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It's a call that's telling me I'm here to serve. It's a need to make a difference in
the world. 24 hours day or night these healing hands will make it right. Looking in their
eyes I know that I'm changing lives, changing lives, changing lives for the better, for
the better, changing lives. And hi again everyone, Jim Knox along with Kandace Krueger and welcome
back to another edition of the Best Docs Network featuring some of the best doctors in the
entire middle Tennessee area that helped change people's lives. Like our first best doctor,
it's hand surgeon Dr. Paul Abbey. My wife noticed that I was having curling of my fourth
finger on my right hand. There was no particular pain involved. It was simply something that
continued to progress and so she persuaded me to come and have it examined by Dr. Abbey.
He told me that there was a new procedure that would not involve operation, that it
would involve injection and that injection was the use of Xiaflex. Well Galen came to
see me one day in the office because he was getting what he noticed was a cord which is
a band of tissue in his finger that was progressively drawing his finger up creating a contraction
which was causing him some difficulties. We went through the examination which was consistent
with what we call Dupuytren's Contracture which is a build up of collagen. It's an excess
of this particular material in the palm and it was now creating a contracture. So I came
in for the injection. I think there were two injections. The first one didn't have the
entire results expected but the second time over time the curvature disappeared. Up until
recently within the last few years we really only had one way to treat this and this was
surgical. But thankfully we have a new way to treat this non surgically and it's an injection
of a material that we call Xiaflex. By doing so then it allows the person to now straighten
the finger out. The result of the injection as far as I'm concerned is 100 percent. Galen
has had a wonderful response to the medication. He was one of the first patients that I injected.
It's been probably almost two years and follow up at two years suggests that it's doing as
well as it did when we first injected. My experience with Dr. Abbey was quite good.
The fact that this was an injection rather than an operation I think is on the plus side,
so I was happy with that. We are one million strong. We are united behind a cure. There
are over one million colorectal cancer survivors in the United States. My name is Charles Kelley
from Lady Antebellum and I'm in this fight against colorectal cancer because it actually
hits pretty close to my family. My father-in-law was diagnosed with it and the thing about
this disease is it is preventable. And so I encourage everybody to go get screened,
let's beat this thing. For addition health information, be sure to check out our Healthy
Living blog for the best tips, latest medical procedures and up to date news for modern
medicine at our website at bestdocsnetwork.com. Bariatric surgery is not new to Centennial.
It's been performed at Centennial for probably more than 30 years. But when I started the
program in 2000, I realized the importance of integrating all aspects of care to have
a comprehensive program to treat all aspects of the bariatric patient. Because in addition
to the physical issues and the metabolic issues we also have the psychological issues that
play into obesity and to maximize success you have to address all of these aspects of
care. We have three dedicated surgeons who care about the patients, who care about this
disease. We're not a factory trying to turn out a ton of cases every year. We're really
trying to improve the lives of these patients. Our program itself, we feel is special and
set apart from other programs. We have wonderful dietitians on staff, exercise physiologists,
we have support groups with psychological after care programs to help the patients deal
with the emotional side of eating. We like to see all patients come through our informational
seminars and it really goes A-Z about bariatric surgery and what it entails, what the risk
of the surgery are, what the outcomes are and what to expect long term. So when you
have bariatric surgery at Centennial, the dietitian's consultation, the exercise physiologist's
consultation, our physiological after care program, it's all included at no additional
charge. We're a center of excellence with the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric
Surgery which is the national bariatric surgical society. We're centers of excellence with
many insurance programs. But when you're the center of excellence that means you have to
meet the highest criteria and that you have to have excellent results, minimal complications
and follow up and take care of patients long term. From the check in area and the admissions
department through the holding area and the surgical department to the operating room
and even on the floor after surgery. Special beds, special bathroom accommodations, special
gowns and all these things make it possible for the patients to have their best, safest
experience with bariatric surgery here at Centennial. All of the doctors here at the
Best Docs Network are dedicated to changing people's lives, like our next doctor, it's
pain management specialist, Dr. Timothy Arney. December of 2009 was my first car wreck. Someone
hit me. Then again in February of 2010 I was run off of the interstate. I was having some
real bad back pains in my lower back area and my upper also so I was transferred to
him. Typical ideal candidates are those people who have presented with quite severe low back
pain which occasionally radiates into the lower extremities, either one lower extremity
or both certainly. It's hard for me to sit for a very long time. From sitting to standing
it's real bad on my back, or trying to bend down and get something so when they told me
about the injections I agreed to it. My first time going I was nervous. Once he got in there
he kind of you know explained everything detail by detail so I was at ease after I met him.
