Patient Testimonials

From the first time I met Dr. Bircher and PA Kari I had trust in their expertise, their recommendations, and pre-surgical instructions. In addition, their bedside manner, both before and after surgery was superb, kind, attentive, and informative. This was such pleasant surprise since I’ve had the opposite previously. They told me exactly what I’d be going through post-surgery including a timeline for healing. The communication with Dr. Bircher, Kari, Cassie, and Stephanie was beyond excellent. They returned my calls, emails, and texts either within minutes, within the day, or by the next day. They also responded in the evenings and even on weekends. That surprised me and made me feel important. The physical therapy team of Michelle and Lisa demonstrated their knowledge and well proven techniques. Their bedside manner was also superb. Their patience and encouragement were exactly what I needed. Since the conclusion of my clinical PT I’ve continued to follow the exercise program they laid out for me. I attribute the level of my mobility to them. At this writing, I am three months post-surgery. My knee is doing well, and I am happy with the results. I am looking forward to further healing. I have an appointment with Dr. Bircher/Kari in one week and I’m curious to see what their reaction will be to my progress.  Finally, and it’s obvious by my comments cited above, I completely and totally recommend this fantastic team. In fact, a year from now I’m planning on having my other knee replaced. I have been in their expert hands, and I know I will be in the future.

I continually made excuses on why it wouldn’t make sense to have the knee replacement done until I could retire. My quality of life had gotten worse to the point where I was having trouble with simple day to day activities. My family were constantly asking me to go get my knee fixed. They could tell I was in a lot of pain most of the time. I was struggling to sleep; I had no end in sight. Finally, I decided to go to TCO to have Dr. Bircher look at it. He recommended to have surgery because he felt he could help me have a better quality of life. He suggested the EXCEL program, he felt it was a good fit for me because of my age 56. He was very honest, and said it wasn’t going to be easy, but if I worked hard and followed the plan, I should have good results. The day of the surgery I was extremely nervous, I started to doubt my decision to do it. Then walked in Dr. Bircher, smile on his face as usual. He went through everything that was going to happen, and what to expect going forward. Then to my surprise he asked if he could pray with me. The nervousness went away, I knew I was in good hands. When I awoke, I felt good. They brought me to my room at the surgery center in Plymouth. This is where my recovery began, and Dr. Bircher checked on me a few times while I was there. He said if I need anything to let him know. The pain I had post-surgery was nothing compared to what I had been dealing with for years. I worked hard and followed the plan set for me, everyday seemed to get better and better. Now, here I am 4 months after surgery and I got my life back. I wish I would have had surgery years ago; I will never put anything like this off again. A huge Thank You goes out to Dr. Bircher and his incredible team at TCO.

This spring I met with Dr. Bircher to discuss a possible knee replacement. He was patient, knowledgeable, warm and encouraging. The entire team took time to answer questions when they arose, check in on status, and encourage continued recovery. As anyone having knee replacement knows, it is not a fun surgery or recovery process, but the team was amazing. Since a second knee replacement is in my future (the other knee), I am so much more at peace knowing Dr Bircher and his team provide awesome care and support!

This past fall, I ended up tearing my ACL during a football game. In general, you never want to see or experience any kind of injury, and especially so being an athlete. My story starts off on the night of September 8th, 2023. On this night we happened to be running a screenplay. As I was driving my guy down, I planted my foot and attempted to rotate it with my knee and then all of a sudden I felt a POP! In the second quarter of the second game of the season, with 3 minutes and 38 seconds until halftime, I hit the ground and was in immediate pain. When Heidi Beckendorf (our trainer at Anoka), Kate Cayton, and Dr. Patrick O’Keefe got out onto the field to meet me, they asked what was wrong. I responded by telling them that, “I felt a bad pop in my left knee.”

From that night on I can still remember the look on their faces, and I knew that something was seriously wrong and I began to imagine the worst. As soon as my mom saw me hopping over and getting onto the medical cart, she knew that it must have been bad. Right then and there it started to hit me that this is really serious. Seeing the look of concern on everyone’s faces when we started to drive off is still imprinted in my brain.

Once I got back to the locker room, they pulled my mom aside and told her what was wrong. They came in, and my mom was in tears. Seeing my mom cry only made me cry more. They told me that my season was over and that I most likely tore multiple ligaments in my knee. Wow. Just like that, my season was over and it was probably my biggest year for recruitment too.

After I got home from the game all of my emotions came out. I was a mess. I had an appointment that next Tuesday to find out what really happened. I was honestly very relieved to find out that I had torn only my ACL due to the fact that I was originally told that I likely had multiple tears in my knee. To this day, I can still remember the phone call with my head coach after we found out the diagnosis. He said to me, “I’m sorry bud, it will be difficult, but I know that you’ll be able to get through it and come back even better next year.”

