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Strong soul and steady hand

It affected everything she did every day on the most basic level. Getting dressed was a chore - she learned to buy clothes without complicated zippers or buttons. Her work as a school teacher - especially writing by hand - was hindered by the shaking.

Until three years ago, the only hope for people with essential tremors was medication, and many, including Baustian, were not helped by the drugs.

Baustian had resigned herself to living with the disability, and she was considering retirement, because the shaking was interfering more and more with her work.

That was until a year and a half ago when she met Dr. Vittorio Morreale, who suggested she try a surgical procedure recently approved by the FDA.

"This surgery is reserved for people with severe tremors who have tried medications unsuccessfully," Baustian said. "They told me it had all these possible complications and side effects. - It's a drastic step to take."

Understanding the possible risks - especially that it could affect her speech - she decided not to have the surgery.

But one day in March, about a year later, Baustian was trying to turn the page of a hymnal in church and kept dropping the book.

"I decided that day I was going to have the surgery, and I have never wavered in my decision since then," she said. "I guess I started thinking if I was going to continue working, I should try the surgery. I'm 63 years old and I'm in really good health otherwise."

Dr. Morreale had told her the surgery has a better-than 80-percent success rate. "I told him, at those odds, I'd go to the casino," Baustian said.

For Baustian, the gamble paid off in a big way. She survived surgery with all the benefits and none of the side effects.

"It's really wonderful, and I feel very grateful it worked and it worked so well," she said. "There were lots of prayers for me from all over the world - by my family, my friends and by all my sisters."

She said the prayers, combined with her doctor's bedside manner, put her at ease during the procedure.

"The day I went into surgery I was totally at peace with my decision - partly because of all the prayers, but partly because I was comfortable with Dr. Morreale," she said.

"He actually shaved my head himself. He didn't have someone else do it. I guess it was his way of bonding with the patient."

On April 26 Dr. Morreale bored a dime-sized hole in the top of Baustian's skull to implant a "Deep Brain Stimulator" behind her forehead.

The implant, connected to a computer chip in her chest, sends stimuli to her brain interfering with the signals to shake.

Except for boring the hole in her skull, Baustian was conscious for much of the surgery so she could help Dr. Morreale with his direction.

"He'd say, -Raise your arm,' and I'd raise my arm. And then he'd say, -Let me try something else here.' And he'd do something on his computer," Baustian said.

Suddenly, after one of the electrical voltage adjustments, Baustian's right hand stopped shaking.

"It was really great," she said. "That's why it's such a dramatic surgery, because it has instant results right there in the operating room."

In church two weeks later, she enjoyed a long-denied luxury of bringing a communion chalice to her lips.

Baustian won't say she's a different person since the surgery, but the absence of the constant tremors and the stress they caused her has made a noticeable difference in her demeanor and her approach to life.

"It used to be such a vicious cycle. Stress made my shaking worse, and shaking caused me stress," she said. "If I was really stressed, my legs would shake, my head would shake. - The surgery was supposed to correct the tremors in my right hand, but I don't shake anywhere else anymore because I'm so much more relaxed."

Baustian still has some tremors in her left hand, but she said her life has drastically improved since the surgery.

"I can drink a cup of coffee with one hand," she smiled. "Before I was drinking everything with a straw."

Better yet, she's able to continue her work helping at-risk inner-city youth.

Baustian is a teacher at Covenant House, which provides temporary housing for 16- to 22-year-old high school dropouts. She prepares them for their GED, and in many cases, helps illiterate young people to read.

Her work also centers around a community garden she started several years ago with the Covenant House and area neighbors.

"God's little acre," as she calls it, has become an oasis in the poverty-stricken neighborhood where children use milk cartons for basketball hoops and drug dealing is commonplace.

For her sake and the sake of the families she's helping, Baustian said she has no regrets about the surgery.

"I felt it was important to do this, so I could continue to do my work and to do it better," she said.

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