“As if a light was switched on"
He remembers well how the tremors in his body suddenly stopped, in the Maastricht operating room on 20 October 2014. “I spontaneously started crying from happiness”, says Raymond Goessens (47) from Heerlen. Eleven years ago, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. When it comes to his quality of life, Deep Brain Stimulation makes a difference of night and day. This is thanks to the lab animals.
Before Goessens fell ill, he was a motorcycle salesman and worked fifty or sixty hours a week. Because of the tremors (shaking) and stiffness in his limbs, in combination with stress, that unfortunately became increasingly difficult. He has since been declared unfit for work and is a house husband; he and his wife have swapped roles. In order to supress the symptoms, he took more and more pills—fourteen a day at one point. “And the effect of that medication fluctuated throughout the day. That’s how Deep Brain Stimulation came into the picture.”
Two holes in the skull
He certainly did not immediately jump at the idea of two holes being drilled in his skull. He studied up on exactly what DBS meant using the internet, and also learned that animal research had been done prior to introducing this method. “That’s not nice for those animals, of course, but it helped me tremendously. Without DBS, I would no longer be functioning like I am now. I can do the housework and take care of myself. Otherwise, I would have needed care a long time ago. My quality of life has improved enormously.”
As if a light was switched on
During the seven-hour operation, he was kept conscious so that doctors could continually monitor him to make sure no other brain areas were damaged and to determine the right location for the two electrodes. The moment the electrodes were in the right place and tested for the first time, it felt for Goessens “as if a light had been switched on. Insane!” The amount of electricity in his brain is regulated through the neurostimulator in his stomach (recently the batteries were replaced for the first time in an outpatient procedure). He can also adjust it a little himself with a remote control.
A difference of night and day
In order to further improve the method and possibly help future Parkinson's patients, Goessens is happy to participate in scientific research into DBS. “Recently, the stimulation was switched off during such a study. That was a difference of night and day.” Although DBS greatly helps to suppress the symptoms, it is not the answer to Parkinson's disease. Unfortunately, that persists. “I have now also received some medication because I have regressed a little bit over the last four years. But I’m staying positive.”