In February 2021, I had just gotten back from a golf outing with friends in Florida, and I told my wife that I must have sprained my ankle. It was swollen and warm to the touch. I saw multiple different doctors who diagnosed me with a Charcot deformity in my left foot, and I was placed into a walking boot. I had developed a wound on the left foot that did not close up over a couple months’ time, and I was at risk of losing my foot. My foot deformity progressed over several months, and bone was about to come out of my skin, so my orthopedic foot and ankle specialist referred me to Dr. Jeffrey Loveland in Sparta, Tennessee.
Fast forward to March 1, 2022—my first visit lasted 3½ hours. The surgeon explained to us in detail about Charcot foot, which is what I had. I was dealing with a sore on the bottom of my foot that would not heal for six months. During our first visit, he introduced us to another one of his patients that had the same deformity and was recovering from surgery. They too answered every question we asked and spoke very highly of the surgical process. When the surgeon told me that a reconstructive surgery could fix my foot, I looked at my wife and said let’s do it ASAP. Stryker’s Salvation® 2 system including the midfoot nail, beams, and external fixator was used to complete the reconstruction of my foot.
When I came out of surgery and was looking at the cage I was in, I was scared and worried, but the surgeon explained everything to us very thoroughly. Over the course of recovery, everything went just as the surgeon said it would, and my wife and I did what we were told to do: cleaning my leg and foot every two days and no weight bearing for four months. The external fixator was removed after four months following a CT scan that showed healing of the bone in my feet. At that point, I received my CROW boot and wore it for 8 ½ months. This gave time for my foot to heal. One year after my surgery, I played golf again in my own shoes! The surgery literally saved my foot and gave me back my life.