Dr. Stewart and the staff at Timonium Foot and Ankle are absolutely AWESOME and provide the BEST care that you could ask for. I literally owe my life to Dr. Jordan Stewart. I have nothing but respect and high praise for him and his staff. If it was not for him, I would have likely died earlier this year.
Let me explain…
In February 2014, Dr. Stewart successfully performed reconstructive surgery to stabilize my right ankle. My right ankle has been great ever since surgery. Over time, I have been battling plantar fasciitis and an unstable ankle on the left side. Dr. Stewart treated me with aggressive conservative care for the conditions and I wasn’t improving. After exhausting all conservative options, I had no other choice for relief but to have surgery to release the plantar fascia and to reconstruct my unstable ankle on the left side.
The surgery was performed on December 13, 2016 and just like my experience on the right side, the procedures were successful! Following surgery I was placed on blood thinners the entire time I was non-weight bearing in my cast to reduce my chance of blood clots. I used a roll about device and was pretty limited until I moved to crutches and a boot on January 31, 2017. Right after that visit I stopped the blood thinners and started physical therapy. I continued my physical therapy and was making progress. On March 2, 2017, I let the physical therapist know that I was having leg pain and asked if it could be blood clots and the therapist felt the pain was likely from my exercises and thought that a clot was not likely since I was 11 weeks out of surgery.
Following my therapy session, I traveled to Virginia for the weekend with my family and the pain in the leg increased to the point where I had to resume taking pain medications and Tylenol. On March 4, 2017, I walked the equivalent of about 6-8 blocks with my crutches and I felt a tightness in my chest and felt winded. I figured I had over done it as it was the longest walk I had done in some time and I assumed it was likely just a muscle strain from the crutches. I rested a while and then walked back to my sons and my husband and again I felt the same tightness, I was winded, and I felt a little light-headed.
We drove back to our hotel to rest before heading to dinner. While at the hotel, I felt disoriented and overall was just not feeling right. In my mind, I had not quite made sense of the sensation that I had just experienced. As we left for dinner, I told my husband that I felt as if I had blood clots in my leg and they may have moved. He said that I had been reading too much and would be fine and that I had just overdone it a bit that week. At the time, what he was saying made sense. When we arrived at the restaurant, I was dizzy and still experiencing the same feelings. We finished our visit and drove back home on Sunday and I knew that I had a visit coming up with Dr. Stewart and I figured I would discuss everything with him.
On March 6, 2017, I had a follow-up with Dr. Stewart. He asked how the ankle and foot were doing and I said they were great, but my leg was killing me and I had the tightness in my chest and I was winded. By this time, my leg felt like it weighed about 100 pounds. I proceeded to tell him about the onset of the pain and tightness and he stopped me midway through my sentence and said to my son “You’re going to drive your mom right now to get an ultrasound of her leg.” and he turned to me and said “I don’t mean to be rude, but we are cutting this visit short because I don’t want to see you wake up dead tomorrow.” I love his sense of humor. It can make even a potentially scary situation easier to take. We talked for a while about the possibilities. He said it was likely nothing to be concerned with, but he wanted to be safe because if we missed diagnosing a blood clot it could be fatal. His staff immediately got me an appointment to see the vascular doctor for an emergency ultrasound exam. My son took me straight to the vascular surgeons’ office where within one hour of last seeing Dr. Stewart, they determined that I had clots from my ankle to my groin and from there I was sent to the ER for a CT scan of my lungs.
Long story short… I had 4 large clots in my left leg, 18 clots in my lungs and a saddle pulmonary embolism (PE). They do not know how I was able to breathe, yet alone survive the massive number and type of clots I had. I was in the ER for 3 days and I have been through a battery of tests since then and they still do not know for sure what caused the clots, why there were so many or how I survived.
How I survived that weekend is a complete mystery and I truly believe that I was not alive for a brief moment, but for whatever reason I am still here and I know that I likely would not be here if it had not been for Dr. Stewart. I had no issues with blood clots from prior surgeries and there is no family history of blood clots. Additionally, Dr. Stewart had me on blood thinners to prevent clots when I was in my cast and my clots didn’t occur until 11 weeks after surgery.
Dr. Stewart’s genuine compassion and concern, extraordinary skills as a doctor and truly listening to me are what truly saved my life. He has kept tabs on me throughout this event, including my time in the ER, and he continues to monitor me currently. His compassion and caring ways are exceptional. If he not sent me for the Doppler scan, it is likely that I would have had another PE or worse, I would not be here today.
Thank-you Dr. Stewart! You are awesome!
* Results may vary from person to person