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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, Kandace Krueger along with Jim Knox and we're
back again with another edition of the Best Docs Network featuring some of the best doctors
in all of the Dallas, Fort Worth area that are helping to change people's lives. That
is exactly right Kandace including our first doctor, it is Dr. Chad Stephens. A little
over two years ago I was coaching my daughters basketball team. I didn't like the way the
drill that they were doing so I kind of jumped in the middle of it and showed them how to
do it. I'm not as young as I used to be so the next morning I get up and I've got this
severe back pain and I thought well I just pulled or strained something, it wasn't any
big deal. A month later I'm still in pain, thinking this is just really kind of strange
and we went and had an MRI done and it didn't show anything that they could see. Some very
good doctors in the metroplex had been taking care of him for a related problem in his hip.
As I started examining him and talking with him I realized that there was something going
on in his hip joint itself. He pulls the MRI up on the computer and says yeah we've got
some kind of a tumor that had caused some weakening of the bones. There was a fracture
one, there was a tumor and it was an ugly mess. It's one of those hip cancers that is
eating away at his pelvis and eating away at his hip and just weight bearing alone,
walking could cause a hip fracture, a pelvic fracture that could put him into extreme pain
and extreme you know need for surgical intervention. Here's this guy who walked in on his own and
who thought well I'm just going to get another shot just like I've always gotten and now
I'm telling him you can't put any weight on this hip, you've got to go on crutches until
further notice. You really need to go to MD Anderson, this is an MD Anderson type problem
and he did and he went down there and he had surgery. I went and had a hemipelvectomy and
that's they remove half of your pelvis out with a malograph so they put somebody else's
pelvis in me, gave me a hip replacement at the same time. Sixteen hours worth of surgery,
three hours of plastic surgery, it was a pretty major ordeal. You know he had a line in for
an IV so he could get his chemotherapy, lost all of his hair, lost a lot of his weight
and just went through this journey that he didn't know if he was going to survive. I
think he's the only two year survivor of this type of cancer without a recurrence that's
known. Combination of what the doctors do you know hat's off to Dr. Stephens taking
the first step to find my problem, getting it diagnosed correctly and then finding the
proper treatment. Now he's back, family man, coach, dad, business man, back to himself
again. We hear when you're a kid in school and all talking about having good hygiene
and keeping your body clean and this sort of thing. It is very important, most people
don't realize that there are a lot of very dangerous microorganisms out there. There
are things like staph, there are viruses and all sorts of things and we hear stuff in the
news about the Avian flu and all these sort of things and if you don't use good hygiene,
you don't keep your hands clean, if you take your hands, touch your nose, your eyes, your
mouth those are ways that you can transmit diseases to your body. And there are some
organisms out there that just by being in certain situations you can be exposed to like
this very dangerous methicillin resistant staph aureas, the MRSA that a lot of people
have heard of that can be a really dangerous bacterium and we're finding more and more
of these cases are acquired in the community. Years ago they were only in the hospital.
But now we see a lot of people just getting them just in general so there are a lot of
things like that that can cause problems that people don't understand a way you can actually
acquire one of these infections. For that reason, it's very important that people do
keep their skin clean, that they do wash their hands relatively frequently or use one of
the hand cleansers and especially if they are a carrier of something like staph to use
some kind of measure to keep their body from developing a boil or one of these more dangerous
infections. And so as a consequence after you've been in that environment you really
ought to use some kind of a measure to sort of sterilize your skin so to speak. Make sure
that you take either a shower or wash your hands or something at the very least to make
sure that you're not going to actually be colonized with one of these organisms that
can lead to a more serious problem. One of the ways that we're kind of excited about
is that we've developed this new bleach containing wash. Bleach is very strong antiseptic product,
it actually kills just about any bacterium. It kills a lot of other things like viruses
and even fungi and if you use something like this it will cleanse your body quite well
and if you use it on a periodic basis you can maintain your body from actually getting
colonized and keep it sterile or keep it cleaner for a longer period of time and so we recommend
using something like that or one of the anti-bacterial soaps or something to keep your skin from
getting one of these serious infections. 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. For more information
on any of the doctors you've seen on today's show be sure to visit our website, it's bestdocsnetwork.com.
