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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. Hi again everyone, I'm Kandace Krueger along with Jim Knox and
we're back again with another edition of the Best Docs network featuring some of the best
physicians in all of the middle Tennessee area that are helping to change people's lives.
And we're saying best physicians and you're exactly right, Kandace. And we'll start with
one of the best doctors in the entire Nashville area, that is Dr. Daniel Burval. My job is
a guitar player for Mark Chesnutt and back in January I noticed that I was starting to
have some leg pain, some nerve pain shooting down my whole leg which was causing me trouble
to get around, trouble on stage, I was limping. Delaney came to see me early this spring.
He was having a tremendous amount of pain in his back and particularly his left leg
and this was really causing him some problems. He was even having to start taking some narcotics.
We took some x-ray's in the office and it actually showed that he was born with a weakening
in his bone that allowed the bone to slip forward in his lower part of his spine which
kinked off the nerves which created that tremendous leg pain he was having. When I arrived here
to see Dr. Burval on my first visit he was very explanatory, he would sit down with me
and in layman terms tell me exactly what was going on, what was going to have to happen,
what we could do to extend my wait time before I had surgery. He said I would definitely
have to have surgery, just a matter of when. We worked together, he was on tour a lot,
he couldn't take a lot of time away from surgery. We really tried to get him better and functional
without doing surgery first. We did some exercises and physical therapy to get his back muscles
strong trying to stabilize that back. We did some nerve injections trying to get that nerve
to shrink to calm down a little bit so that pain in the leg would go away. And it did
help him temporarily. He was able to complete a tour during the summer without any neurological
consequences and then we ultimately decided that surgery was best for him to give him
a permanent cure, get him back into his life and we did surgery later this year. In August,
August the 14th as a matter of fact I had surgery. I was in the hospital for recovery
for four days which he expected me to be there longer but released me. Five weeks later he
releases me to go back to work and he told me you are way ahead of the curve, I am very
impressed. I am very pleased with how Delaney did. He gave 100 percent effort just like
I give 100 percent effort and we got a great outcome out of it. I am fortunate enough to
be back out on the road doing my thing picking and grinning and I'm loving every minute of
it. 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. 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. All of the physicians featured here on the Best Docs
Network are committed to changing people's lives, like our next doctor, it's endodontist,
Dr. Graham Locke. I first came to see Dr. Locke after I had been to a routine dentist
appointment and was told I had 3 deep cavities that were borderline needing a root canal.
Ms. Calan came to our office because she was experiencing cold sensitivities when she drank
cold liquids or maybe had cold foods that disturbed her quality of life. Many times
our patients and in Ms. Calan's case you have a cavity that's gotten into the nerve and
it might hide on an x-ray that's difficult to detect. X-rays are only 2 dimensional and
sometimes bacteria can hide on one side of maybe an old silver filling. And in her case,
that was the case. He worked me in the next day and did several sensitivity tests to determine
that yes in fact I was in need of not 1 but 3 root canals and my initial reaction was
how is this possible? I've had 1 cavity in my life and now I'm needing 3 pretty major
procedures. In her case we see it in women after they've had multiple pregnancies. That
hormone that is helping the baby to grow also passes right through your gum tissue into
the bacteria and we see a bacterial over growth during that 9 month period. And he really
put me at ease that it was a common thing to happen to women during their pregnancies
and that it wasn't anything I should feel and I really felt embarrassed about it. Sensitive
teeth is a sign that bacteria is getting into the nerve and it's best to have that checked
and diagnosed by a root canal specialist and that's an Endodontist. We help you save your
natural teeth and make that tooth pain go away. With the sensitivity gone, I was in
so much less pain after the procedures than I was beforehand. I just didn't really realize
how uncomfortable it had been until I could drink anything I wanted and that was fine.
And in her case we were able to get them fixed and remove the cold sensitivity and she went
back to her dentist and got the crowns and is able to live a full and happy life. When
I was diagnosed with breast cancer, both of my daughters were pregnant and everything
I was looking forward to turned into everything I was going to miss. First words, first steps,
being there for my grandchildren, for my daughters. Today, those babies are three. I'm with them
all the time. I don't know what's next but I know I'm here today. My name is Alantheia
Pena. I am Susan G. Komen For The Cure. Help cure breast cancer and save women's lives.
Cholesterol is an important thing. You need to know your cholesterol number. Now there
are three numbers when it comes to cholesterol. There's total cholesterol. That's important
for diagnosing whether you have a problem or not. And then there's HDL cholesterol,
that's the good cholesterol, you want that to be high. If you're a man you want your
HDL cholesterol to be above 40 and if you're a woman you want your HDL cholesterol to be
above 50. Now the LDL is the bad cholesterol, that's the most important number to know because
that's the one that predicts your risk of heart attacks and strokes. For example, your
LDL for most people should be less than 160. Now if you have certain diseases like hypertension
or diabetes or if you're getting older then you really want it to be 130, that's the LDL,
130. If you have certain diseases like diabetes plus hypertension then you kind of want to
look at a number that's under 100. Now if you have heart disease or have had a stroke
or have significant risk factors in your family for example for early heart disease then you
really want your LDL, that's the bad cholesterol, to be less than 70. So know your number. Your
doctor can get it for you pretty easily. For additional Medical Minutes from Dr. Honaker,
logon to bestdocsnetwork.com, click on Education and the Medical Minute tab. 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. For more information on any of the outstanding doctors you see from the middle
Tennessee area on today's show, head to the website, bestdocsnetwork.com, that's bestdocsnetwork.com.
