Tom Montgomery’s music studio in San Rafael is a peaceful oasis. Wooden guitars adorn the walls, and shelves are full of family photos and artifacts from his international travels.
But for several years, essential tremors affected the talented pianist and bandoneon player’s hands — which left him unable to play the classical music he loves.
Even holding a glass was difficult for Montgomery. Eventually, he had a specialized brain surgery at Kaiser Permanente Redwood City that stopped the tremors, improving his quality of life.
“I’m back in the saddle now,” Montgomery said. “Before my surgery, I could no longer play because the essential tremors were so bad. I decided to have the surgery, and six weeks after I had it, I played the piano in the oldest theater in Florence, Italy.”
A remarkable recovery
Last April, Montgomery underwent deep brain stimulation at Kaiser Permanente Redwood City. The procedure uses electrical pulses to stimulate an area of the brain. Most often, it is used to relieve symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, essential tremors, and epilepsy. Redwood City and Sacramento are the only Kaiser Permanente Northern California locations to offer this procedure.
During the surgery, electrodes are implanted in the brain. They are connected to a battery in the chest — just like a pacemaker, said Mark Sedrak, MD, the chief of neurosurgery at Kaiser Permanente Redwood City who performed Montgomery’s surgery.
“By doing this, we can stimulate and actually change the function of the brain itself,” he said. “For Tom, we tailored this therapy for an optimum outcome. Patients have an enormous amount of tremor control after this surgery, and the success rate is very high.”
Montgomery noticed immediate changes after the surgery. He was able to resume his normal activities, which was important because he and his wife, Georgia, have an adventurous life. They lead Castles & Concerts tours in Europe, where guests stay in old-world castles and attend concerts at extraordinary venues.
“Modern medicine has saved my life several times,” Montgomery said, “and I’m very grateful to my doctors.”
A collaborative effort
Last year, Kaiser Permanente Northern California performed nearly 200 of the surgeries in Redwood City and Sacramento. Since 2006, Kaiser Permanente Redwood City Medical Center has been home to the Advanced Neuroscience Center, a center of expertise and technological advancements for various neuro-related medical treatments.
“We take great pride in offering world-class, comprehensive care through our multidisciplinary team of subspecialty movement disorders neurologists and functional neurosurgeons,” Dr. Sedrak said.
Sirisha Nandipati, MD, is Montgomery’s movement disorder neurologist at Kaiser Permanente San Rafael. She is the doctor who referred Montgomery for the surgery and programmed his implanted device.
“After the surgery, Tom returned to my care to have his neurostimulator programmed to achieve excellent tremor control,” Dr. Nandipati said. “Patients like Tom motivate us in the Kaiser movement disorders program to keep advancing our deep brain stimulation techniques.”