Now let's check in with our next best doctor, it's Dr. Paul Worrell. Seemed like from early
on, earlier years, my allergies, I had just a few, and then as I got older I was accumulating
more and more allergies or more and more things were affecting me, the allergy headaches,
the sneezing, the nose running, so I went to Dr. Worrell to see what we could do. I've
been on all kinds of medications, over the counter and then on a prescription medication.
Over the counter medications are available and then we have prescription antihistamines
and we have nasal cortisone sprays that we use and other medications that oftentimes
are adequate for taking care of allergies that occur just occasionally. And when people
are happy with that approach then I don't think desensitization is necessarily the way
to go. But if they've been frustrated by feeling like those were inadequate approaches then
we can go ahead and proceed with that. So we decided that I needed to go on allergy
shots. I chose that path and I'm glad I did. We decided that I would go on the immune therapy
December of 2012. The goal is that I will, most of my allergies will be taken care of.
There will still be some that there's going to be a little bit of a reaction to but they
haven't been affecting me like the other ones were. Questions are given to determine that
they are good candidates for testing and desensitization and then they proceed with a procedure that
takes about 30 minutes and during that time the 48 top allergens in the area are tested
on skin testing. The results are measured out and the determination is made whether
they're a good candidate. My treatment plan is a 12 month plan and they've already made
up all of my serum for me to take and they refrigerate it at Dr. Worrell's. They hand
it out to me as they check my progress and make sure that I'm on track. We're looking
at taking care of those people who have particularly profound allergies or of the allergies that
just make them tired and give them the headache that they've had in the past. I've known Dr.
Worrell for over 30 years. His methods are fantastic. He doesn't just refer you to another
doctor to get something treated. If he can treat it here, save you some money, he does.
He's been the most fantastic doctor I've ever had. My migraine started March of 2009 from
a faulty spinal tap and right from there like my migraine never went away. I've gotten many
treatments, a lot of medications and I've seen countless doctors and I just didn't get
any relief. My mom and I went to Dr. Reed and he felt like I was like the perfect applicant
for the stimulator. I remember when Andrew came in for the perma unit, we had to decide
which side to put the battery on. It goes in the upper outer kind of rear gluteal region.
Andrew wanted it on I believe the left side because he's a baseball player. He slides
on his right side so he wanted it on his left side which brings up an excellent point about
the stimulators, there's no restrictions. Here's this very active young man, baseball
player sliding left and right and no problem. He has done absolutely fine with the stimulator.
So I got my permanent simulators implanted and they put a little battery right at the
hip and it runs up your back and I have two leads in my back, two leads on my temples
and two leads right here and I'm able to control the frequency and the intensity of the stimulation
with a remote. It's amazing what Dr. Reed has done and I'm so appreciative. He came
back recently having lost a lot of weight. He had lost so much weight, the little battery
had gotten more superficial and I needed to replace it a bit deeper in. But he was doing
great with it. He was looking forward to going to college up at Texas Tech in a year. Like
a lot of patients he's done very, very well. I think it's safe to say that it's changed
his life, certainly changed it for the better. I don't care about having these batteries
and these wires inside of me, I'm just so happy that my migraines have gone away. It's
amazing what Dr. Reed has done. Vincent's severe back pain kept him from playing the
game he loved, soccer. That is until he met Dr. Robert Myles. To find out more about Vincent's
story and other life changing stories, logon to bestdocsnetwork.com. In our practice we
really emphasize patient autonomy. We feel it's very important, probably the most important
thing we do. We want the patient to be involved with every step of the process in our office
so they understand the nature of their skin cancer, exactly what it is we're going to
do in order to remove the skin cancer and what their options are after the skin cancer
has been removed. I have had skin problems for most of my life. When I was young I tried
to always get a suntan but instead of getting tanned I got sunburned and then I would just
peel off. Reverend Turner is a fine gentleman who has very fair skin and has had a lot of
time outdoors and he's developed a lot of very superficial squamous cell and basal cell
carcinomas predominately on his scalp. Once they're diagnosed we've removed a number of
them using the MOHS technique. It's very effective. I'm glad that I could have his expertise in
treating my problem. Anyone that develops skin cancer should be seen by a dermatologist
every 6 months and that's because we know that skin cancer is due to exposure to ultraviolet
radiation and unless you have left the rest of your skin someplace else whenever you got
sufficient sun exposure to get your first skin cancer, all the rest of your skin that
was there is susceptible to the same mutations that gave rise to the skin cancers. I'm 79
years old and I'm still here. He's kept me to get as old as I am. Don't forget for more
information on any of the outstanding doctors you see on today's show, head to the website,
it's bestdocsnetwork.com, bestdocsnetwork.com. And now we're going to check in with our next
best doctor, it's bariatric surgeon Dr. Philip Swanson. Kristen came in to see me. She's
just a ball of energy. And she's a 21 year old girl who just wants to be active and healthy.