And now we're going to get to know our next best doctor, it's spine surgeon, Dr. Brett
Babat. I had had four previous back surgeries before coming to Dr. Babat. I walked around
fourteen months bent over at the waist. I couldn't look up at the ground, I couldn't
see myself in the mirror, I couldn't stand straight. Failed back syndrome is a term that
we can use to apply to anybody who's had an operation on their back or in more general
terms anywhere in their spine that hasn't worked out very well. For some people they've
never had any relief from the operation. For others they had several months of significant
relief and then the results deteriorate and often they're left worse off than they were
before they started the whole process. My previous back surgeon did not want me to have
another surgery right away but Dr. Babat when I came here said that there was some hardware
that was the wrong size in my body, it was protruding, causing an issue so it needed
to come out immediately and then he would have to rebuild my back so we did that within
two weeks of my first visit here. Caroline had three or four operations on her spine
before she got here. In her case it was a combination of a couple of fusions that hadn't
taken, one or two fusions that had taken but were not in an ideal position and then some
additional problems that had developed as a result of that. So to solve this problem,
we actually needed to extend her fusion considerably higher but dramatically realign her spine.
Dr. Babat I can't say enough about. He absolutely has done what he said he would do. He told
me upfront, this is what you can expect. This is the quality of life you can expect. You're
going to have a problem the rest of your life but it's going to be a much better situation
than what you've had. The first time I was up out of the bed here at the hospital I was
able to stand up straight. I was able to see myself in the mirror for the first time in
fourteen months, I could stand up straight. In Caroline's case I'm delighted. She seems
to be very happy. Certainly her level of function and pain have changed significantly. This
is just in my opinion a wild success for a wonderful woman. These are complex problems
to diagnose, to really figure out how to fix and then difficult operations to do. But frankly
it's why I get up in the morning and why I went to med school. The opportunity to help
people like this is just again makes everything worthwhile. Dr. Babat does do what he says
he will do. If I need him for anything, all I do is make a phone call. Dr. Babat and his
staff here, they have been immensely great to me. In January of 07 I came to see Dr.
Gilmer and had a procedure done at that time. After I recovered from that procedure, I knew
when I initially came to Dr. Gilmer in the back of my mind there were some other things
I wanted taken care of. The ideal patient for a facelift consists of a patient who has
excess loose skin of the face whose jowls on their jawline are drooping down below their
jaw. They feel much older. When I came to talk to Dr. Gilmer about what I wanted to
have done we discussed the procedures. Those procedures were I wanted my upper eyelids
taken care of, I wanted laser resurfacing done, I wanted a lower facelift and I wanted
a breast lift. I was a little concerned that I was trying to do too much at one time. Dr.
Gilmer told me not a problem. When we did her facelift we decided to add a little extra
to get a little better appearance, smoother skin, tighter skin so I went ahead and added
fraxel laser to her procedure. It just added tightness to the skin, getting rid of fine
lines and wrinkles and any age spots that she's developed over the last six or seven
years. It took me about a week to start the swelling to go down. I had a drain tube. Once
that was done I could start seeing the changes that Dr. Gilmer and I had talked about and
it looked great and recovery time was minimal. I was back to work probably in about ten days.
How we judge the results of the procedure mostly by is what the patient thinks. If the
patient likes the procedure, if they think that it's great then we're happy. If the patient
is not satisfied or if there's something that they feel like needs a little bit touch up
or whatever it needs, we work on trying to make that and correct that problem for them.
Dr. Gilmer actually has changed my life a lot, have just made me become a lot more confident
woman. And don't forget, for more information on any of the outstanding doctors you see
on today's show, head to the website bestdocsnetwork.com, that is bestdocsnetwork.com. Right now it's
time to head to our next best doctor here in the middle Tennessee area, it's Dr. Timothy
Arney. My degenerative disk disease is hereditary, it's genetic so it was not the result of any
type of accident or anything, but it was very debilitating when I was first diagnosed with
it and ultimately had spinal surgery on it. I was advised later that the surgery had failed
and that I would never recover. It would only be treated versus healed and I was actually
told that what I was diagnosed with was usually diagnosed in 80 year old people and I pretty
much felt that way. An ideal patient for sacroiliac joint injection whether it be one side or
both is that individual that usually presents with quite significant and severe low back
pain which extends down into their hips. I was not able to sleep well. I could not sit
excessively, I could not walk for long periods of time. I was feeling sorry for myself because
I feel like I'm too young to have those debilitating type issues. The injection of steroid and
in this case an anesthetic into that joint space, the articulation of those two joints
as they merge together can be extraordinarily helpful for people with sacroiliac pain. When
I came to Dr. Arney I was actually using a walking stick and I had considered getting
a walker for around the house. She was a very strong candidate for injection on both sides.
