Comments on: (Poll) Modified brostrom surgery: orthopedic surgeon or ankle specialist?

By: Not Repaired

Not Repaired — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 05:22:15 +0000

Hi there-i came across your posts, and see at this point they are old, but, if you are still reading i thought i’d add to the advice. I had the brostrom repair, and i did it with Myerson whom i loved from day one. He gave me the time of day, and seemed to know what he was doing (i’d seen several dr’s to decide who i wanted). Both my ankles are shot. I’m a runner, but have been twisting my ankles since i was 8. I had two surgeries on the left, but the right was more severe, and about two years ago started to simply roll out of the socket at inopportune times. Myerson promised me running again would be no problem.

I had the surgery last march. I’ve not run since. Something was not done right, or put back too tight, and now my peronial tendon snaps across my ankle bone. It’s a terrible feeling, and hurts. When i went back to Myerson, his attitude changed. He told me that maybe i had something wrong with the tendon before the surgery, that perhaps it was abnormal before he did anything. He also said, he’s ‘never had this problem with anyone else before.’ He said he’d have to go back in , and instead of going back into the same three inch incision, he would have to cut from the incision, up the side of my calf where the tendon runs, so he can “see the entire thing.”

I’ve not yet done the surgery again, and am at this point unsure what to do, but am too young and active to live with this like this. My point here is, I heard about Myerson, and thought he too was the best. Would the other surgeon i saw have done a better job? I agree there’s something to be said for the experts, but, the experts too make misstakes. Hopefully, the expert you choose at least admits them and wants to fix them. I haven’t found that expert yet….

Good luck with whatever you decide…

By: holly

holly — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:53:57 +0000

i broke my ankle when i was 6 and was spraining my ankle after it over and over again. my ligaments loosend and when i was 8 i had this modified brostrom. it worked well to start with but eventually i ended up worse than before! so when i was 10 i had the chrisman snook to re-stablise my ankle. again it worked well at first, infact for a good few years. when i was 17 the pain in my ankle stated to get noticably worse so i went back to my gp. he referred me to a different hospital from which i had my operations and they sent me for x-rays, scans, physiotherapy and still couldnt tell me what was wrong. eventually i got referred back to my original consultant who straight away told me my ‘ankle had gone again’. i again got referred as this problem had never occured before. my consultant had to research around the country to find out what he had to do as it is so un common for the second chrisman snook to fail. after 2 years of messing about, here i am age 19 with my leg in plaster again!! they decided to take a tendon from behind my knee an up my thigh and reconstruct my ankle with it. its just a good job im not a sporty person!! even tho i had to give all that up when i was younger due to my ankle problems.

By: Ankle surgery: the reason I haven’t blogged in awhile | ...Because I Played Sports

Tue, 12 May 2009 13:20:11 +0000

[...] you’re not already aware, awhile back, I polled my blog audience to determine which surgeon I should choose for a much-needed and long overdue ankle surgery. I had [...]

By: Randy

Randy — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:03:56 +0000

I just noticed Frankie’s post. Yes, Cooper is busy, but I see that as something of an advantage because he should be so skilled in these procedures. It’s also true his office is very busy and he doesn’t have as much time in appointments as some other docs. Still, I have confidence in him. I won’t know more until after my surgery. There are other foot guys in the D.C. area, and I don’t think this surgery is so unusual that a lot of general orthos and sports medicine guys couldn’t do it well. Still, if it were me, I’d have a foot and ankle guy do it.
There’s a famous foot guy, Myerson at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore. He treats many big athletes. He was the guy who did Terrell Owens before that SuperBowl some time back. See http://footandankle.mdmercy.com/

There are guys at the Hospital for Special Surgery in NY. I think she can get good surgery in D.C.,though. It looks like the one picture is a stress film. They try to see how far the ligaments will permit the foot to tilt. When I had it, after a severe sprain many years ago, it was very painful. I had an acute and severe injury. I had the stress film some time later and it didn’t hurt as much. That group of ligaments on the outside are called the lateral collateral ligaments. The usual sprain is of the anterior talo-fibular ligament, which I believe holds your talus to your fibula. Read up on your own, I’m not a doc. Good luck.

By: Randy

Randy — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 05:24:44 +0000

Actually, I know nothing about this website; I just happened here when googling the name Paul Cooper. I would probably suggest going to Dr. Cooper, although you’d probably be OK with the guy at Washington Hospital Center.
Here’s why: Dr. Cooper is so busy. That means he does a lot of surgery. Tons of it. In fact, he’s a surgery machine. When you go to the foot and ankle clinic, sometimes it’s like a busy factory.
I went to see Dr. Cooper rather than have a podiatrist do my surgery because my podiatrist does a couple of surgeries a month; Dr. Cooper probably does many more in a day. I think you’re better off going with the guy who does a certain procedure a lot. Dr. Cooper’s a foot and ankle guy, and he probably does a lot more than the guy at WHC who does not concentrate on foot and ankle. My surgery is not until April, and it’s only January I think he’s worth the wait I was also impressed about his certainty about the type of bunion surgery that he could do on me. Others, a podiatrist and ortho foot guy, waffled and were not sure. I hate to say this–and I hope I’m not wrong since it’s an exaggeration–but Dr. Cooper could probably do some of these in his sleep! I hope I’ve given you good advice, though you’d most likely come out OK with either guy.

I just noticed the date of your post–November. Maybe you’ve already had it done! Oh well.

By: Frankie

Frankie — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:55:35 +0000

I would do as much research as possible re surgeons in other areas — i.e., Baltimore (Johns Hopkins — for example) or New York. If a surgeon is booked so far in advance it could also mean he has so many patients and is spreading himself too thin; he may not have enough time to devote to everyone’s case. If, the day you are scheduled for your surgery, there are patients with more serious problems who are having surgery, or if the surgeon considers the surgeries to be more complicated than yours, you may not get his complete attention no matter how skilled the surgeon may be. After all, he is human, not a machine. It seems rather strange that in the metropolitan dc area, there is only one or perhaps two surgeons who have the expertise to do your surgery.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:56:02 +0000

Hi; I don’t know you, I just ran upon your blog as I was searching for Brostrom. I am currently recovering from my second brostrom (both ankles done). Long story short, I have seen both orthos and podiatrists and the podiatrist was the BEST surgeon. He was the only one willing to help my badly damaged ankles. The ortho was aloof and did not even give me PT after my first ankle surgery (1992). Good luck, it is four weeks in a hard cast – its crazy but really worth it. I can already tell a difference in stability (in the ankle done in July)

By: mhueter

mhueter — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:16:18 +0000

Hey Sobo! Great to see you on here!

Love the advice. Because there really is no sense of urgency for my surgery, I might as well wait for the specialist. Great to hear from you.

I heard you did great in crew at Notre Dame? Excited to hear about it – I’d love for you to blog if you’re interested. We should all catch up sometime soon.

By: Liz

Liz — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:37:50 +0000

Hey cuz… I think that your blog is rad! That is a bummer about your ankle… I would definitely wait for the specialist… Hope all is well. ALOHA

By: mhueter

mhueter — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:06:45 +0000

Dad,
you figured out how to comment! Yay! I’m going with whatever the group says. Better start voting!!
Meg