Unfortunately she has the genetic makeup where she's been overweight all of her life. This
Friday I'm having my surgery and I could not be more excited and I'm ready. I trust Dr.
Swanson and I'm really comfortable with Dr. Swanson. I'm really excited to do this and
I can't wait, I wish it were tomorrow. I'm real excited. This is an object in health
and that's what she's really interested in. She wants to be able to go hiking. She wants
to be able to run. She wants to be able to go down a waterslide. She wants to do all
of these active things that normal 21 year olds do. That's her reason for doing this.
The object of being more healthy, being able to be more active, to live a longer life.
That's what it's about. It's not like she hasn't tried like every diet known to man
and tried to exercise, tried all the things that you're supposed to try. So she's not
had success with that. We should condemn her to continuing to be overweight for another
how many years. As an adult if you choose to be healthy I think you should be given
that choice, you should be allowed to make that choice. After the surgery, I'm really
excited to feel comfortable in my skin. After the surgery I'm really excited to go to the
mall and buy clothing from any store I choose. After the surgery I'm really excited to ride
any ride that I can because I'm not over the weight limit. After the surgery I'm just excited
to live a normal life as someone in their twenties and not feel embarrassed or ashamed
or alone. After the surgery I'm excited just to be me, be who I want to be. 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. My experience has been a 12 year journey.
I've had 13 ESI's which are epidural steroid injections. I've had an L5 S1 disk replacement
and it just never seemed to help with the pain that was radiating down my left leg.
It even caused where I would trip and fall. I had a lot of problems with helping out with
my kids, lifting my kids, being mom. It was decreasing her ability to work, decreasing
her ability to socialize with friends and family. She had started to not be able to
do the mundane tasks of life. Dr. Duclair had asked me what do you think about this
device and he kind of shows it to me and I said well what is that? A lot of patients
will qualify for a device what we call a spinal cord stimulator and that is an electrical
device that is implanted in the spinal canal next to the nerve roots that are causing their
pain. And that is a great way for patients who have had surgery and are dissatisfied
or they've had injections and medications and they're still dissatisfied. Those patients
can get really great relief and they can ultimately decrease their pain for a long period of time
on the order of years and then decrease their office visits with their doctor and become
very satisfied, very happy with that. I have a little remote control device. I can turn
it up, I can turn it down. I like the fact that I'm in control of it. I have pain freedom
now because of the device. Amy did really, really well. She has total pain freedom. She
does not see me anymore in the office because she does not need to. She's not taking any
medications and she essentially has no more complaints of back or leg pain. I'm just very
blessed, very, very blessed that he is in my life because without him I don't know that
I would have the pain freedom that I have today. So I believe that God puts people in
their life for a reason. For more information on any of the outstanding doctors you've seen
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, that is PAMA physician Dr. A. L. Shaw. Woke up
one day about thirteen years ago and couldn't stand up straight and after seeking medical
attention you know sort of a variety of ways one of the doctors I saw suggested I come
see Dr. Shaw. When we examine scars I simply take something such as a pda stylus that is
very blunt, allow them or stimulate a non scarred area remote from the area with a scar
so they know how this particular stylus feels with the amount of pressure I'm generating.
