I was 62-years-old when in November 2018 I sustained a bimalleolar ankle fracture - displaced fracture of fibula, displaced ankle, and torn ligaments aplenty. It happened at a volunteer event when someone foolishly left a wooden block invisibly under a rug and I stepped on it. I was a 40+ year runner, including 8 marathons, and was still running over 1000 miles and riding Citibike over 300 times each year.
I was diagnosed by a West Side NYC emergency room doctor who wanted to operate right away. The best decision I ever made was to say no.
My life began to change when I met Dr. Demetracopoulos, Meghan, and Lowsant the next morning in HSS. An incredibly ideal team and part of the bigger, great HSS team and facility. Dr. D is a straight shooter - he told me right away that I would need 2-3 surgeries to insert and later remove at least some hardware. He suggested waiting a few days for surgery to give a ligament a chance to begin healing so as to avoid more complex surgery, which did happen. During my first surgery, he inserted a plate and 8 screws. I started PT in January and within 2 months I was on an anti-gravity treadmill (per Dr. D’s recommendation) and learned to walk without a limp.
But then one of my screws broke, so I had surgery again in March 2019, to replace the broken screw with Kevlar. Soon after, back to PT and I was back on a stationary bike by April and running slowly and briefly on a treadmill in July. I was taking spin classes 3-4 times per week to help with strength and balance (and even keeping up with the youngins in the classes). But then a tendon near the plate tore, so one more surgery in August 2019 to fix the tendon and take out the remaining hardware. Back to PT, I had 59 sessions in total, and repeated PT on my own the rest of each week.
Twenty months since the accident, I have now been discharged! Now running 30 miles a week. Here I am the same day as discharge (during COVID screening), after running 6.5 miles that day.
It’s a really simple message. Dr. D and his team are second to none. They are highly skilled, knowledgeable, friendly, caring, sympathetic, communicative, and practice what’s best for the patient. They gave me my active life back. I’m Back in the Game.
All by Physician