Dr. Stewart performed a miracle on my ankle!
In October of 2017, I rolled my ankle while hiking and knew immediately that it was bad. I went to my primary care doctor who then referred me to an orthopedist who diagnosed my injury as a “severe” ankle sprain. He recommended a walking boot, crutches, and physical therapy.
For weeks and weeks I went to physical therapy but it felt as though my pain was only getting worse. An MRI was ordered and it showed quite a bit of soft tissue damage. The orthopedist said that I might need to have my ankle surgically repaired and referred me to an ankle specialist in his group.
The specialist gave me a different boot to wear and recommended that I return to physical therapy. After several more weeks of PT with no progress at all (in fact the pain was getting worse each day), I sought out a second opinion and was told once again to return to PT. At this point both the physical therapist and I were frustrated because we could both see that PT wasn’t helping. I was in extreme pain 24 hours a day and couldn’t even find a comfortable position to sleep in at night.
A good friend who is a nurse practitioner suggested that I see a podiatrist. She said that in her practice, they send patients who have problems with their feet and ankles to podiatrists since their specialty is…feet and ankles. I had no idea that podiatrists performed surgery and had never considered going that route but I called Dr. Stewart’s office that day and made an appointment.
From the very beginning, I felt confident that Dr. Stewart would be able to fix my ankle because he was so thorough, knowledgeable, and experienced. He discussed my options (both surgical and non-surgical). I decided to proceed with surgery and was equally impressed with how organized and detail-oriented the entire process was from the pre-surgery appointment to the documentation that I took home with me with instructions on what to do after the surgery.
Dr. Stewart performed a gastrocnemius recession, a sural nerve decompression, a peroneal tendon synovectomy, and a Modified Brostrom procedure. When I returned to physical therapy after my cast was removed, I could feel my ankle getting better and better each day. I now have my life back and I’m able to walk without pain. In August, just 7 months after surgery, I summited Mt. Meru in Tanzania. It’s 14,976 feet high and it entailed a four day trek to get to the top and back down, sometimes hiking for 12 hours in one day. Throughout the trek, my ankle didn’t even make a peep. I’m eternally grateful to Dr. Stewart for returning me to good health!
* Results may vary from person to person