Brushing her teeth with two hands, splattering ingredients on the kitchen wall while cooking, and using her left, non-dominant hand for everyday life became an unwanted normal for Cathie Osborne.

Living with essential tremor — a progressive, neurological disorder causing involuntary rhythmic contractions and relaxations — was “getting in the way of life,” said Osborne, 74.

However, a new virtual option through Swedish Medical Center and Abbott laboratories has her doctor check-ups online and technical adjustments for increasing tremors treated remotely.

It wasn’t until her 30s when Osborne said friends noticed her head wobbling.

“I was surprised,” she said. “You don’t notice it until you’re looking in a mirror.”

Two years ago, Osborne was able to make the shaking in her right hand stop with help from Swedish’s doctors in Seattle and Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). As she describes it, Osborne said a neurostimulator was installed in her skull with a wire to a generator/battery about the size her palm placed inside her chest just below her left collarbone telling her hand not to shake (through low-intensity electrical impulses to nerve structures).

Those everyday tasks became less of a chore.

“I could sign my name again,” she said. “It’s just neater, and I hadn’t written a letter in years, and it also helped at work where I had to write numbers.”

She’s also been able to continue her stamp collecting hobby, which was “something I couldn’t do with my non-dominant hand very well.”

“I’m thrilled,” Osborne said.

First patient

Now, she’s the first patient with DBS treatment to be calibrated remotely in Washington state using Abbott’s Virtual Clinic (Neurosphere), according to Jay Lee, a company territory manager for Washington and Alaska.

“It’s a real revolution,” Lee said. “It was sped forward due to Covid, but a lot of Parkinson’s and (essential tremor) patients don’t think of DBS as a solution because of the commute.

“With this new innovation, it’s definitely a new possibility,” he said.

Each Seattle visit for DBS check-ups meant 12-hour days, Osborne said, as her husband Rick would drive to Bainbridge Island, she’d take the ferry due to traffic concerns, and then a taxi to the hospital.

Once at the clinic, her DBS treatment would be adjusted based on if her tremors had progressed.

Now her 12-hour days are one-hour appointments done over the computer via Zoom once every few months.

“Essential tremor does get worse, but (doctors and nurses) can adjust the system to cover the worst of it,” Osborne said.

While on a Zoom call, she said doctors can increase the system output from afar with Osborne needing a pre-programmed cell phone and a special magnet.

Virtual Clinics just recently went full market release with help from physicians nationwide, Lee said, with more than 3,000 virtual programming sessions so far and appointments initiated in all 50 states. One appointment was conducted from Seattle in Juneau, Alaska, and a handful are signed up for the treatment in the coming months in Washington, he said.

“(Patients) are able to receive programming from the comfort of their own home,” Lee said.

“For the citizens of Sequim, they may not have the time or resources to drive to Seattle for quarterly check-ups.”

Swedish’s staff has worked hard to get word out to its patient population and the “response has been fantastic,” Lee said.

“We want to educate them about our product and with (other) competitors out there we want to make sure whether or not our product is the best one for them,” he said.

Prior to the DBS treatment, he said patients must respond positively to the medications carbidopa and levodopa before it’s an option.

He said for patients with Parkinson’s disease, doctors/neurosurgeons can install implants, similar to Osborne’s on both sides of the brain with one or both sides turned on to help with tremors as the disease progresses.

“It depends on the physician and/or neurosurgeon when/if to active a second side later on,” Lee said.

For Osborne, DBS was installed on the left side of her brain and chest to help her right side’s tremors.

“Using a spatula was a nightmare, and so was trimming my nails and wrapping presents,” she said of her essential tremor.

“You don’t realize how many things are affected and knowing we don’t have to make those trips is such a relief.”

The Food Drug Administration approved DBS for Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor, Lee said.

Along with Swedish, Bobby Beeman with Olympic Medical Center said they have the ability to do DBS via its neurology service, too.

For more information on Abbott’s Virtual Clinic, visit neurosphere.abbott/virtual-clinic.

For more on its DBS treatment, visit here.

Every few months, Cathie Osborne will meet with her doctor at Swedish via Zoom and with a magnet and cell phone, her treatment for essential tremor can be adjusted remotely by medical staff in Seattle without making an all-day trip. “Knowing we don’t have to make those trips is such a relief,” she said. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash

For Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), patients like Cathie Osborne are asked to draw a spiral and medical staff adjust the low-intensity electrical impulses to nerves to better control tremors for patients with essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease. Photos courtesy of Cathie Osborne

To control and limit tremors on her right side, Cathie Osborne said a neurosurgeon at Swedish installed a neurostimulator in her skull with a wire to a generator/battery about the size of her palm placed inside her chest just below her left collarbone. Now she is able to have it calibrated remotely through Zoom calls with her doctor every few months as needed. Photo courtesy of Cathie Osborne

Cathie Osborne, a Sequim resident with essential tremor, is the first person in Washington to receive a calibration for her Deep Brain Stimulation treatment to help control shaking in her right hand through a Virtual Clinic provided by Swedish and Abbott (laboratories). Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash