Seriously? Does that name not bring all kinds of negative connotations? At any rate, the good news is that we once again get to choose whether to go with the standard or rechargeable battery. Plus, whichever he chooses, he’s going to be getting the newest technology available. Granted it will have be attached to the older probes in his head but he still should garner advantages from advances that have taken place in the past five years, particularly in the adaptive field. The new controller is designed to pick up feedback from his brain and adjust accordingly as it gets to know him. The goal is that it will be more responsive and efficient.

For now we are still at the wait and see stage. We had an appointment with a neurosurgeon and are waiting for the surgery to be scheduled. He needs to see his PCP once we have a surgery date to be cleared for the procedure which should be an easy process. The exchange itself takes only about an hour, but he does have to be anesthetized, always a concern in the Parkinson’s world.

Barring any complications, he comes home the same day. The new device will be turned on and everything should be working as normal. The neurosurgeon did say that with the changes in technology, we may see some different settings on the the device. There will be a couple follow-up appointments with the surgeon and then with our neurologist to make sure all is well. More to come as this stage of our journey progresses…