We finally had the appointment for Lee to be evaluated for the DBS. He is not a candidate at this time. That is great news, yet still depressing. It means his Parkinson's isn't bad enough, but it now means back to playing with meds, increasing doses, and trying to get it just right. I have no doubt if they had seen him before his hospital trip in November he would be a candidate. One of the guidelines used is the dyskinesia, he was severe then with minimal relief from the meds. During the hospital stay they cut everything off, which decreased the dyskinesia, but worsened tremors.
Anyway...this doctor confirmed, for the third time, that he has a double whammy. He has an essential tremor on top of the Parkinson's.  Essential tremors are harmless, genetic in nature, and irritating. DBS is also used for the ET. They just use different target areas in the brain.
Surgery for this has not been ruled out. She is going to run it across a couple colleagues and get their input. As of right now the neurologist knows of no other case like this having the DBS surgery for either one. They don't know what would happen, what the side effects would possibly be... how surgery for the essential tremor would affect the PD. So, if accepted for it he will be followed by a panel of docs art OHSU and the Portland VA.
 On to new adventures...maybe...