SF Radio: Surgery Recovering Going Slowly For KGO's Ronn Owens

Ronn Owens

When KGO 810 AM talk show host Ronn Owens announced that he was going to undergo deep brain stimulation to treat his Parkinson’s disease, he was optimistic and eager to get back to the microphone.

He still is, but, according to the San Francisco Chronicle,  things are going a little slower than he hoped. Owens had surgery to implant electrodes in his brain on Aug. 6 and was sent home two days later. But on Aug. 10, experiencing lightheadedness, he fell down the stairs at home.

The tumble was serious enough for another trip to the hospital, and when doctors discovered a blood clot on the surface of the brain, they kept him until Saturday. The clot, doctors told him, is not life-threatening and should dissolve on its own. However, they did insert a filter in a main vein Thursday to prevent a clot from traveling to another part of the body to cause problems.

And now, Owens is also battling the flu. The good news is that none of this should impact the brain stimulation. In a few weeks, a battery pack will be installed in his chest, and then the electrodes will be activated. If it goes well, Owens is expecting his Parkinson’s symptoms to be rolled back to where he was five to seven years ago.