It appears that by year’s end (possibly by summer’s end), I’ll be getting a unilateral probe to control the essential tremor that makes my left hand pretty much useless for anything requiring fine motor control.
I’ve got an appointment for an initial consultation with a neurosurgeon next month. The nurse I spoke with gave me a few answers, but her telephone time was limited so I wasn’t able to get a comprehensive rundown of what to expect. I thought if there are any Dopers who have experience with this treatment, ya’ll could help me fill in some blanks.
My Dad had undergone the procedure (bilaterally) several years ago (another name for the condition is “familial tremor”), and was helped immensely by it. Unfortunately, I never got around to asking him for many details before he passed away this spring. But one of the details I DID get from him was that it was an office procedure, with no hospitalization required, and the nurse told me that I WILL need to plan on n overnight stay, because it’s apparently a two-part procedure (three-part if we go bilateral). So maybe my own experience won’t be much like his at all.
Per my understanding, the surgeon will peel back a portion of my scalp, drill through my skull, and insert the DBS probe into the part of the brain that is misfiring to cause the tremor. Considering how inadvisable it generally is to get hair into an open wound, I presume some shaving of my scalp will be done. How large an area, though?
On a partially-related note, last fall, when I had a hip replacement, the incision was closed, not with sutures, but with what seemed like a bead of cyanoacrylate, covered by a sort of waterproof surgical dressing. While it worked a treat at my pelvis, I’m not so sure my head hair growing back enmeshed in such materials is a good idea. Is this surgery likely to be closed up using more traditional methods?
I believe the probe(s) will be activated by a battery pack/control unit surgically installed in my chest, and I will be able to turn it off and on by waving a magnetic remote near the implant site (Dad’s remote was installed in his hand, IIRC). How do they electrically route the wires from the control unit to the probe? Is that actually the first stage of the surgery?
Thanks very much in advance for any knowledgeable answers that may be forthcoming. If this thread is fruitful, I will likely think of more questions to ask.