Late one evening, I received a call. Judith A., an ICU nurse with over 25 years of experience, called to get my opinion on how to treat a severely injured finger:
"I slammed my middle finger between a heavy door and the jamb at work, breaking the bone just below the nail, and cutting through the nail, so that any pressure on the end of the nail is causing the bottom part to rise out of the bed. The metacarpal is crushed; the attending doctor put four stiches on either side of the nail..."
She wanted to know if I thought that using a clay pack would be a good idea. Of course, I informed her that I certainly felt that using clay would be the wisest choice. "But Jason, isn't it possible that the clay will actually pull the nail off completely?"
I replied: "Yes, it certainly is, especially if the nail and/or bed is damaged beyond repair. There is no way we can predict whether the clay will pull the nail off, or actually result in its healing."
Judith elected to go with the standard treatment as prescribed by the attending medical doctor. "I don't want to risk losing the nail if I don't have to. If the finger gets worse, we can still use the clay, right?"
"Absolutely," I replied.
Several days passed. I received another call.
"Jason, I got an infection. The antibiotics are not helping, nor are the prescription pain killers. I was referred to a surgeon.
The hand specialist recommended surgery on the finger, a reduction and drainage, and putting pins in the bone and removing the nail."
The surgeon was adamant that if the nail was not removed, the infection could not be cured. Furthermore, he was not confident that the nail would actually regrow.
After discussing the issues, Judith made a decision: "
I decided to opt out of the medical procedures, and try to treat it myself."
This gave us the opportunity to utilize a 3 pronged approach; an experimental protocol that I had developed the year before to address a chronic and nonresponsive osteomyelitis infection of the foot in an individual with Type II Diabetes.
In some cases, clay alone is not completely effective at addressing a bone infection. There is also another issue to address in cases of chronic infections, especially with those suffering from Diabetes: The lack of circulation, and thus reduced blood and oxygen flow to the area.
In the case of Judith's finger, the wound had not been debrided since it became infected, so there was no real way to know how deep the infection went. Upon examination, the infection appeared to be quickly expanding down the finger.
The protocol we used was to start by packing the entire fingertip with clay hydrated with colloidal silver. I knew that if the clay was working, then most of the pain would be relieved very, very quickly. Within a two hour period, I watched the pain melt off of Judith's face.
After the clay pack, the next step was to ozonate the finger submerged UNDER WATER for 20 to 30 minutes. It was important that the water contained as much oligodynamic silver as possible, especially for the first few days. While it is true that standard ozone therapy practices teach that one should BAG a limb, I have learned through several years of research that ozonation while submerged in water has many advantages over bagging. Of course, both the tissue healing properties of silver and its antimicrobial action are greatly beneficial to the activated oxygen protocol.
The ozone used in any such protocol should be between 2-5% by concentration, and should be produced without also producing nitrous oxide. While the bacteria killing properties of ozone are excellent, in this protocol the greatest benefit is its oxidation action to break down toxic substances AND to deliver oxygen directly to the tissues that need it most.
Within a week, the same surgeon that had recommended surgery, pin placement, and removal of the nail, revised his prognosis: No further medical intervention was deemed necessary.
"I soaked the finger in water with an ozone generator bubbling ozone into the water/colloidal silver, for 30 minutes, twice a day. I packed the finger with clay overnight; unfortunately, I had to work 12-hour shifts during the day, and so just put a temporary splint on the finger during work. Immediately upon coming home I would do the ozone soak and put a clay pack on. Instant and total pain relief!
"Over a period of two months, the bone healed completely and properly. The nail re-attached, and began to grow out. After about six months, the nail has grown completely out, and is totally normal. Had I not had to work during this period, I am sure that the healing process would have taken much less time."
- Judith A, January 2009
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