Q & A with Jeff Jones

Here are 3 good questions sent to me by Jeff Jones

hi ken, question #1: will I be bed ridden after the dbs operations?


question #2: do you kinda forget u have wires and electrodes in your brain eventually?

and question #3: do u always have to be careful of infection?

thanx much,

 jeff

And my response:

Great questions...

1)  my surgeries were on two separate days

a. on a Friday afternoon, thy placed the electrodes.

b. the next Wednesday they placed the Impulse Generator in my right chest and hooked up the wires.

the Friday surgery took about five hours.  I stayed overnight and went home at noon the next day.  No pain.  I slept for almost 3 days, though.

the Wednesday outpatient surgery was uneventful - I woke up starved & convinced my wife to take me out for dinner!  From that point on I was back to a normal at-home routine.  I did not have any event work scheduled during the 6 weeks surrounding my surgeries, so that really helped a lot.  Don't think I could have done 8 hr days.  Any surgery seems to take its toll & some find themselves really affected by the process of the body ridding itself of anesthesia.

2)  Yes, except when one of my grandkids bump my IPG or the bumps on my  head.  I have never had the sense of electrodes being in my head ..... occasionally in the winter I'll feel a tightening of the wires that run up my neck to the top of my head under the skin - so I'll wear a hat.  But I'm bald - so maybe I'm a bit more exposed.

3)  You really only need to be concerned while healing from the surgical incisions -- both on the head & on your chest.  Once healed, it doesn't seem to be an issue.... at least that was true in my case.

My Blog: 

 www.ActuallyItIsBrainSurgery.blogspot.com