>> Welcome back.
A Franklin County woman experienced extreme facial pain for several years.
Nothing helped until she met a neurosurgeon at Penn State Health.
Here's Mary Kay Rogers' journey.
Mary Kay Rogers has made 1,000s of cakes.
>> So, I do almost any kind of cake, wedding cakes, marine corps ball cakes, kids' cakes.
I do cupcakes.
I do decorated cookies.
>> She's been doing it for the past 25 years.
In fact, she has her own shop.
>> Love to see the reaction on kids' faces, adults faces when they get the cakes.
>> Something that brings Mary Kay so much joy, but a few years ago she had to turn the
blender off after she started having some facial pain.
>> Like half of my tongue felt like it was completely burnt, like if you burn yourself
with a cup of coffee with your tongue, but it just stayed there all the time.
And then the left half of my face up to my eye felt like someone was like punching you.
>> Mary Kay thought there was something wrong with her teeth.
>> So, I kept going back to the dentist and she was like, no, nothing's wrong.
Everything looks good.
She sent me to another dentist.
He said the same thing, there's nothing wrong with your teeth, gums, nothing.
>> Mary Kay's next step was to see a neurologist.
>> He did some different tests and everything on me, and that's when he diagnosed me with
the trigeminal neuralgia.
>> Trigeminal neuralgia is a severe electrical shock type pain that's always on one side
of the face.
That happens to people typically as they get older, which they will describe as the worst
pain they've ever experienced.
>> Doctors gave Mary Kay different medications, but nothing seemed to work.
>> There were days I couldn't even like ice a cake or anything, it was just so terrible.
I would just lay on the couch and you're just like in pain all the time.
>> There was an event in the marine corps when I was there in January of 2016 called
Saint Barbara's.
She did the cake for it, fought through it to do the cake, and then pretty much after
the initial ceremony was done she's like I got to go to the room.
>> I had a couple procedures done that didn't work for me personally.
The neurologist sent me to Hershey Medical Center, and they're a godsend, because Dr.
McInerney, he knows I love him.
>> She loves Dr. McInerney because he had a possible cure.
>> The thing that we do most commonly for this problem is radiosurgery with the -- with
the gamma knife.
And the biggest reason for that is because it's by far the easiest of all the procedures
that we can offer for this for people to get through.
>> And would I be interested in trying that?
Of course, I was interested.
I wanted the pain gone.
>> The patients come in in the morning and we put a frame on their head.
That's the dramatic part.
And then we get an MRI scan.
And the frame is our measuring device.
>> I was very -- I was like, oh my gosh, but whatever medication they put you on when you
go in there, it's amazing.
Like you don't even know they do it.
>> The trick with the gamma knife is we take 192 beams, so low dose, low power radiation
beams, and point them all at the same spot, so that while everything sees radiation, the
only thing that sees enough radiation to be damaged is what we actually put at that center
point.
And that's what allows us to be very, very accurate.
>> And the staff, they tell you, it's not going to work right away if it works.
You know, each week or each month it's going to get better.
By the time July came, I have had no pain.
When I went back for my three month, I have not had any pain.
>> She's back to being more of what normal like she was before.
You know, she's able to do the things that she enjoys to do.
>> It's amazing.
I mean, I can get up in the morning.
I can -- I know this sounds trivial, but clean my house.
I can cook a meal.
>> She likes going out with our dog, Gunner, and playing with him when it's nice outside.
>> But to have something that actually works, I'm amazed.
Now, I'm really enjoying life because it's gone.
>> Mary Kay said if this procedure only worked for one day it was worth it.
The pain she had was paralyzing.
Now, she is doing great.
Joining us right now is Dr. Jim McInerney.
Mary Kay did talk about the pain.
Tell me about, how bad is the pain with trigeminal neuralgia?
>> Sure, well, patients with trigeminal neuralgia will tell you it's the worst pain of their
life.
And people who have had terrible pains like childbirth or heart attacks or kidney stones
will tell you it's worse than that.
And so, it really is terrible, debilitating pain that really can stop people in their
tracks.
>> And as we saw with Mary Kay, it was very difficult for several years to really diagnose
that she had trigeminal neuralgia.
So, if someone is watching this, has similar symptoms, what would you suggest?
>> Sure.
And unfortunately, it's a really common problem, because it's not a common problem that people
have.
And so, a lot of times people go through getting misdiagnosed or not accurately diagnosed.
But when people have that, you know, that pain that respects just one side of their
face and it's very severe and sharp and stabbing, when there are things that are triggering
it, like chewing or brushing their teeth or something like that, then they should really
get in touch with their doctor and tell them about those symptoms and, hopefully, seek
out neurologists, neurosurgeons, who can give them the types of treatments that will take
care of the problem.
>> And really, what are the long-term benefits for treating trigeminal neuralgia with gamma
knife, and how soon will a patient see some relief?
>> Sure.
So, patients will usually start to see relief within seven to 10 days, so a week or so,
and they're starting to feel better.
And that continues to improve over the course of about three to six months.
And then once they get completely better, they usually maintain that for years, five,
10 years, or more.
It can come back, unfortunately, but the good news is we can treat it again if it does.
>> Yeah, that was my next question.
Is it something you can do again?
>> Absolutely, yes.
>> Okay, great.
And we know that at Penn State Health your goal is really to give patients the life they
were living, give that very back -- give that back to them.
And we know that Mary Kay loves to bake and she is able to do that again.
In fact, she is here.
She has something for Dr. McInerney to thank him.
>> Just a little thank you [laughter].
For you.
>> Oh, that is awesome.
>> Thank you.
>> Wow, how appropriate.
>> Yes, thank you for giving my life back.
I mean, it's amazing.
I recommend it for anybody.
>> Well, thank you so much.
>> If they have the pain to go.
Thank you so much.
>> Well, that's awesome.
>> So artistic.
I know that you are an artist and you do a wonderful job with designing cakes, and this
is really -- this tops the cake [laughter].
>> Absolutely.
>> Mary Kay, thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you for doing the cake.
That's wonderful.
And Dr. McInerney, thank you for being here.
>> My pleasure.
Thank you.
>> And if you would like to make an appointment with Penn State Health, this is the number
to call, 855-945-1282.
Once again, 855-945-1282.