Surgery to reduce Parkinson's disease symptoms performed in Houston

HOUSTON -

Glen Walber went to Houston Methodist Hospital looking for hope and relief from tremors caused by Parkinson's disease that kept him from sleeping and playing his beloved tennis.

"When I had tremors I couldn't play tennis. I couldn't go on vacation. I couldn't go to San Antonio Fiesta Texas. I had a hard time sleeping because my body was moving at night and around Thanksgiving I couldn't even write my own name," said the computer programmer.

"Watching him not be able to play tennis I think was the hardest part," said Judy Walber, his wife of 53 years.

The 75-year-old decided to take a risk to regain his quality of life and underwent surgery for deep brain stimulation at Houston Methodist -- a surgical treatment proven to reduce some of the symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease.

"First step we just put electrodes. Two weeks later we put a battery. He has a rechargeable battery basically that means it will last a long time and hopefully in his case a lifetime. He has a very small pacemaker-type device that controls both electrodes on both sides of the brain. The first procedure if everything goes right is a 1-day procedure and the second phase is outpatient procedure if there are no complications," said Dr. Stanley Fisher, Neurologist at Houston Methodist Neurological Institute.

The neurologist said one out of 100 patients has a problem after surgery and the biggest issue is risk of stroke.

On the day we joined the Walbers at Houston Methodist Dr. Fisher was activating the electrodes to find out if the surgical risk would pay off.

"I am electrically stimulating his brain. I go up on voltage and look for improvement and look for side effects," said his doctor.

Walber was run through a series of tests while Dr. Fisher adjusted the voltage and looked for improvement and side effects.

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Surgery to reduce Parkinson's disease symptoms performed in Houston