search for correct power pulse continues

Since I last posted to this site, I've been involved in a continuing search for exactly the right settings for the neurostimulator tucked under the skin of my right shoulder.
This hunt has not resulted in a Hollywood-style happy ending  -- I haven't had a throw-the-crutches-away-I-can -walk moment.  But I have quietly put away my cane.My walking gait and balance are better.
 I'm learning that surgery results can vary from person to person and finding the correct setting isn't easy.
I've learned it takes the average patient who receives Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery about six return visits to the neurologist's office to get the correct setting; I 've had four such visits so far. 
Pia, the nurse at the Foothills Hospital's Movement Disorders Clinic who is in charge of my adjustments, can change programmning for the strength and length of time for each pulse of power from my battery-powered neurostimulator.  Then, I am allowed to adjust those settings every several days within a predetermined range with my patient controller, a small cell-phone sized device, to see which precise settings work best for all my PD symptoms.
All I do is hold my patient controller device over the neurostimulator  in my chest and make the necessary adjustments.
We've tried a numbert of different settings to tackle both my classic PD symptoms and my neck dystonia, which causes my head to bob up and down. It would seem that less power in each pulse is better; the higher power settings don't seem to do it for me, for whatever reason.
I also seem to fare better with settings designed to tackle PD symptoms rather than settings designed primarily to ease dystonia.
I can see where it would be easy to get discouraged as the search for the right combination of stimulation and drugs continues.  But as a friend of mine, Suzanne, who has had a DBS system for two years wisely observes, "it isn't designed to be a complete cure." 
I can understand that we all want the perfect solution; I know I've had to manage my own expectations and forgive myself for hoping all my symptoms would disappear.
But I am better, no doubt about that. That's enough cause for a realistic level of  rejoicing.
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