It is with pride that I can announce now that all the author proceeds I receive from my new book, “Deep Brain Diary: My Life as a Guy with Parkinson’s Disease and Brain Surgery Volunteer“, will be donated to the National Parkinson Foundation to assist funding in their excellent work towards finding a cure for [...]
Long-time readers know that I was one of the 30 people taking part in a phase I clinical trial of deep brain stimulation for the treatment of early-stage Parkinson’s disease. I was one of the 15 randomized to have the surgery, while 15 other volunteers were randomized to the control group, to continue their standard [...]
This is a book I’ve been writing, mostly on this blog and others, since February 2007. And today, I feel like it’s ready to be shopped out to an agent or a publisher.
This is my first effort at non-fiction. I have one published fiction novel “…by the people…” (which you can check out by clicking the link… it’s cheap, funny and good! And cheap. Did I say, “Cheap”?). I’ve written several other novels, screenplays and stage plays which sit gathering dust in various boxes around the house.
Had my four-month visit with Dr. Grill today. The guy is great.
We did all the little tests we always do, and it turns out my hands are actually faster than they were before he adjusted my deep brain stimulation devices in October. So that’s good.
We did all the movement tests… the first time he did [...]
In fact, all things considered, I think I’m doing fairly well for a fella who has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s for over 10 years now. I’m still working. Studies show that after 5 years, 25 percent of us can’t hold down a job. That figure jumps to 80 percent after 9 years. I passed 10 years on Jan. 30.
It was 10 years ago, January 30, 2000. I was driving on Alligator Alley from Miami to Naples, Florida, trying to let it all sink in.
A doctor — a preeminent one in the world of movement disorders — had just diagnosed me with Parkinson’s disease. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, “It’s [...]
This blog was meant, first and foremost, to serve as a daily diary of sorts detailing my progression with Parkinson’s disease. Saturday, January 30, makes 10 years since the day I was diagnosed.
Yet, drifting off to sleep last night, it dawned on me that this blog doesn’t tell the story of how I learned I [...]
Results of a new study show that deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus can eliminate the brain’s desire for cocaine.
Here, from findings obtained in rats, we propose DBS of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) as a possible treatment for cocaine addiction to be further tested in human studies. We show that STN DBS reversibly reduces [...]
“I thought, ‘Oh, my God, that’s brain surgery,’ ” recalls Bill Schmalfeldt. He was considering participating in a clinical trial—the only one testing so-called deep brain stimulation in patients with early-stage Parkinson’s disease—that might result in electrodes being permanently implanted deep inside his head. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at age 45, Schmalfeldt, now 54, found himself [...]
