Dr. Matthews

We've just finished our visit with Dr. David C. Matthews in Charlotte, NC.  Believe it or not, KT came away from his office PAIN - FREE!!!  Oh, my goodness, skeptic that I am, I did not have much hope that he'd be able to take care of her pain in ONE visit.  He says the drug-free treatment will last a minimum of 48 hours, and may last forever.  KT is thrilled!  She says that she has never been pain free for 14 months (at least) since the last surgery in Ohio in late October 2011.  Here's how he did it:

1.  Massage the scar tissue inside her mouth in the area where the pain was coming from.  He softened the scars by gentle massage, called "rolfing," (which I had never heard of), until her entire tissue loosened up enough for him to progress from barely being able to fit his pinkie finger in there (between the cheek and the tooth/gums), to getting his index finger in there.  Then having KT feel with her tongue to see how much more room there was in there.  Meaning, too, that there is now more room for the toothbrush, which will allow her to keep that painful area cleaner.

2. Then, he used a very unusual little handheld device, called "miHealth," an energy tool that assists with healing nerve pain.  Here's a photo of the device.  Based on studies of acupuncture, it has various frequencies it sends out to interact with the nerves.  He used about 5 different modes on her over about 45 minutes.  Each mode decreased her pain further and further, until finally, she said the pain was gone.  I was amazed, and wondered how much of it was psychological, but he now has me convinced.  I'm hoping it will last for much longer than 48 hours, and I believe it just might!

Anyway, no decisions about any further surgeries were made, because the main focus of this visit was to find a way to relieve her of pain.  So we consider this a success!  (Even though his office didn't accept our insurance.)  He now wants a copy of her before-surgery CT scan to compare with the most recent one, so he can think about the situation for awhile and then come up with some recommendations.  Since this was the very first time he'd met KT, it was definitely a "get-to-know-you" session.

We like Dr. Matthews, and are still in shock as to how quickly he was able to help her overcome the long-standing pain.  Thank you for your prayers and faith.  We'll keep you posted as to how things go.

Love, Glenn, Pam & KT

P.S.  We had dinner with Judy Mosher, a long-time friend and organizer of many Treacher-Collins Retreats over the years.  That was a special "bonus" to this trip.  We're still trying to work out a time and place to meet with KT's birth Dad, but so far we haven't been able to work out the details, so it may not happen this time.

All's well

KT is recuperating today peacefully at her Grandma Whicker's house. The surprising thing was that Dr. Sidiqi found nothing that would anatomically cause the pain she has been experiencing. There was, in fact, no exposed bone after all. No infection, puss, fluids or anything. So, either the exposed bone they saw last week healed over in that short time, or, as Dr. S believes, they were only seeing white colored scar tissue.

So, he did nothing inside the mouth, but did make an incision on her right ear nub, to see what was causing the tender soreness and inflammation in that area. Again, he found nothing. No floating bone fragments, no fluid - absolutely nothing. We're all perplexed. It's great that there's no infection, but something has to be causing the significant pain.

We'll be heading to North Carolina on 26 Dec to see our one remaining hope - Dr Matthews. He's an older, more experienced surgeon for Treacher Collins patients. He finally called and has agreed to see her to help us determine what we can do. He has already reviewed her CT scan and uses alternative means of pain control. KT had a very rough night, but should recover quickly from the incision.

Thanks for your prayers and love!