We are up reasonably early (7.15) to grab some breakfast and a cuppa before my wife and I go back into London for my hospital appointment. We help my daughter pack her belongings into her little VW Golf, and then drive to Stevenage railway station to catch a train to King’s Cross.
We arrive at the hospital half an hour early – this makes a change, because we are usually rushing to get there on time. So much for being early… We are kept waiting for over an hour and a half to see the DBS nurse who is going to perform my adjustments. When she does make an appearance, she makes an excellent job of it – listening to what I am telling her about my issues with the current settings, and being very thorough in her questioning of me. She spends a little while making adjustments – at one point she turns my DBS off completely, and it’s a stark reminder of how bad things would be if I hadn’t had my surgery. My voice is stronger and deeper almost immediately – I’m so grateful for that! My walking is also improved (a little) although I am still aware of a certain “wooden” quality. Mentally, I feel my spirits are lifted slightly, and my wife says that I have regained some facial expression. Tremor on the right side is well controlled, but there is still a tendency for it to break through a little on my left side – it’s a bit of a compromise, but then most things in life are! I’ll let the settings bed in for a day or two, and see how things are then.