When I touch scars quite commonly they are numb they don't feel them at all until I hit
an area of nerve entrapment and those areas we mark with a skin marking pencil and those
are the areas that we inject deeper than the skin and then we also inject the entire length
of the scar. As you move away from your surgeries in time you find that there's sort of a new
sort of pain after you heal from the surgical pain and you get back into your daily life
you find that there's some new kinds of quirky little aches and pains and bristly things
going on and it can be scary. At first you can think oh my problem has returned. Relative
to her scar pain, really did achieve pain freedom. She has other problems that are still
generating pain from her spine but even that's much improved not from the other therapies
that we've done but just from the scar injections. It's comforting to have Dr. Shaw on my side
to know that it's his goal as well as mine to bring me pain freedom and we work at that
together and I think we're doing a good job. We're all different, we like different things
but one thing nobody likes is pain especially when it keeps us from doing the things we
love. Luckily PAMA is here. Whether it's back pain, carpal tunnel, foot and ankle pain or
more, PAMA physicians are dedicated to their specialties and dedicated to your quality
of life. Don't let pain keep you from doing the things you love. PAMA, pain freedom. We
are happy to welcome to the Best Docs Network in the studio, this is Dr. Ed Singleton, podiatrist,
Dr. Ed Singleton, one of the best in the Dallas, Fort Worth area, over 25 years of experience,
he's your go to guy when it deals with foot and ankle and also tarsal tunnel syndrome.
Explain this as far as what people may be experiencing, the symptoms with tarsal tunnel
syndrome. First, thanks for having me today. Tarsal tunnel syndrome is a condition that's
very similar to carpal tunnel syndrome in the wrist and everybody's heard about that.
It's a very similar condition that affects the nerve that goes behind the ankle and down
into the foot. There's different things that cause it but the bottom line is there's a
compression on the nerve as it passes behind the ankle joint and goes down into the foot.
The symptoms range anywhere from burning sensations, cold, numbness, zingers that go out the toes.
People have told me it feels like fire shoots out the tips of their toes, sort of like hitting
your funny bone. Right. And it affects the foot, the arch and out to the toes. I know
a lot of people out there watching have experienced those symptoms. Now Dr. Ed Singleton is the
only one in North Texas that can treat that type of problem with a minimally invasive
procedure. Explain that, doctor. I'm fortunate that I've been trained by Dr. Steve Barrett
who developed the minimal incision technique for the tarsal tunnel. Most people will approach
a tarsal tunnel surgical release with an incision anywhere between two to three inches and five
to six inches long depending on how large the person is because that exposes the entire
length of the nerve so that you can decompress all the structures that squeeze on it. The
approach that I use involves an incision approximately one half to three quarters of an inch. That
incision is placed behind the inside ankle bone and the benefit from this is usually
a much faster healing rate, usually you're on your feet much faster and usually you have
significant less amount of pain than you would with a standard open technique. There you
go, all right Dr. Ed Singleton providing pain freedom to your feet. Appreciate it doctor.
Thank you so much. 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. I had a bad problem of grinding my teeth and 30 years ago I had some beautiful teeth and
you know they slowly got worse and worse and worse and then of course I started having
cavity problems. My regular dentist told me look they're not going to last your lifetime
so you're faced with either dentures or you know redoing your mouth. Many patients find
us because they're at the end of the road on their dental history. They have neglected
their teeth or they have had habits that have caused their teeth to wear down to the point
where they know they have to do something and they present sometimes after many decades
of problems and they're ready now to fix those problems the best they can afford to. A lot
of the patients fall into the full mouth reconstruction category which means they need every tooth
in their mouth addressed in their treatment. When I finally went to Dr. McFadden, I was
looking to him for a permanent solution and something that would last the rest of my life
obviously. And then he calmly brought me into his office and literally wrote down on a piece
of paper here are three different proposals. After weighing it I decided to take the highest
cost option for me which was to put crowns on every tooth. When Bob came to the practice
it was a really fun appointment. He was instantly charming and fun to be around and we became
friends throughout his treatment. When Bob arrived he had had four decades of tooth grinding
and ended up with almost no tooth structure left and his wife hated his smile. We were
able to use all of his teeth and performed certain procedures to allow him to keep his
natural teeth and improve the way they look through crown treatment. One of the funniest
things about Bob is that he carries his before and after pictures on his iPhone. He shows
everybody. He shows people that don't care at all what his teeth looked like and how
great his teeth look now. He cares, incredibly cares how good your teeth are. A little bit
obsessive compulsive he is but it works out in your mouth to be beautiful. 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 Dallas, Fort Worth area that are helping to change people's
lives. And for more information on any of the outstanding doctors you've seen on today's
show, head to the website, bestdocsnetwork.com. And as always if you have a question or comment
for us you know we want to hear from you, send us an email at info@bestdocsnetwork.com.
And good news Kandace, the Best Docs Network Magazine soon to be out, so check your local
newsstands. So long everyone, we'll see you next week.