As he did the injection I could actually feel the medicine and at that moment even on the
table I was sighing in relief. After the injection she said well that wasn't bad at all. She
was helped off the table and frankly walked out of Comprehensive Pain Specialist office
with a smile on her face. It takes me away from the oral medications that I prefer not
to take. When he gives me an injection, it's durable, it lasts long and it's effective.
She has done extraordinarily well, she's once again regained function, regained life as
we like to say and we're quite happy for her. 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 am an athlete.
I am a world series champion. I'm a hockey player. I'm a football player. I am strong.
I am strong. I am strong. Fight colorectal cancer. Demand a cure for colon and ***
cancer. I am strong because I have lost a friend's mother. Because I lost both of my
parents to this disease. I am strong because nobody should suffer. Let's beat this cancer.
One simple test and you can save your life or someone you love. Get screening. Be a part
of one million strong. I was very active. I played racquetball, I walked. When the pain
in my hip got to be problematic I decided that maybe I should then in fact. We had gone
to visit a friend in the neighborhood. We had walked down there, had a seat on the couch
and then when it was time to leave I couldn't get off the couch. Susan came to see me because
her hip was bothering her pretty severely. It started not quite so bad but as she walked
and she moved around it began bothering her more and more. When we evaluated her we got
x-rays and the x-rays demonstrated something called avascular necrosis which is a process
in which the blood supply to a part of the hip gets interrupted and so the bone in that
part of the hip dies and it leads fairly quickly to a severe arthritic process in the hip and
once that takes place it acts just like a badly arthritic hip. The solution to this
as you know, we would do a hip replacement. Well at that point in my life I was just stunned.
I didn't think myself to be of an age that would require hip replacement but the x-rays
and MRI's didn't lie. Avascular necrosis is not something that we can put back or change
and so once the pain becomes bad enough, the option is to replace that hip and that's what
we did for Susan. The recovery time from the surgery itself was a six week period. Premier
Orthopaedics Rehab center was convenient to me so I just came right over here and finished
out my rehab strategy and then got back to life as I'd known it. We're able to return
people to near normal if not normal lifestyles by getting rid of the pain associated with
a badly arthritic hip and that in fact is what happened with Susan. His staff, his nurses
here at Premier have just been, you couldn't ask for anybody any nicer than they have been
or more helpful. I was 21 years old when I was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and
when you confront your own mortality you realize what am I going to leave behind? I'm never
going to have children, I might not see my husband grow old, what have I done? I'm sitting
here today with tumors in my liver, my lungs and my bones. But I'm sitting here with hope.
My name is Bridget Spence. I am Susan G. Komen For The Cure. Help cure breast cancer and
save women's lives. I had my surgery at a very early age considering the time of which
I had my surgery, I was 26 at the time. And I come from a family of obese individuals
and have lots of complications, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart
disease and I had tried every diet. I hit 200 pounds when I was 12 years old and I never
left. The ideal candidate for bariatric surgery is a patient that has body mass index greater
than 40, medical conditions related to morbid obesity, failure of medical treatment, dietary
behavior modification. I had never had surgery before. This was my first experience ever
having anesthesia or having surgery. I had a ton of support from other bariatric patients
from the faculty here at Centennial and from my family as well. She continues not to follow
up so much with the physicians office because she's doing great in not having any medical
conditions but she does continue to come to support group, meet with the dieticians and
exercise physiology and group follow up. The after care support groups here are phenomenal.
It really means a lot to the patients to be able to sit in a room with people who have
been where I have been and people who have experienced the same things that I have. It's
also nice on the post op side to be able to come back and to support those patients that
are at an earlier stage in their journey and to be able to pay it forward to those other
patients. Paula had great results with her gastric bypass and it was the best operation
for her after we had had our initial consultation. She's had very good weight loss and I think
Paula's also had plastic surgery procedures to remove some of her excess weight. And so
she has continued to you know keep her weight off. She has remained active and healthy and
off many medications that she was taking prior to surgery. I went zip lining in Mexico and
I looked at the sign and thought two years ago I would have exceeded that weight limit
and would have to sit here while everybody else had fun so it has opened up a whole new
world and a whole new life that I never would have known before. Well that'll do it, that'll
wrap up another edition of the Best Docs Network featuring some of the best physicians in all
of the middle Tennessee area that are helping to change people's lives. And of course for
more information on any of these outstanding doctors you see on today's show, head to the
website, bestdocsnetwork.com. And if you have a question or comment for us we sure want
to hear from you, send us an email at info@bestdocsnetwork.com. So long everyone, we will see you next week.