15
Before Surgery
Jim McNasby ( left ), with his husband , Donny Moss , enjoys a renewed sense of independence and a return to beloved outdoor activities after DBS .
battery , the team located the side with the issue . Fortunately , the break was in the portion of the wire in Jim ’ s neck , not the brain , so the repair was straightforward , although it still required surgery .
And in January 2024 , Jim needed his first battery replacement . “ I thought it would be very routine , and in some ways , it was , but the doctor changed my medication — and that was hard .” Ten weeks later , Jim has recovered fully and reports feeling “ great — 99 percent back to normal .” his DBS and took one or two Parkinson ’ s pills a day . Since then , however , two incidents have occurred that keep his DBS more on his mind . In September 2022 , his system malfunctioned : unbeknownst to Jim , he had broken a wire connecting the battery to the lead , and within the course of a day his pre-DBS symptoms returned . The next morning , he video-called his neurologist on his cell phone , and she patched in a DBS technologist , and they were able to access and adjust his DBS settings remotely . “ It was like being in a Buck Rogers movie ,” Jim says . “ I was in the Catskills [ mountains two hours north of New York City ], my doctor was in Manhattan and the tech was in a parking lot in Paramus , New Jersey , and they were both controlling my brain from afar .” By powering down and restarting each
But normal isn ’ t necessarily perfect : Jim occasionally has trouble with his gait and is more cautious these days . Nonetheless , he feels “ a quiet calmness ” inside and has regained his sense of independence . He and Donny hike six to 10 miles daily whenever they ’ re at their Catskills home , and Jim works out six or seven times a week . “ Recently we were on vacation and I played golf eight days in a row ,” he says . “ It was empowering to know that I can still do that .”
Donny says , “ DBS wasn ’ t a cure , but it turned back the clock to a time when Jim was far less symptomatic and had a better quality of life .” He adds , “ In hindsight , we should have done it sooner . It was such a radical transformation — so much bigger than either of us could have anticipated . Both of our lives have changed .”