Michel Medina Gonzalez shook violently in a chair inside a patient room at Orlando Health, where he was fitted last month with a brain implant to control his symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Using a wireless device slightly larger than a PDA, Dr. Alex Gonzalez, a neurologist at Orlando Health, remotely adjusted the electronic implant with a stylus.

After a few adjustments, Michel's trembling left leg, which had been causing his foot to constantly tap on the floor, stopped moving.

Orlando Health is among the first hospitals in the nation to offer the new, implantable deep brain stimulation device that gives Parkinson's patients greater control of their movements.

Similar to a cardiac pacemaker, the device delivers electrical stimulation to targeted areas within the brain, blocking the signals that cause the debilitating trembling.

Metal staples form two half-circles on Michel's recently shaved head, where a lead consisting of four thin wires with electrodes is implanted in his brain. An extension connects to the lead and is threaded under the skin from the head, down the neck and into the upper chest. There, it connects to a neurostimulator, a programmable battery that delivers electrical pulses through the extension and leads to the brain.

Gonzalez likened the neurostimulator to a schoolteacher in a rowdy classroom.

''It modifies voltage, frequency and amplitude,'' the doctor said. 'How loud the teacher says `quiet' is the voltage. How many times she says 'quiet' is the frequency. And how long she says 'q-u-i-e-t' is the amplitude.''

MINIMUM IMPULSE

Gonzalez said the goal is to use the minimum amount of electrical impulses to gain the maximum results.

Michel was diagnosed in December 2001 with Parkinson's disease, a disorder that occurs when certain nerve cells in a part of the brain that controls muscle movement die or become impaired. Symptoms include trembling of limbs and face, stiffness of the limbs and trunk, slow movement, and poor balance.

He was at work at an aircraft parts manufacturing firm when his right arm became rigid and he began experiencing pain in his neck. Then the tremors began.

Michel was shocked to hear the diagnosis was Parkinson's disease.

''We thought it was a disease of old people,'' said his wife, Brenda Torres.

Parkinson's usually begins in people older than 50, and is more common in men than women.

After getting a second opinion that confirmed his diagnosis, Michel, his wife and three children decided to leave their native Puerto Rico in search of treatment.

''He couldn't walk. He couldn't talk. He couldn't feed himself. He couldn't sleep,'' said his wife Brenda. ``His face was someone else's.''

Although there is no cure for Parkinson's disease, medication helps alleviate many symptoms. But Michel said the drugs he took sometimes made him feel worse.

WATCHED VIDEO

At Orlando Health, the couple met with Gonzalez, who told them about the new implantable device. They watched a video of how it worked and Michel was immediately sold.

''In the past, neurosurgery involved taking things out of the body if something was wrong,'' said Dr. Nizam Razack, a neurosurgeon at Orlando Health who performed Michel's operation. ``What we're doing now is putting things in the brain to modulate brain cells, sending electrical signals to the brain to treat diseases. Medication is taken orally. It has side effects. This inherently alters cellular activity. It's bionics.''

Razack said the technology was approved by the FDA in 2002, but has been largely used experimentally. He said Michel was the first in the country to use the latest generation of the battery that was implanted in his chest. The University of Miami and several other academic-based hospitals have used the implant as well.

Since Michel's surgery three weeks ago, the pain in his hands and legs has gone away. He can get up from a chair. He can sleep and eat better.

Brenda still can't believe her husband was picked for the implant. Nizam said Michel was chosen because of his relatively young age.

''It's like we won the lottery. It's improved his quality of life -- the quality of our lives,'' said Brenda.

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