It's just a little old
small garden that I have out there that I keep.
I started having tremors about 30 years ago.
Being from Louisiana,
we fix eggplant casserole also.
I couldn't write a note, couldn't sign my name.
I couldn't do my everyday cooking like I'd once did.
Just chopping vegetables was a task.
It was frustrating not being able
to do the things that I was used to doing.
We kept changing medications until nothing seemed to work.
That's when we decided that we'd have to go another route.
Essential tremors is the most common movement disorder.
As we get older,
it's related to abnormal firing in the coordination area of the brain.
When patients try the medications and they don't work out,
then we consider the different types of brain surgeries to treat the tremors.
Sutter is committed to providing its patients with the most advanced
treatment options and Focused Ultrasound is a powerful example of that.
This brings neurosurgical care at Sutter into the 21st century,
with the next generation neurosurgical treatment option.
Within Sutter Health, we're able to offer to patients
Deep Brain Stimulation and Gamma Knife Radiosurgery.
But focused ultrasound is really on the cutting edge of this treatment
for essential tremor and tremor dominant Parkinson's disease.
It uses an array of transducers that allow focused beam of sound energy
to heat up the tissue in a very precise location
that we can see on an MRI scan, and target that in real time,
so that we can make sure that the tremor is improving with the treatment.
We're very happy to be able to offer the Cynthia as option.
I decided I
was going to have the procedure on my right hand first.
It was an exciting time.
On the day of her procedure.
We recorded her doing spirals to see what they look like before and after.
It was really cool to see the beginning, and at the end you're like, oh, wow.
Those are two different people that did those.
Immediately following the procedure, I handed her a pretty full cup of coffee.
I took it with my right hand, and I held the cup of coffee and there was no tremor.
There was no shaking.
When we saw her standing there grabbing the coffee cup.
Yeah, that just did my heart so good.
It was the best cup of coffee. And
I felt a great burden lifted, really.
I thought you were through taking my picture!
I had a 80th birthday celebration
with lots of friends and family, and I'm still celebrating, really.
This was a fantastic birthday present to me,
and I am so looking forward to having the other hand done.
I loved working with Erica, Dr.
Schrot and everybody on the team.
This has been a super fantastic experience.
Everything has gone well.
I wouldn't go anyplace else.
