It's Time

"It's time."

It's time for school.  It's time for work.  It's time to buy groceries.  It's time to pick up the kids.  It's time to go to town.  It's time to run a load of laundry; get dinner started; clean the house; take a shower; look at lesson plans; get up, go here, get dressed, go there, brush teeth, take a pill, eat, sleep, breathe, pee!...

It's time...

...for a D.B.S.!

Holy crap!  Really?   Like the rest of the world rolling ever closer to the end of 2017, this now 52-year-old-gray-haired-PD bloggin'-hott-mama-of-4 with an endless tirage of time for stuff to do came to a screeching halt recently when she heard a very smart doctor say to my hotthubby, Dannypoo, "It's time for a D.B.S."

Wait....what?

I've heard of DBS, or Deep Brain Stimulation, before.  Of course we have.  A DBS is a surgical therapy for people with Parkinson's Disease.  Sure, we have even met a few PD friends who have undergone this procedure.

But, like normal...I decided to file DBS away and pretend it is only for people with crazy symptoms, super rich, and well, last resort ditch efforts to maintain a "normal" quality of life.  Besides, from the little I heard,  getting a DBS is a super scary BRAIN surgery where the patient stays AWAKE!  Nah....not my hotthubby, right?

Wrong.

After tweaking a wide range of medications and watching stinking Parkinson's Disease symptoms creep up for the last 10 years since his diagnosis, in 2017 we heard "It's time for a DBS."

"In DBS surgery, thin wires called electrodes are placed into one or both sides of the brain in specific areas (either the subthalamic nucleus or the globus pallidus interna) that control movement."  Deep Brain Stimulation for Dan has been on the horizon for a few years now.  However, over the past few months, we have been to a number of appointments with neurologists and, just before the holidays, met (get this) virtually with a neurosurgeon at the Richmond Veteran's Administration, Dr. Kathryn Holloway.  According to the DBS nurse, Dr. Holloway is a "rock star" when it comes to DBS surgery.  She has done 500 Deep Brain Stimulation procedures with success.  And as a US Air Force Veteran, the surgery can occur, ironically, as part of Dan's VA "benefits".  Wow.  

Time to ramp up advocacy for Parkinson's awareness, funding for research, and development of a cure!  Maybe the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research can fix PD before Dr. Holloway drills a hole in Dan's head!

All the nerves aside, want to know something pretty cool about DBS?  In one of Dan's many appointments, I heard someone say (and I don't remember who said it) that a successful DBS can "set the clock back 10 years" on Parkinson's symptoms.

10 years!

Levi, our youngest, was only 2 years old ten years ago!  Both our sons have no idea of what their daddy was like before the physical limitations of Parkinson's Disease.  A DBS?

It's about time.

"There is a appointed time for everything. 

And there is a time for every event under heaven..."  
Ecclesiastes 3:1

(Return for more "It's Time" blogs to journal our 2018 DBS Journey... Your prayers and support are needed and encouraged!)