Patient Testimonials

I broke my ankle on the playground in fourth grade. Little did I know trajectory at that time. I competed in gymnastics in high school. I learned how to play handball and golf. Some 40 years later, my ankle started to hurt.

Eventually, I visited a noted sport medicine doctor and was told that the early injury brought about an early onset of arthritis. Nothing I could do; maybe wear a brace. Five years later, I visited other specialists, and they all told me I could have my ankle fused and I’ll know when. Another five years, and I was limping so much everyone asked if I hurt myself. I worried I was throwing everything in my body off kilter.

I decided “it’s time” and made an appointment with Dr. Chris Coetzee to get my ankle evaluated for a fusion. After his review, he said I was a candidate for either. I looked at him confused and he explained he could either fuse my ankle or replace the joint. I asked and he explained that everything I had heard about ankle replacements not going well was old news. He said I would be able to run, play handball and golf as much as I liked. I turned to my wife and we decided to go for it. I never looked back!

I used to walk around looking at the ground. We would go on trips and I could describe the sidewalks and streets but not the buildings or landscapes. I was terrified I would stumble and hurt myself. Now, I can walk anywhere without this fear.  Forward, backward, up hills and down hills. My first ankle was more than 10 years ago and my second almost three. I won both the single and doubles Minnesota State Handball Championships in my age division this year. Everyone says I am moving better and better all the time.

Dr. Coetzee and his team at TCO gave all of this back to me. If you are a candidate for an ankle joint replacement, you can’t do better than TCO.

Photo caption:

This summer, at the World Handball Championship held in Minneapolis, four of Dr. Coetzee’s patients gathered for a photo – there are seven replacement ankles on the four handball players (from left), Arnie W., Sheldon S., Scott S. and Larry L.

Handball became my competitive game of choice in the Marine Corps, but by age 60, my body started showing its age. I had both hips replaced in four years, so my handball game started showing its age as well.

When my left ankle started giving me trouble, I went back to TCO and was informed that the arthritis from multiple sprains from various sports had caught up with me and it would have to be fused or replaced.

When Dr. Chris Coetzee said the replacement would take 35 minutes, I asked how an ankle replacement could be done in half the time of a hip. The answer was that no muscles or tendons had to be cut. This convinced me because the gluteus had to be cut in the hip replacements and regaining that muscle memory took some time.

After surgery on the ankle, I asked Dr. Coetzee how long it took and he said 35 minutes, including tightening the outside ligament. As promised, I was back playing handball in three months. It went so well that I did not hesitate to replace my right ankle within 18 months, once it was obvious that it had arthritis as well.

The second replacement took 10 minutes longer because the outside ligament on the right ankle was in worse shape than the left.

I’m now 72 and moving better on the handball court than I have in 10 years. I have even started to run again, a bit slower than before, but there is no pain!

I was in a car accident this past May that put me in the emergency room. I was found to have a broken scaphoid bone in my left hand (of course my dominant hand). The first opinion was “immediate surgery.” I sought a second opinion from Dr. Gesensway; he examined my x-rays and CT scan of my hand very carefully and discovered that the bones in my hand had auto-fused. Because the bones had auto-fused, the scaphoid was stabilized and could heal with assistance of a new ultra-sound device that would trigger blood flow to the bone to accelerate healing without surgery. I chose to use the device as instructed and IT WAS SUCCESSFUL. The bone has healed without surgery!

My husband is a retired anesthesiologist. He observed many foot and ankle surgeons in the OR. He says Dr. Den Hartog is by far the best foot and ankle surgeon he has ever seen. After he moved from our community, we drove 600 miles for surgery by him. He is kind, humble and brilliant. Hands are extremely skilled.

I could not be more pleased with the care and professionalism I received from Dr. Meisterling and his staff. Dr. Meisterling repaired my badly torn rotator cuff and torn bicep. The surgery went as well as possible, and I was fully cared for throughout the recovery process. I could not recommend Dr. Meisterling more highly.

Dr. Laura Koch is the best in the business! She repaired my finger and my hand is fully functioning! No rehab or therapy was necessary, thank you Dr. Laura!

I am a 47 year old female who had a partial knee replacement from another surgeon at a totally different office and hospital 2 years ago and it was a nightmare! Thank God my friend encouraged me to seek a second opinion with Dr. Mair at TCO!! He was able to perform a miracle on my messed up knee and do a total knee replacement 3 months ago. It was such a wonderful experience! I am so happy with my new knee and feel like a new woman! It has only been 3 months and I am doing things I haven’t been able to do for 2 years thanks to Dr. Mair! I really can’t say enough wonderful things about him!

Dr. Loren Vorlicky is a great orthopedic surgeon. He also is assisted by a tremendous physician’s assistant, Nathanael Hall, PA-C.

I had a redo of a hip because a minimally invasive surgical technique done elsewhere did not work and came loose. The loose implant caused enormous pain over the course of a year. One year after that surgery, Dr. Vorlicky had to do a complete and total redo of the hip. It was a complicated surgery.

Dr. Vorlicky is compassionate. He is a listener and empathetic and did a fabulous job in the redo of the first surgery. All of my pain, which was significant from the first surgery, is gone. I am very grateful to Dr. Vorlicky for listening and caring and also for doing a fabulous, fabulous job in the second surgery. I so appreciate the way Dr. Vorlicky and Nate have treated me during this entire difficult process. I am very grateful to have had such a great surgeon.

Dr. Peterson had to remove hardware from a previous repair (from a fall last year), so my total hip replacement had some complexity. Dr. Peterson was confident that I would still have a good result. After my surgery on June 20, 2018, I had almost no pain, and I began the required therapy and PT. I was so satisfied with my progress each week, and within 3 weeks, I wasn’t even using my walker nor a cane! On August 24, I even went to the MN State Fair and walked for six hours without help. Dr. Peterson is a very talented surgeon, has a caring and compassionate demeanor, and answers all questions thoroughly. I am 76 years old, and I feel like I have my life back!

The moment I met Dr. O’Neill, I knew I was going to select him to be my hip(s) surgeon. He takes his time in reviewing X-rays with patients as well as covering all aspects of the procedure. I needed both hips replaced and the surgeries needed to be at least 4 weeks apart. So that is what I did.

I would like to thank Dr. O’Neill, Jessie and the entire O’Neill team for a truly wonderful experience. Here I am back at one of my favorite activities 3 months after the second surgery – wake surfing! Thank you!