Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/244291
Reeling In The Years: Springs Woman Regains Life's Pleasures Gayle Schendzielos noticed the tremor shortly after her 50th birthday. Her hands had begun to quiver with every task — typing, sewing, capping the toothpaste. It was only a slight tremor, but it was a sign: She was destined for the "shakes," as her mother called the genetically-linked disorder when Schendzielos was growing up. Colorado Springs resident Gayle Schendzielos exhibits her regained fly-fishing finesse after a medical procedure nearly halted debilitating tremors that had stolen her quality of life for years. (Photos courtesy of Everett McEwan) Unlike her mom and other relatives who accepted the condition as fate, Schendzielos saw a doctor, learning the name "Essential Tremor" and accepting drugs to ease the symptoms. But while her medicine chest grew fuller over the years, her tremors intensified. Nearly 15 years later, the Colorado Springs grandmother of 17 found herself debilitated not only by tremors, but by a zombie-like drug state and a $1,000 monthly prescription bill. "Last year, my 11-year-old granddaughter begged me to teach her to sew. I tried for three hours to thread my machine, and I just could not do it," said Schendzielos, 65, who had lost her job and watched many of her joys in life fade away. An avid fly-fisher, she could no longer finesse the line let alone tie a fly. A competitive bridge player, she could no longer hold a hand without dropping cards. Her glasscutting tools were boxed up. Her piano was sold. "I couldn't even go to lunch with friends. Food would fly everywhere." Soon, her husband found himself doing nearly everything for his wife, and the couple was bidding farewell to goldenyear plans of fishing, traveling and enjoying a large family. Then Schendzielos received an invitation in the mail that changed her life. New Hope Schendzielos was invited to a support group at the Movement and NeuroPerformance Center, co-founded by neurologist Dr. Monique Giroux. Giroux, also medical director of the Movement Disorders and Deep Brain Stimulation program at Swedish Medical Center, told the hopeless Schendzielos that she had options, including DBS, which she and her interdisciplinary team had recently begun offering in Denver. Deep Brain Stimulation involves placing leads in the brain that are controlled by a small, pacemakerlike device that is implanted in the chest. Electrical impulses, directed at the exact spot for individual patients, An Experience disrupt the brain signals responsible for their movement disorders. More than 100,000 DBS surgeries have been performed on patients with ailments such as tremors, dystonia and Parkinson's Disease. Schendzielos researched the surgery and sought more medical opinions. Ultimately, she was impressed by the skill of the hospital's team, which includes Dr. Adam Hebb, director of Functional Neurosurgery, and physician assistant Sierra Farris, an expert in movement disorders and DBS programming. "When we left that office, we knew that was the team we wanted, because they all worked so closely together, and there was never any pressure," she says. When she was first wheeled into the operating room, Schendzielos says she felt hesitant. But soon, because all of the members of the medical team had gone over every aspect of the surgery many times, Schendzielos says she was not only comfortable, but enthralled. "They started by having me draw a spiral and a straight line and writing my name," Schendzielos says. She failed at all three. "My line looked like waves on the ocean," she says with a chuckle. Then the surgery began, with Schendzielos awake, which Hebb says helps surgeons place leads with absolute precision. "I never felt a thing," says Schendzielos, who was numbed and mildly sedated. She recalls odd sounds Health and Wellness Magazine • 29