Rodney Haning was concerned about his golf game.

The problem was all in his head….

SO WAS THE SOLUTION

Severe shaking in his left hand was affecting Rodney Haning to the point where he had to use a different putter when he golfed. He was forced to use a longer one that he held against his body to keep it steady. Not exactly his kind of putting. Of course, the 67-year-old retired telecommunications project manager knew he had a larger issue. Rodney was suffering from what’s called essential tremor. And he was about to undergo brain surgery.

But as he knew long before arriving at UF Health Shands Hospital, this was no ordinary brain surgery. He was about to undergo deep brain stimulation, or DBS, a procedure that involves surgeons implanting small electrodes into an area of the patient’s brain that controls movement. The electrodes are connected to a device precisely programmed to use mild electrical current to modulate problematic brain signals that result in movement problems.