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Thursday, August 31, 2017

Deep Brain Stimulation Scheduled!

I recently went live on YouTube (for the first time) to update everyone about new information concerning my DBS (deep brain stimulation) surgery. I discussed what DBS is, and the process I'll experience having it done.

Below are the three embedded videos. There are three of them, because the feed was interrupted. I didn't notice the that had happened, so when I picked back up again, a whole middle section was missing. I did the third video to fill in what was missing. Hopefully I'll be able to avoid multiple files in future vblogs.

Meanwhile, here is a summary of the results when I visited my neurosurgeon, neurologist, and as of today, my local doctor who needs to clear my heart as healthy enough for surgery. Meeting with the neurosurgeon last Monday, I decided I wanted to do this, and the following dates are set:

The week of September 11--final date has yet to be determined--I'll be going in to have an extensive MRI done in order to identify the target spot(s) in my brain that will be most effective for me.

Tuesday, September 26, they will install the fiduciary rods onto my skull. If I remember correctly, there are five of them. They act as reference points between the computer and my moving head so the lead that will be inserted can be accurately tracked. This step may not need to be done if--as I discuss in the video--he is able to verify the accuracy of the new machine to his satisfaction before this date. Otherwise, I'll get about five rods screwed onto my skull. I'll return home, I believe, though I"m unsure how I'm supposed to sleep with rods sticking out of my head like a mutated Martian. I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Wednesday, September 27, they will install the leads into the brain. This will be the big one. You can't say, "At least it's not brain surgery," because that's exactly what this is. I understand it will take around 3 to 4 hours.

Wednesday, October 4, they will put in the battery and connect it to the leads and turn it on.

Tuesday, Oct. 10, I'll visit my neurologist to begin the process of programming the electrical pulses in order to obtain the most benefit with the fewest side-effects. There is likely going to be a six month process of fine-tuning it. But we're hoping by this date, my current medications will be either greatly reduced or, ideally, totally get off my medications.

This week, I saw my general practitioner for my heart to be cleared as healthy for surgery. I believe there was nothing in the EKG that would be an issue. I just had my blood drawn today, so still waiting to see how those lab tests turn out. But I'm not expecting any problems.

Here are the videos I did last week describing in more detail about what I'll be going through. Thanks for reading.