We find the individuals that can really benefit from epidural steroids usually have abnormal
scans of their back. Usually we see people that have issues such as narrowing of the
nerve channels and also certainly people that have what one would refer to as slipped disks.
We find that people that undergo this therapy can have marked improvement in their low back
pain and in that pain that indeed radiates into the lower extremities. Up until two months
ago I've been relieved. Meeting Dr. Arney was a great experience. To me he's not like
most doctors. Dr. Arney talked me through the whole thing, tried to make jokes here
and there to make me feel better. He's a great doctor. I feel that if I wouldn't of met him
and had those treatments that I wouldn't be able to do the things that I was able to do
almost three years ago. After I met him I started to be able to hold my daughter. It's
easier for me to do that after having these injections and most of my pain was in my lower
back so I've been at ease a lot. My name is Katy Epley and I'm with Musicians On Call
and our mission is to bring live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients and healthcare
facilities. We're here tonight taking Ashley Gearing room to room to play music for patients.
I'm volunteering tonight here with Musicians On Call. I sometimes may feel a little goofy
walking into a room with a guitar by myself but then you see the reaction and you see
their expression completely changes. What is advanced lipid testing? Most of my patients
say, well I had my cholesterol checked with my doctor. I said well advanced lipid testing
is different. It evaluates different parts of the cholesterol, different areas that we
can effectively make change. So, it's important to do an advanced lipid analysis. There are
multiple companies who provide that service. But ask your doctor to look at your lipids
in a more advanced way because there are things on the lipid analysis that can tell us if
you have early diabetes, insulin resistance, if you have a high tendency towards clotting,
if you're genetically prone towards having a heart attack or not. These are important
questions that you need to know. When we're sitting out there in the communities and we
have physicians that may or may not know about these things, I think it's important that
there are informational shows like this out there that can teach you, the public, to check
on your own health. So, ask your doctor for advanced lipid therapy. It's an amazing way
to take hold of your own health. At Apex Endodontics we're very quality centered. All of us are
former general dentists and so we understand when a patient comes in not only the root
canal aspect of the treatment for the patient but also the restoration of the tooth so that
they are able to maintain a healthy smile and also be able to function properly and
ultimately chew their food and receive nutrition. Having that on our resume it kind of we can
better appreciate what the referring dentist might expect when it's coming in. Sometimes
it's hard to express things to you or what they want but when we're doing the restorative
aspect of a root canal or we're finished with the root canal or prior to doing the root
canal we can kind of appreciate what the general dentist is probably looking for when we're
done. I was impressed with the fact that we do IV sedation. We have a wheelchair lift
in the back office to accommodate the patients after the IV sedation. We also give oral sedation
and Dr. Locke just kind of goes out of his way to really try to accommodate every personality
that he can. At Apex Endodontics we focus on quality treatments for our patients. What
that would mean to us is utilization of cutting edge technology whether it be microscopes
in our treatment and diagnosis but also any and all techniques that have been researched
and are on the cutting edge of endodontics as well. We're all very up to date as far
as techniques and also the technologies that we utilize. A lot of the things that we do
I don't think that a lot of people can do. When patients come in a lot of times a tooth
is a little bit further compromised than what we would like but we are able to get in there
and isolate the area and a last ditch effort we are able to save the tooth of the patient.
A lot of the restorative aspects I don't think that a lot of the general dentists can do.
We're taking that variable out of the picture for them and we're able to save teeth that
otherwise probably couldn't be saved. I chose to be an endodontist because ultimately we
are able to maintain the person's dentition and save teeth and also give them a healthier
smile. As always, for more information on any of the amazing doctors you've seen on
today's show, just visit our website, it's bestdocsnetwork.com. That is the place to
go, right now the place to go is our next best doctor, it's orthopedic surgeon, Dr.
Malcom Baxter. For several years playing sports and doing different things I had damaged my
shoulder and it got to a point to where I could not sleep at night and the pain was
not getting any better. I went to Dr. Baxter for a visit and he said well we'll try a cortisone
shot and that helped me for a week or so. Dr. Baxter was very frank with me and he said,
Jimmy you really need surgery on your shoulder. Jimmy came to me with shoulder pain and he
had had it for about 6 months or so and we x-rayed his shoulder and x-ray's looked good,
no arthritis and so we tried an injection and we tried him on some prescription medication.
