We are please to announce that all has gone well with Dad's surgery.
We (Colette, Sue and Mom) made it to dad's room at 5:30 this morning to hang out with Dad before they came to take him to get ready for the big day. At 6:30 a.m. the fun began. They took dad to recovery to start the process. We said our good byes and good lucks just before they attached the halo to dad around 7:15 and didn't see him again until 4:00.
First step was to attach a "halo" that had been created for him. It looks like a metal cage around dad's head. The purpose of the "halo" to hold his head still during surgery and to have coordinates to go by when they insert the contact wire. Once the halo was attached they did a MRI mapping of his brain. It was then on to surgery. The first part of the surgery is drilling a couple of holes in the skull. One right on top and one on the right side just above the temple. A lead contact wire is then inserted into the top hole and guided down about 3-4 inches to the "sweet spot". This is approximately in the middle of the head level with the eyes and ears. Once they think they are near the sweet spot they wake dad up and have him talk and do motor skills exercises to determine if they are in the right place.
At this point, about 1:15 p.m., Susan H. (the neuro-surgical nurse) came out and said Dad did fantastic and that the first part of the surgery went great. Then they put him under for the second half of the surgery which is placing a lead wire down the side of dad's neck and planting the battery pack for the stimulator in his chest. (the battery lasts for 3-5 years then he'll need a new one) That only took from 1:30-3:45. We were able to see Dad at 4:00 and he was sitting up in bed, still kind of dozy but talking clearly and nodding off at times. Mom was a bit concerned because dad still had tremors, but the unit has not been turned on yet and he had not had any Parkinson's med's at that point.
Susan H came back in and said he was an over achiever as the nurse had Dad sitting up in a chair and getting ready to eat dinner. Tomorrow they will do another MRI to see that all the leads from the brain to the chest are where they are suppose to be. After this they will determine when they will turn on the stimulator, either Thursday or Friday. Susan also stated that she is going to wean Dad off his Parkinson's med's by 25% at a time and she hopes that he will be down by 40-50% soon. They need to go slow with it because some of the Parkinson's med's actually work like an anti-depressant. They don't want dad going through withdrawal. The slow "weaning off" of the med's also will help find the fine line for the new dosages of his meds.
They wanted to reiterate that this surgery does NOT cure the Parkinson's but hides the symptoms. His right side has recently start to act up on him. The surgery that he had today will not take care of anything that happens on the right side, so we will be watching this very closely and if needed we will get him in soon to take care of the right side.
Sue and I were both really fortunate to have the time and ability to be with both Mom and Dad during this time. And we want to thank everyone who thought of and prayed for Dad and Mom today.
Sue & Colette
