[Dixielandjazz] Trombone Focal Dystonia

[Charlie Hooks]

On Monday, August 8, 2005, at 12:36 PM, Dave Gravatt wrote:

> She said there was good news, that certain brain imaging was showing 
> visible differences (of some kind) in the brains of those who have 
> it and those who don't. She said a cure will be found. <pause> But 
> not in our lifetime.

Dave, I saw a TV documentary last year about an operation on a guy 
who had "generalized" focal dystonia (whatever that is) and was all 
twisted up from head to toe.  They drilled a pinhole in his head, 
inserted some kind of cathode, and they guy straightened up like 
there had never been anything wrong.

I can't find a reference for the program, but the effect was almost 
magical: one moment the guy was a mess, the next moment he was 
normal.  The trick, they said, was knowing where to drill and where 
to insert the wire.   Like most magicians, they neglected to explain 
the details.

But your doc may well be right--and the cure may be closer than she 
thinks.  There must be someplace on the web that keeps up with this 
stuff.

Glad you had a chance to work with Dan Havens.  We were young 
together back in the 50s in Ann Arbor and started the original Boll 
Weevil Jass Band in 1955 with Mike Montgomery, John Teachout and 
other odd folk like Bob Shanahan who, during his last year in med 
school, broke into the U of Mich band house and stole the giant tuba 
for a Boll Weevil concert, then broke back in again the next morning 
to return it.

keep in touch, friend.
Charlie Hooks
>
__________________________________________
"One of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous 
citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which 
our Founding Fathers used in the great struggle for independence." 
--Charles Beard