It's the middle of August, 2012.
November 13 will be the 3rd anniversary of my DBS surgery.
Bottom Line:
GOOD NEW FIRST - Tremor is Gone. Associated aches Gone. Meds down 75% from before DBS. Very significant. No real signs of PD when I'm in public and ON.
BAD NEWS - Talking and normal communication (other than simple hello's and quick phrases) is bad. My wife get's SOOOO frustrated. Voice is soft, articulation is minimal, and if I get frustrated, it only gets worse.
When I had my first psych testing at Stanford, the doc asked me, "if you had to choose between opitmizing the tremor and being able to talk well, which would you choose?" Not really understanding the significance of the latter, I said that optimizing the tremor was most important.
Today, I still stand by that choice, but must admit that verbalizing my thoughts is a far greater issue than I realized.
When I type like this, letter by letter, I can correct my typing, take my time, and appear articulate. In person, it can be a disaster. I feel like a total social misfit.
Sometime between now and November 13, I'll re-visit my "turning off the pulse generator" like I did on my first DBS anniversary. This time, I'll leave it off longer... I want to see if my speech process will improve with the unit OFF. We'll see.