He came back and really hadn't had a minimal response to that and so then we ordered an
MRI and the MRI showed a torn rotator cuff in his shoulder. When I was talking to Dr.
Baxter I wanted to make sure that we could do the simplest process so I could get back
to work and rehab as quick as possible. After talking with Jimmy about his options and deciding
that surgery was the best option for him, the kind of surgery we do for this is arthroscopic
surgery which most people may know it as scope surgery but it's basically minimally invasive
surgery. And so we're able to go into the shoulder and fix his rotator cuff tendon through
very small incisions, usually two or three small incisions and it's an outpatient surgery.
It takes about an hour and he ended up with very good results. The rehab process, it took
four or five weeks and I was able to heal properly. My shoulder now is stronger than
it's been since I was in my twenties. My range of motion, the things I can do and I sleep
great at night. The thing about shoulder surgery is that we can really help people and it's
really rewarding to be able to help people and to just be able to resume the activities
that they wish to resume. The whole process was incredible. Really cared for me and my
well being. How do you know if you have carpal tunnel syndrome? The carpal tunnel is a little
tunnel that a nerve goes through in your wrist. And people who have carpal tunnel syndrome
will generally awake in the middle of the night with their hands being numb, their fingers
will tingle. Sometimes that tingling will go up their arms. Now generally it goes away
when they wake up and they shake their arms, mainly because they're changing the position.
When we're asleep our hands tend to go like this and that cuts off that carpal tunnel
and pinches the little nerve that's in there, it's called the median nerve. That gives you
the tingling in your fingers and sometimes up the median nerve into your arm. So one
way to prevent it is to sleep with splints or ace bandages that keep your wrists at a
neutral or up position instead of letting them collapse like this. Also we see a lot
of carpal tunnel syndrome in people who have gained a lot of weight because that puts pressure
on the inside of that tunnel. Also there's something about diabetes that affects that
nerve. But in general if you wake up with your fingers tingling at night, it's not your
circulation, it's probably your carpal tunnel. Lots of easy ways to fix that, so don't panic,
just get it checked. If you've had a doctor help change your life we'd love to hear about
it. Send us an email at info@bestdocsnetwork.com. I had gained quite a bit of weight, I've had
three children and was unable to lose the weight myself with multiple diets, changing
eating habits and I was unhappy with myself. I kept it very hidden from my family including
my husband. I think I was kind of at my last straw. I just told myself you know this is
what we need to do because you need help and you're unable to do it on your own so let's
go find the people who can help guide you in the right direction to go to figure out
what's best for you and let's get the process started today. Most patients we see have tried
everything. This is their last effort, this is their last hope and so when we see them
they're close to 100 pounds overweight. He said what are we looking at, what do we want
to do and I said well, I want to change my life. I want to be happy, I want to be healthy.
I don't want to end up like my mom and have several medical conditions that years later
I can't fix. We went through the options, he again reviewed each different piece of
which one it was and ultimately I made the decision to have the gastric bypass done because
for me I think accountability is number one. Being an athlete I like to be accountable
and that procedure was going to keep me on the path I needed to be on. Gastric bypass
surgery has been around for years and it was kind of our early original way that we knew
how to create a smaller stomach. In doing so you had to re-route the GI tract and it
left them with a small pouch. But food doesn't pass through their native stomach and as a
result there's some malabsorption of vitamins and minerals but they have a profound appetite
elimination. They're extremely not hungry after surgery, they don't care about food,
they don't want food. They actually have to force themselves to eat for their bodies minimal
needs. That's why they lose so much weight so fast because their calories are so low.
If you can be committed to this and you can follow the process as well as you can, your
whole life will change and you'll see things that you used to love are going to become
a passion. And that right there really stuck with me. This really changes these patients
lives more so than taking out somebody's gall bladder or doing a hernia repair or something
like that and it really does make a huge difference for them. For more information on any of the
outstanding doctors you've seen on today's show, head to the website, bestdocsnetwork.com.
Right now it's time to head to our next best doctor, it's pain management specialist Dr.
