Parkinson's DBS Surgery: Part 4, The Day Before Turn On

It has been two weeks since they drilled holes in my head and one week since they stuck the generator unit in my upper right chest and ran the wires up to the leads in my brain, so here is an update. 

The stitches in my scalp are itching like crazy and I am trying not to scratch at them. I have been told I look like I have a little braid across my head or that I look like a baby calf who has just has his horns cut off (moo). I am still a bit sore behind my right ear where the wires are run under the skin, but I don't "feel" the wires moving around as others have told me they do. There are still marks on my skin from the EKG pads they forgot to take off me. 

Mark on skin from EKG pad

Most of the bruising from the implant area is gone and I don't think the scar will be too bad. The generator is shaped like a small deck of cards and the corner of the unit near my underarm sticks out a bit and makes shaving a little tricky (maybe the engineers can make the units rounder in the future). I am able to sleep on my right side without any problem.

Now for my Parkinson's symptoms. I am back on my pre-surgery medications and dosing schedule, every three hours from wake up to bed time. I am moving very stiffly and slowly for most of the morning and sometimes into early afternoon. The good news is that I haven't had a single foot cramp since the first surgery. I go back to Dr. Norton tomorrow for my follow-up appointment. My guess is that he will remove the stitches and turn the unit on. I don't know what will happen after that, but I will let you know.