14
Deep Brain Stimulation and Parkinson’ s
Turning Back the Clock on Parkinson’ s
Nearly 20 years after his Parkinson’ s diagnosis at age 31, Jim McNasby, JD, general counsel at The Michael J. Fox Foundation, reached a turning point. He was taking 15 prescription pills and 12 supplements a day to manage the tremors, stiffness and slowness of Parkinson’ s disease. He had trouble performing simple tasks— he couldn’ t button his shirt without help. At the time, Jim was working at an insurance brokerage firm with international travel demands.“ I was traveling two weeks at a time, and I’ d need an extra bathroom kit just for my medication,” he recalls.
Jim’ s husband, Donny Moss, suggested they investigate DBS. The couple had previously discussed the therapy, but the idea of brain surgery seemed too scary. Donny says,“ I was at a care partner focus group where other people were really surprised that Jim hadn’ t gotten DBS after hearing about his experiences.”
That triggered Jim to call his doctors and ask about DBS. He says,“ My symptoms were getting worse. Some were embarrassing. And I couldn’ t keep up with Donny when we’ d walk at night.” He goes on,“ I took any negative energy I had about DBS, unplugged it, and plugged it into the courage socket in my brain.”
While Jim and Donny were, understandably, worried about the DBS procedures, Jim decided to undergo the surgery in early 2019— actually, three different procedures: one for the first brain lead; another for the second lead; and a third for the two batteries implanted on either side of his chest. Jim laughs remembering his doctor saying he got a“ free haircut with each surgery” when they shaved his head for the procedure. He experienced just one minor complication: a small bleed in the brain around one lead. Luckily, this did not cause any symptoms and resolved on its own.
Shortly after the last surgery, Jim’ s devices were activated. Immediately he felt a difference.“ Right when the DBS was turned on, my posture improved, my tremor diminished and I felt 70 percent better. After five minutes, I was running up and down the hallway.” Since the surgery, Jim has had regular programming sessions with his doctor to adjust his settings. He reminds others,“ It’ s a process. You can’ t expect that you’ re going to start off perfectly programmed and you may have to adjust your settings over time.”
For the first few years, Jim rarely thought about