Kelsey Chatten

After surviving a near-fatal car accident, having 2 invasive surgeries on my right hand and arm, various procedures, injections and tests, and months of PT and OT on my dominant hand/arm, I was left with excruciating pain that limited my everyday activities. I was miserable - the pain was so intense that some days I would have to miss work, cancel plans, and just sleep all day. Before my accident, I was an extremely active person who went to the gym, played field hockey, and lived a "normal" life as a high school chemistry teacher. I was left with an arm and hand that could not fulfill my everyday needs. I was left with a significant tremor, the inability to lift my arm past shoulder-height, and a lack of grip strength to the point where I started dropping things. Any amount of activity caused me excruciating levels of pain that was not able to be appropriately managed with any type of medications, bracing, or personal adaptations, and my mental health was at an all time low. Doctors I saw before coming to HSS told me that my issues had been surgically resolved, and my pain was "all in my head" or maybe I just needed to see a pain psychiatrist because there was nothing diagnostically wrong with me. While those appointments left me disappointed, let down, and angry, I was not willing to give up searching for answers.

I first saw Dr. Zlotlow for upper extremity. Dr. Zlotlow listened closely to my concerns and assured me that he would help, or reach out to other resources to help me. He ran a myriad of tests to rule out a brachial plexus injury, and suggested I see Dr. Cyril in physiatry to assess my symptoms. Dr. Cyril was also a wonderful doctor to interact with. He also listened closely to my concerns, and reassured me that we would get to the bottom of my symptoms. We tried a sympathetic nerve block in my cervical spine, which unfortunately, my body did not respond to. After much discussion, Dr. Cyril suggested that I meet Dr. Gungor in anesthesiology and interventional pain management.

From the moment I met Dr. Gungor, I knew that he would not stop until we found an explanation for my symptoms. We first met in February 2024, where I was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, type I of the right upper extremity, which is rare and permanent. During that visit, we also made a game plan of what treatments we could try to manage my condition. Dr. Gungor suggested we try another sympathetic nerve block in my thoracic spine just to see if we have a different result, if any. Unfortunately, we did not have any positive results from the second nerve block, we only had one option left - to which we referred to as the "nuclear option" - a spinal cord stimulator (SCS). Dr. Gungor explained, in great detail, what the process would be in order to get my permanent implant. He explained the risks, the potential outcomes, and his hopefulness that this option would finally bring me some relief. In August 2024, I had my SCS trial device implanted. As soon as my Boston Scientific rep (shoutout to Jared and Mike for always being amazing) dialed in my device after implantation and turned it on, the implant worked and my pain and tremor were mostly gone. I remember sitting there and crying tears of joy that something FINALLY worked for me after almost 5 years of searching for answers. In October 2024, I finally had surgery to implant my permanent SCS device. Since then, I have been able to get back to everyday activities that I once found to be exhausting and painful, and my mental health has vastly improved. I am forever grateful for Dr. Gungor's persistence, determination and kind, caring nature. Dr. Gungor has truly given me my life back. I can never thank Dr. Gungor enough for helping me manage my pain, for giving me hope, and for truly caring about my condition. Now I have a cool story to tell my students about essentially being a robot now! Thank you Dr. Gungor!