Peter Kroll. When a patient has significant pain that is not responsive to medications,
or is not responsive to trial of injection therapies and does not have a clear surgical
option for their condition, we consider whether or not they are candidates for implant devices.
In 2009 I was diagnosed with CRPS which is complex regional pain syndrome also know previously
as RSD, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, my life stopped. I was in bed at least 90% of the
time and doing anything was extremely painful to do. Oftentimes medications have a very
difficult time treating this type of pain. So she came to us on some pain medications
with significant decrease in her quality of life and activities from this pins and needles
and this hot feeling and swelling that she had in her arm. Unfortunately her symptoms
were not significantly reduced just with medicines. And so we look at other therapies that can
help with this condition. One of which is injection therapy. She has also continued
with significant pain despite the injection therapy and medicine therapy. So we talked
to Dana about looking into spinal cord stimulation. So we started with the cervical stimulator
first because that was where the pain had originated and then March 6 of this year I
had my second stimulator. And this device is controlled by the patient so there's a
little hand held device that talks to their battery which is underneath their skin and
they're able to turn the device on or turn it off. They can turn it up, they can turn
it down. Don't just accept the pain that you have. There are things that can be done. I
can hug my husband now, I couldn't do that. I can hug my grandkids, they can sit on my
lap, and I couldn't do that for two and a half years. Wouldn't it be great if we had
a blood test that could tell you if you had cancer or you don't have cancer? Well, we
don't quite have that yet at least for most cancers and in the future we probably will.
I would say within 5 years there will be tests that we can do on your blood that will tell
us if you have a tendency towards certain cancers or if you even have cancer cells in
your body. There's a lot of genetic testing and a lot of research going on so great things
are going to happen. Now as it is now there are certain tests for example for ovarian
cancer. There's a test called CA-125. You don't need that test unless you have a strong
family history of things like cancer of the uterus or ovary cancer in your family. However,
it is a good test to tell us if that cancer is brewing. There are certain tests that help
us with pancreas cancer. But in general the blood test that you have when you do your
physical give the doctor a clue as if you are at risk for cancer. For example, you might
be anemic or your platelets which are part of your red blood cell count may be high.
There's also other things like liver tests that may be elevated and that indicates your
cancer risk is high. So get your blood test done, check it out and hopefully in the next
5 or 10 years there will even be better blood tests. For additional Medical Minutes from
Dr. Honaker, logon to bestdocsnetwork.com, click on Education and the Medical Minute
tab. It got where I couldn't swim, I couldn't do my silver sneakers class where we dance.
I was having some trouble with both knees at that time and I came in and he gave me
an injection and he did some x-rays to make sure what the problem was. And I had cortisone
in both knees and I could not see that much difference. So, I was at my roads end so I
come back and he advised me to have the knee replacement. Knee replacement is somebody
who has a diagnosis of arthritis of the knee, whether it is inflammatory arthritis or osteoarthritis.
Now more commonly it's osteoarthritis which is the wear and tear type of arthritis. That
probably accounts for 90 percent of what we as orthopedists see. Typically the patient
is an older patient. It may be the result of a prior injury or it can, as in Ms. Daniels
case, it can be just a result of years of wear and tear on the knee joint. I had the
surgery January 14 this year. My total recovery time was approximately 6 weeks. Most people
couldn't believe, they couldn't tell by looking at my knees that I'd had surgery and they
were amazed that I wasn't needing a walker or a walking cane. The pros of knee replacement
are it's about a 90 percent procedure. And when I say that I mean 90 percent of patients
who have that done are happy that they had it done. The recovery rate is 3-4 months but
then the prolonged recovery rate and people continue to improve for about a 12 month period
and that has to do with the scar tissue in and around the knee maturing as it does in
any sort of surgical procedure and so patients typically improve over that time period. In
Ms. Daniels case the procedure was performed and at only less than 3 months out she's had
just an excellent recovery result. Dr. McLaughlin explains exactly what you're going to have.
He's friendly, he's easy to talk to. It's just a real good experience. That will do
it, that'll wrap up another edition of the Best Docs Network featuring some of the best
doctors in the entire middle Tennessee area, Kandace, that helped change people's lives.
Yes and for more information on any of those doctors, please visit our website, it's bestdocsnetwork.com.
And of course if you have a question or comment for us, we'd love to hear from you, send us
an email at info@bestdocsnetwork.com. So long everyone, we'll see you next week.