DBS - Step Two in the approval process

After making it through the initial qualification for Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS - see my last post), I prepared for step two, evaluation without and with medication.  Sounds easy enough, no meds for 12 hours previous to the exam then get to the Doctor's office and get evaluated.  Unfortunately, I forgot a couple of things.

1) I haven't been completely off medications for a while so I forgot how difficult simple tasks can be
2) Since this is a progressive disease I really had no idea how bad I would be.

I did think ahead a little bit though and got a hotel near the Doctor's office so I wouldn't have to make the 2-hour trip while unmedicated.  As it turned out, that would be the least of my problems.
About an hour past my reminder to take my next dose of meds I started tightening up.  My left foot was dragging and my face felt like it weighed 10 pounds.  I could tell my speech was starting to struggle so I reviewed my exercises from my last therapy appointment to avoid any awkward moments checking in to the hotel.
I made it to my room and as I lay there watching the Yankees get beat up on TV (again) things started happening fast.  I was getting weird spasms in my arms and legs.  My restless leg was now in high gear and my movements had slowed to a crawl.  Then the aches started and I knew it was going to be a long night.  Just how long, I was unprepared for because no matter what I did, positions I tried, or place I attempted to lie (bed, chair, floor) I couldn't sleep.  It would be a long night.  Lucky for me there was some good TV to watch (thank you Fraiser and the movie Monuments Men).  This got me through to morning as my night went from lying down to sitting up to pacing and back to lying down as I tried desperately to get comfortable.  I thought to myself "Well, the Docs going to get me at my worst for sure.  I took a shower and headed out for some coffee hoping it would work its miracle and keep me awake through the testing.
If you've ever taken your car in for service you have probably experienced this.  The car is making a strange noise.  Ever time you do 'this' with the car it makes the same noise so you take it to a mechanic.  He gets in the car and like magic, there is no noise.  Well, after the coffee and moving around outside for about an hour that's how I felt going into this appointment unmedicated.  As bad as my symptoms were the night before they were much calmer by the time I got to the appointment.  The Parkinson's was still there but, not in the nearly institutionalized, spasmatic version they appeared to have me in the night before.  "That's common," Dr. Burack (my new neuro for DBS) told me. Apparently, the withdrawal from both Amantidine and Sinemet can cause the pain and spasms I encountered.  I didn't like the thought of being 'hooked' on a drug but at this point I have little choice.  Hopefully the DBS surgery can reduce my need for some of the 18 pills per day I am now taking.  
The exam was typical of every other neurological exam for Parkinson's except you get to do it twice.  Once off meds and again after your meds have kicked in.  Since it takes my body almost 45 minutes to an hour for the medications to work their magic it gave me the opportunity to  ask a lot of questions about latest techniques, probe placement, what the day of surgery is like, etc.  I will share these in an upcoming post.  
On to Step 3