Brain surgery. Rocket science. Getting the sticker off a CD case.

I was in the OR for brain surgery this morning. Okay, it wasn’t surgery on my brain; I was an observer.

I have been going to various hospitals and clinics for the past few days with several of my company’s field personnel. My goal is to gather input to improve our future products, particularly our so-called clinician and patient programmers. In order to do that, I have been watching our products get implanted, observing our reps interact with patients, and conversing with physicians about their therapies of interest. This morning was a deep brain stimulator implant.

People of all ages can be struck by movement disorders; they are not just ailments of the elderly. This morning’s patient was a 35-year old male with essential tremor (ET). ET generally presents itself as a low-frequency cyclic movement while a limb is active; in contrast, Parkisonian tremor is most prevalent while a limb is at rest. This patient’s tremor was pronounced enough that he could barely write his name and could produce only a scribble when asked to draw a spiral.

My company makes several products that are labeled for treatment of essential tremor. They work by stimulating the brain with electric pulses. In the case of essential tremor, they must stimulate the subthalamic nucleus, which is only a few millimeters on a side. If the stimulation is in the correct location, the tremors subside. If the stimulation is in the wrong part of the brain by even a few millimeters, there can be serious adverse effects.

I arrived at the hospital and put on some scrubs. I met my company’s rep and followed her through the maze-like bowels of the hospital to the OR that held the patient. I’m not sure why hospitals have to be so confusing; they almost never have adequate signage or straightforward layouts. The 20 ft by 30 ft OR was crowded with people and equipment. In contrast to other ORs that I’ve been in, there was no music playing. It was a bit on the cold side, but at least it was well lit.

The neurosurgeon was joined by a neurophysiologist and a number of support people. With the patient awake, the surgeon cut away two flaps of scalp; thanks to electrocautery, there was very little blood loss. I watched him drill two 14 mm holes in the patient’s skull and position a stereotactic frame for precise introduction of two leads into the brain. As the electrodes were lowered into the brain, brain waves appeared on a scope and played on a speaker. After the correct positions were located on each side of the brain, permanent electrodes were introduced and stimulation was switched on.

The effect was incredible. The patient lifted his hand and held it steady in the air. He wrote his name with impeccable penmanship. He drew marvelous spirals. He lifted a cup to his mouth. He accomplished all of this without any tremors. The patient was so happy that his eyes welled up with tears, and everybody in the OR shared in his joy.

Remarkable. A rocket launch would be hard pressed to beat what I saw today.

How many trick-or-treaters do you think you’ll get this year? I’m predicting I’ll get no more than 3 groups, given my neighborhood’s dearth of children. Those that do make the journey to my door are going to be spoiled rotten. I always hated getting cheap candy as a child, so I’m going for the gold. Name-brand chocolate, baby!

Imagine my happiness when I saw this entry on Digg: Scientists Uncover Key to Hockey Goalie Success. Finally, I would eat the fruit of goalie enlightenment! My enthusiasm waned when I read the article. It seems that they key to success as a goalie is to watch the puck. Wow, thanks Captain Obvious!

Sunday night brought the first game of the season for me. The good news is that my team seems a lot better than it did last year. I made a number of solid saves and was feeling pretty good. The bad news is that we were still outshot 38-28 and lost the game 3-4. The troubling thing is that one of those four goals was deflected in by my own defenseman (arg!).

Despite that, it was fun, and I look forward to the twenty or so remaining games.

ExxonMobile announced that their third-quarter profit was $10.49 billion. In 2005, ExxonMobile had a net profit of $36.1 billion on revenues of $370 billion (9.75%).

For comparison, Microsoft had earnings of $3.48 billion in their first fiscal quarter. For fiscal 2006, their profit margin was 28.5%.

If Microsoft had Exxon’s 2005 revenue but retained their profit margin, they would have had a net profit of $105.5 billion.

Exxon’s quarterly profit is front-page news; Microsoft’s is relegated to the interior of the business section.



People are infatuated with large numbers.

I had my first experience playing poker against a celebrity this evening.

I was playing the 8/16 at Canterbury against a number of older gentlemen and one guy who appeared to be about my age. He was playing decently, a bit on the aggressive side, and listening to an iPod. None of this was out of place; there are lots of twenty-somethings playing poker at any given time. Then I noticed his watch.

While lots of guys in their mid-twenties play poker in card rooms, not many of them wear $4000 Breitling watches. Something didn’t add up.

A few minutes later, a passerby revealed the man’s secret with a question. “Recover from the concussion?” he asked, to which the player responded that he had resumed practicing.

It turns out that I was playing against Mattias Weinhandl, who is a right wing for the Minnesota Wild. Nice guy, not presumptuous or arrogant at all. He even took it well when I beat him with 94s. Hope he recovers from his head injury.