Overall body weakness is my biggest problem. The worst part of it used to be my legs.

Now that I've lost most of my fine motor control, feeding myself is just getting to be too interesting. I've become a fan of food that I can stab with a fork or eat with my fingers.

At one time I was able to build my own computer starting with a bare circuit board, a bag of parts and a soldering iron. The last time I tried using a soldering iron it took me almost 30 minutes to solder a simple connector plug to a power chord. That used to be a 5 minute job.

Constipation, trouble typing, soft voice and side effects from the Levodopa (i.e. dyskinesia and muscle stiffness) all add to my daily enjoyment. Tremor has rarely been an issue.

A recent development is being awakened in the middle of the night with dyskinesia attacks. Oh, what a joy that is!

Actually, I've gotten about as far as I can with drugs. I've been working closely with my neurologist for several years and I've been fortunate to keep most of the worst symptoms of PD at bay. He has often said that he is amazed at how well I've used the tools at hand to make the best of a bad situation. A couple of weeks ago we decided to try one last thing. I now take a Sinemet every 2.5 hours. That's 6 a day. He also added a new skin 24 hour skin patch called Neupro (Rotigotine Transdermal System). I'm working my way up to 6 mg.

Unfortunately, I'm beginning to run out of options.

My wife and I have almost decided that I should go ahead with DBS surgery. My neurologist has been suggesting it for quite a while and he believes that I'm an excellent candidate. That's my own feeling, too. Trust me, I've studied the heck out of it. It's risky.

Steve