Terrebonne man hopes pioneering surgery will shake his tremors

A Terrebonne veteran has received two pioneering brain surgeries, and while he is dissatisfied with the latter’s success so far, he’s happy about the improvement and to be playing a role that could help others.

William Cronenwett has a neurological condition that affects his day-to-day life. He decided to go through an experimental treatment, hoping to stabilize his body, but after the first surgery, something got in the way of that success.

“I don’t mind being a guinea pig as long as they feed me right,” Cronenwett said Tuesday.

Cronenwett suffers from tremors, or as he calls it, “the shakes.”

The malady runs in his family, but thanks to Portland’s VA Medical Center and some Oregon Health and Science University neurologists and neurosurgeons, he can control his shaking — with the touch of a button, on his smartphone.

“This is what I got for strength right now, if I touch that, I can decrease the strength,” Cronenwett said.

Cronenwett is using deep brain stimulation, or DBS,, to stay steady. He’s the first patient on the West Coast to receive this experimental procedure.

His first surgery was about a year ago. Cronenwett described the implants in his brain as nails that send electrical pulses, which in short stabilize his nerves.

“I was holding a cup of coffee, and it looked like a little tsunami going on inside there — tidal waves and everything,” he recalled. “And they turned that thing on, this implant that was in my chest, and it just sticked right down like it was a rock-solid deal. It was really neat.”.

He controls the intensity of the pulses, and his doctors control the duration and frequency.

Things were going great, until a simple scratch on the neck turned into a serious health concern.

“With the wiring in there, it gave a place for the infection to take hold,” Cronenwelt said. “And it was staphylococcus infection, which is pretty severe.”

In the process of cleaning up his infection, they had to remove the equipment from his chest and behind his ear. On Halloween day, he went into surgery for a second time.

His wife, Rosemary, was wary before his first surgery, but felt okay about it the second time around. She has been his support through and through.

“It’s called patience, because it frustrating for him, not having the steadiness,” Rosemary said.

This time, they put newer equipment in, and William said while he’s not satisfied with the recent results. He does not blame the VA for it.

“It’s not working like I’d like for it to — it’s not working as good as the original, but I expect that to change,” William said.

He has hope, not just for himself, but for others with similar conditions.

“Right now, what’s happening is this is a brand new operation, brand new set-up and brand new technology that the people doing the set up are still getting into the power curve,” Cronenwelt said. “It’s a learning experience for them, too.”

The new equipment can send pulses in different directions, and he said this flexibility could help more people.

Right now, he will be visiting a specialist monthly, until his symptoms are gone. Eventually, he said, his equipment will be tuned over the Internet.