Patient Success Stories
A new hip to put life back on par
When Tish Francesangelo learned that a congenital hip problem meant she needed new hips, the 51-year-old couldn’t believe it. But orthopedic surgeon Andre Wolanin, MD, had the perfect prescription for her.
“He told me he could help me get my life back,” said the avid golfer, tennis player and mother of three who is on the go again, thanks to the personalized care of the Best Hospital in the Cleveland Area for Joint Replacement Surgery, according to HealthGrades.
“We’re so lucky to have the skilled physicians and technology we do at Parma Hospital,” says Tish, who recovered in time to dance at her son’s wedding and start the golf season. “If we didn’t have those
things, I wouldn’t have my life.”
Arthroscopic shoulder surgery repairs body’s most flexible — and most often dislocated — joint
Simply check out Kevin Jennings’s golf swing to witness the success of his shoulder surgery.
Within a month of an operation to repair his rotator cuff, Jennings was hitting the links.
Jennings was helping a friend pour concrete when a sharp motion tore the rotator cuff in his shoulder. He could feel the tear and the subsequent pain, which he withstood for nearly six months before finding Andre Wolanin, MD of Southwest Orthopaedics Inc.
Many patients like Jennings experience pain for an extended period before seeing a doctor. The shoulder is the most flexible joint in the human body, with the widest range of motion. But the socket, in which four tendons attach muscles to the upper arm, is very shallow. Consequently, the shoulder is the most frequently dislocated major joint in the body.
“By the time people in our country turn 60, a significant percentage have rotator cuff tears,” says Dr. Wolanin, who performs a high volume of shoulder surgeries. “If it’s an acute injury, the person may feel a pop when it occurs. Or over time, if the rotator cuff weakens, it feels like a rope that isn’t connected.”
A rotator cuff injury would make it difficult to serve a tennis ball, shoot a basket, hammer a nail or put a gallon of milk in the refrigerator. A damaged rotator cuff may present nagging pain, especially at night when sleeping puts pressure on the shoulder.
Repairing the rotator cuff, typically an arthroscopic surgery, involves only three or four small incisions. The patient goes home the same day. Two months of therapy ensure a healthy recovery with a low complication rate.
And if they’re like Jennings, they’re back on the golf course in barely a month. Within three months of his surgery, Jennings also painted the entire interior of his home – a strain on even the healthiest of shoulders, but not a pain to him at all.
“I was surprised myself,” says Jennings, who even hung some wallpaper during his redecorating rampage. “I had no pain – nothing. Dr. Wolanin did an excellent job.”
Now retired, Jennings works out regularly and doesn’t have to restrict his exercising at all. “I do all the machines, weightlifting over my head and everything,” he says. “I never have a problem.”