My surgery was a success and went very well. When I was about 2-3 weeks Post-OP, one of the physical therapists in the clinic that I had the opportunity to meet and work with thought that I was six weeks into recovery, instead of being only 2-3 weeks. Hearing that was a huge confidence booster for me!

Physical therapy and everything else was going great up until about a month after the surgery. I woke up one Sunday morning and one of my incisions was burning and there appeared to be a giant cyst there. Later that day, the cyst popped open and started secreting lots of pus. My incision stayed like that for a week and kept oozing, but seemed like it was getting better. The doctors said that the issue occurring was due to a stitch that wasn’t dissolving, which kept my incision from closing up and healing. It looked as if it were getting better, but one Wednesday during after-school PT, Kate was taking a look at my incision and things weren’t looking good. The look on everyone’s faces when Kate said that things were taking a turn for the worse had me shell-shocked. I didn’t know what to think.

That next day I had an emergency appointment with Dr. O’Keefe, and he said that I needed to have another surgery ASAP because my incision was infected.

I was making a lot of progress in physical therapy, and it was looking good, but one random night I woke up writhing in pain because my knee had suddenly popped. That morning when I woke up my knee was completely stiff, and I couldn’t walk at all. I was told to get in for an MRI as soon as possible and we found out that I now had a slight tear in my meniscus. I am currently on a meal plan and am taking physical therapy very intently because I have learned that only I can control how fast I am able to return to sports and fulfill my aspirations of playing in college.

One of the biggest accomplishments I have had so far is being able to run after having my injury. The feeling of running after knowing that only four months ago I couldn’t even walk, it’s one of the best feelings that you can get. It has made me realize all of the hard work I have put in to come back is finally starting to pay off.

Going through all of this adversity has been difficult, although in a certain sense, I am grateful for the opportunities and new doors this journey has opened up for me.

I cannot thank Twin Cities Orthopedics enough for everything that they have done for me, although the person from TCO who has had the biggest impact on me is Kate Cayton. I couldn’t have asked for anyone better than her. I always look forward to going to PT, and always being able to have a conversation with her. She has been there for me at my lowest points with recovery and she has always supported me. I don’t think that I could ever repay her for everything that she has done for myself and for me to come back to playing sports.

I would also like to thank Dr. O’Keefe. He showed that TCO really does care about their patients. One thing that really stood out to me was during the time when I was in the hospital, and there was the possibility of me needing a third surgery; he didn’t want anyone but himself to do the surgery, had I ended up needing it. He wants to stay with me until the end of my recovery, and I can’t thank him enough for showing that he does truly care about people that he operates on.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude and thanks to TCO’s Dr. Meisterling and his entire team. My life has turned around in such an amazingly positive direction thanks to two total knee replacements. Dr. Meisterling’s surgeries have allowed my wife and I to complete a recent hiking trip through Zion, Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone National Parks. We’re so appreciative of the “new lease on life” that the TCO team has given to me. My wife and I look forward to hiking many more national parks in the months and years to come.

In April, Dr. Bircher performed my total knee replacement surgery, and it was the best decision I ever made. He was very professional and worked with me prior to my decision to have surgery and I appreciated his patience and understanding.

An old knee meniscus injury (1977), exacerbated by 28 years of military service and thousands of miles training for marathons finally led me to make an appointment for nagging pain and lack of mobility. Dr. James Bircher recognized immediately after looking at my x-rays the need for a total knee replacement. My surgery was 11 March, and I was able to walk my daughter down the aisle at her 22 June wedding unimpeded by pain. The initial recovery was not fun, but through great physical therapy at TCO and great care by Dr. Bircher’s team, I am able to walk pain-free for the first time in decades. Dr. Bircher and his team tells it like it is — the recovery will be tough the first several weeks, but by 6 months you will be better than before. I am waiting to see what 1 year brings! Thanks Dr. Bircher and team!

Dr. Bircher performed my knee replacement surgery. Once it was determined that I needed to have my knee replaced, Dr. Bircher and his team explained the entire procedure to me and what I could expect after surgery. I was very well pleased with the entire process and would recommend Twin Cities Orthopedics to anyone.

Dr. O’Neill handled both my total knee replacements this past year and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. From the initial assessment with Dr. O’Neill, I could tell this was a highly experienced surgeon with a very warm and reassuring personality. I could feel he genuinely cared about my well-being. Every interaction since that initial assessment was very positive. The recovery process has been steady and relatively swift. Now that my second knee replacement was 3 months ago, I am beginning to again resume a more active lifestyle which I had put aside years ago, like enjoying playing golf pain-free or taking long walks with my wife. I highly recommend Dr. O’Neill to anyone thinking about total knee replacement surgery. My only regret is that I didn’t see Dr. O’Neill years ago!

I injured my left knee many years ago and then continued to punish it further through a 28-year military career, as well as training for marathons. Dr. James Bircher performed knee replacement surgery in March, and I was able to walk my daughter down the aisle at her wedding in June. Dr. Bircher did a great job, and I highly recommend him. Absolutely amazing results!