If it wasn’t for the PA Hospital, Peter Hoar would not have the quality of life to enjoy retirement with his wife Kim on their small farm at Esk.
Peter’s able to enjoy his life with Kim thanks to deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery for Parkinson’s Disease. The surgery involves the placing of small electrodes in the brain to rewire neural connections in the brain that have been impacted by the disease. The benefits for Peter have been numerous including, reducing reliance on medication, much enhanced sleep and radical improvements in his tremor.
His journey with Parkinson’s Disease began a decade ago.
“I started, noticing a sort of shaking in my right arm. I did go to medical places to get it diagnosed and they said they thought it was essential tremors,” he said.
“I went to see a neurologist, Doctor Kerryn Green, and she immediately diagnosed there was Parkinson's after testing a few movement things with my fingers. After being diagnosed by Dr Green, I started on the medication madopar, about four tablets a day.
“That gradually increased, as I went through going to visit her every year. The medication each year until I read up that there was another procedure that could be done that could help me, which was DBS, which I asked Dr Green about, and she referred me on to Dr Alex Lehn, at the PA Hospital as he is more experienced in DBS.
“I went to see him, he started the procedure for me going on to the DBS after a couple of visits, and I haven’t looked back from there really. I went through the operation in August and since then I've gradually, and quite rapidly been able to decrease the amount of medication I've been using since the DBS was done.
“My quality of life seems a lot better actually because the shakings mostly gone. It’s just if I do a lot, I have off periods between, about 10 to 15 minutes when I'm between medications, but most of the time I'm not shaking anywhere near as much.”
Peter is still seeing with the PA’s movement clinic and remains incredibly grateful to the PA Hospital and the wider Queensland and Australian Health system more widely. Adding that the level of care provided to him before, during and post DBS surgery has been first rate.
“DBS surgery is definitely full on. I mean, there's no way they can prepare you for having your holes drilled in your skull while you're awake. It doesn't-- something just doesn't come naturally to people. It’s quite intense. But once they turned the system on, it was pretty much an immediate effect. In fact, before they turned the system on, it had an effect, which Dr Alex Lehn told me is quite common. It's just that they've put the probes in and that seems to have some sort of effect on your brain anyway. Once they turn it on, that effect is intensified. So you actually function better in life.
Dr Lehn is so positive. His attitude is infectious. He never has a negative thing to say. He was there being supportive all through the procedure. I would recommend him and his team to anybody.
“When we came over here in 1996, I was diagnosed with bowel cancer two years after. I got immediate treatment then as well. I’m very happy with the system here, that is Medicare, having received treatment for cancer and having gotten DBS surgery.
Thanks to our incredible donors the Foundation has supported research by Dr Alex Lehn, and other clinicians and surgeons based at the PA Hospital, with the goal of improving outcomes for patients across Queensland.
You can donate to Parkinson’s research and patient support that helps patients like Peter via our website pafoundation.org.au.
