Ashling Foster

In September of 2016 I had a bad fall playing tennis and felt like I had a buckle in my elbow. When I got up I realized that I could not move from my elbow down. So I drove myself to a local orthopedist that had a clinic that started after the office was closed. The physician assistant took an x-ray and said nothing was wrong and I replied, "There is something wrong. I can't move my arm - it is very swollen and bruised and is causing me a lot of pain." She told me there was nothing more she could do for me or prescribe and said if it does not feel better to call back. So I did what I was told so than I saw the doctor that was on call that night four weeks later. He sent me for an MRI that took two weeks to get approved by the insurance company and when that came back I was told that I had a tear in my ligaments in my arm that six of the doctors had to review my case and I would hear back. Three weeks later after being told this, I still did not hear anything, so I called and found out that the doctor was still reviewing my case to see who was going to take it. Then I saw the doctor that took my case a month later and gave me medications to alleviate the pain and said to call back in a month if there is still pain. The pain was still there and one month later, another MRI was done and the doctor said that I had a complete tear with a dislocation that popped back in with some fluid around the elbow, which would not affect the rest of my life. Four months had gone by and no improvement, so my primary care physician referred me and that is when I saw Dr. Altchek. When I heard what he had to say I was so happy I was finally getting answers. I was going to have to have surgery and before surgery he had referred me to Dr. Richman to get a diagnosis for CRPS. Thank goodness the surgery went smoothly and everything went well. Then when it came to PT it was also going very smoothly. I am now back to playing tennis and going to my lessons. I'm doing so much more with tennis and also joined a league at the tennis facility where I play.