A Young Man's Story |
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Sam (not his real name) recently sent TNA a copy of his college application essay. We want to share his courage and spirit with all TN and face pain patients. After reading his history with TN and TNA below, please click on the link to his essay. Sam's mother first called TNA when he was in intractable pain and on large amounts of Tegretol. We connected her with some other parents whose children had TN and suggested a consultation with Dr. Jannetta. Sam was not even ambulatory when taken to Pittsburgh to see Dr. Jannetta and was becoming jaundiced from the Tegretol. An MVD was performed and it was very involved. The outcome for its success was very dubious and as several post-op days went by Sam showed no improvement in the level of his pain. When he left Pittsburgh he went to the Children's Hospital in Boston where he ended up being fed through a gastric feeding tube as he stated in his essay. TNA didn't hear any further news of his condition for some time. The mother of another boy who also had several MVD's and was finally pain-free, wanted to work with us to do a follow-up on the current status of all the children with TN. At that time we had about 10 children in our database. Each of the parents was called to inquire about the current status of their child's TN. The call to Sam's mother was approached with great concern and the possibility that his condition would not be improved. However, she spoke with joy in her voice as she conveyed the miraculous progress in his recovery that took place over a long period of time. He had been curled up in a fetal position for months with tube feeding and in pain and slowly began to improve. No one could attribute his progress to any specific factor except time. His mother then went on to say that he had the role as the Wizard in the Wizard of OZ. She had at times thought that he would never get better or that they might even lose him during those months in the Boston Hospital. Needless to say her happiness and gratitude knew no limits, both for TNA and Dr. Jannetta. Oddly, the outcome of TNA's contacts with the other parents at that time seemed to show that many of the children having an MVD did not have immediate relief; they seemed to take some time post-op for the pain to stop, even though the surgery had addressed a very evident problem. Sam's TN journey is a source of encouragement for those with children who do not have an immediate relief of pain from their surgery. |
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