplasties. (Again my assumption, but is that why they do stents where they can, like around the heart where things don't move around a lot? I wish I had thought of these things during our talk.)

So there are risks to the treatment that the public isn't being made aware of. I learned a lot, but now have more questions. Maybe Google will help me with finding answers.

Rainer

For my friends and readers, my apologies. I haven't been keeping up on the computer as well as I'd hoped. This article is about one of the reasons. One of the "gifts" my MS has left me with is is a bad nystagmus problem. This is the involuntary motion of the eyes when looking at something. This past week, I had the first appointment with Dr. Bell--a neuro-opthamologist. The appointment was to specifically look into the nystagmus, and to see what could be done.

Yesterday was my last mitoxantrone treatment. Yippee! It means I'll be mostly useless for the next few days, but this is the last time.