Patient Testimonials

In 2011, my running dreams were put on hold when a knee injury turned into years of frustration and pain. Despite severe pain, MRIs showed no damage, and surgery wasn’t an option. I was forced to stop running for nearly a year, and it was a devastating setback.  I came back determined to run the NYC Marathon, my hometown race. However, by 2021, after a fall during training, I was diagnosed with arthritis and misalignment issues.

I met with TCO’s Dr. Robert LaPrade, and I will never forget finding out I needed surgery. I feared I would never run again. Dr. LaPrade reassured me that with time, everything would be fine and to be patient (not my strong suit). I underwent an osteotomy and spent eight long weeks on crutches. My determination, though, never wavered. After six months of recovery, I was cleared to walk-run, and just three weeks later, I finished the Boston Marathon in six hours!

Now, 19 months after surgery, I qualified for Boston with a 3:37 at the Erie Marathon, just shy of my PR. I’m glad I listened to Dr. LaPrade and had my surgery, instead of waiting and making it worse. If I hadn’t had surgery when I did, I probably wouldn’t be running anymore. I still remember the pain at my last race right before surgery. I’m eternally grateful to TCO for the best care so that I could continue my love of running.

If you are having knee pain and want to continue being active, don’t hesitate to get checked out.

Our daughter was running 22 minute 5k’s as a 7th grader when she began to have hip pain. After cross country season ended that fall, we decided to sit her out of wrestling season over the winter so she could rest and heal. We thought it was a strained hip flexor, but with rest and physical therapy her condition deteriorated, and it wasn’t long before she was unable to walk up stairs by herself.

We were referred to TCO for diagnostic hip injections, and after evaluating our daughter, Dr. Larson confirmed the physical therapist’s suspicion that she had FAI in both hips. However, he told us he suspected an inflammatory disorder of some kind, and regretfully, surgery would have to wait until we got to the root of the inflammation problem. As we exited his office Dr. Larson suggested we take her to Mayo, U of M, or Gillette Children’s for evaluation. We received the necessary referrals, and eventually discovered that our daughter had Lyme Disease. After several months of treatment, we returned to see Dr. Larson, and he was able to perform her hip surgeries.

We are very grateful for Dr. Larson, his expertise, integrity, and professionalism. And we are pleased to report that our daughter is healthy and active again.

Care from Dr. Sharon Frattalone and her team is top-notch. From the thorough exam to the complete care plan, I feel like they know me and are committed to my well-being. I am blessed to have them as the foundation for my health journey.

After my cancer diagnosis and double mastectomy, my oncologist referred me to TCO’s Breast Health Program for help with swelling and post-op recovery. This program is fantastic! I met with Jordan Mills, and she helped me process the changes my body was experiencing. My flexibility increased and my swelling decreased. I would not have made it through radiation without her help. To me, this was more than just physical therapy. Jordan helped me understand my emotions and how I can feel normal again. I cannot say enough about the importance that this program played in my recovery process. Thank you!

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 first met Ingrid Weddig back in October of 2023. I had to have a double mastectomy due to an excessive amount of fibroadenomas in both breasts. The plan was to have a double mastectomy and then place the expanders on that same day. Unfortunately, it did not go that way. I ended up having extremely thin skin, and losing about two quarts of blood, so they had to stop the procedure. I woke up after about six hours thinking I was still going to have something, to having nothing. It was the worst day of my life. I was referred to Ingrid, who works with patients through TCO’s Breast Health Program. At that time I was thinking, “What could physical therapy do for me in this situation?” The first day I met Ingrid we went over things, and she asked me if I had some sort of a timeline for me to be able to get my next surgery. I did, and she got it done! She has been amazing throughout my entire journey, and I couldn’t imagine working with anyone other than Ingrid. She cares SO deeply about her patients and her work, and it shows. She has brought her program so far since I have known her.

After visiting with two other orthopedic surgeons, a friend suggested I meet with Dr. Owen O’Neill at TCO. This friend had both hips replaced by Dr. O’Neill about 10 years ago. Her goal was to be back riding her horse within eight weeks of the surgery and in both cases, she was. While most hip surgeons use the posterior incision method, Dr. O’Neill uses the minimally invasive anterior technique. I knew as soon as I met Dr. O’Neill that I was willing to put my hip health in his hands, and he was able to schedule surgery for five weeks out. Every step of the process was shared with me in advance. After the morning surgery, I was moved to the overnight facility where I stayed until the next morning with round-the-clock care including physical therapy. Dr. O’Neill visited me the morning after surgery, and I was released to go home. Within three weeks, I was driving again and by six weeks, I had resumed most normal activities. My hip pain was gone immediately after surgery, and I have had no pain since then. I was able to climb stairs the day after surgery and as part of the EXCEL Surgery & Recovery program, I walked three times a day until I was walking over an hour a day. This was a life-changing surgery for me. I have resumed regular exercise and travel and am pain-free. In hindsight, I would not have waited so long to have the surgery, but I did so out of fear. Dr. O’Neill is an excellent surgeon, and he and his team at Twin Cities Orthopedics took very good care of me.

Ingrid Weddig has been instrumental in helping me maintain optimal health and full physical movement in my arm following the onset of lymphedema, which occurred after my cancer treatment when over 26 lymph nodes were removed and I received radiation. The therapy sessions with Ingrid helped keep my lymphatic pain and inflammation manageable. Her positivity, energy and can do spirit have helped tremendously as well. TCO and Ingrid Weddig’s essential work have been instrumental in maintaining my quality of life too!

I began therapy at TCO with Ingrid Weddig after my double mastectomy in May of 2022. I was new to the area and didn’t know anyone. My appointments with Ingrid were the only time I really had any contact with another person outside of chemo, radiation, and the copious doctor’s appointments. Ingrid is one of the kindest people whom I’ve ever been blessed to meet. She is incredibly knowledgeable and gave me hope when I felt like there was none. I am so grateful to both she and Anna Morrison, who helped me through what was a very difficult couple of years. I cannot say enough positive things about them, and TCO’s Breast Health Program. It is very needed.

I have had the pleasure of working with Renata for almost a year. I met her when I was getting ready for a lumpectomy for breast cancer in November, 2023. (It was a colleague of hers, to whom I am so grateful, that referred me to see Renata.) Renata provided a great deal of pre-operative information that was very helpful and reassuring. I then saw her after surgery where again, she was supportive, informative and just the professional I needed.

I wish I had all the correct words to describe how much I appreciate her knowledge, “bed side manner”, support and guidance. The surgery was a scary, anxiety producing time for me, and she made it much less so. She continues to provide support, knowledge and care for my ongoing issues with lymphedema. I can’t imagine my treatment team without her.