othro surgeon recommendations

[my2cents]

in sept. 2002, i broke my collar bone and it has failed to heal properly. Over time i have lost all confidence in the doctor collaborative i have been seeing. does any one have ortho doctors in the boston (north of boston area ideally) they can recommend.

the discomfort is significant enough that i think i will require surgery.

thanks in advance for any and all guidance.

[Climb01742]

2cents: i have no personal experiences with boston ortho's (knock on wood). but someone who has hooked me up with lots of good medical connections is my guy at belmont wheelworks, thom norton. he's a former racer and really well wired in. maybe call him. store number is 617.489.3577. or if you'd like, i could ask him.

[Smiley II]

Is this from the fall from the group ride while you were on the Ottrott? Geez has it been that long. When are you coming to visit in DC ?

[vaxn8r]

Calvicle fractuers always get better....except when they don't.

Are you talking about non-union of still having pain? Depending on where the break is as many as 10% may require surgery for non-union. If it's healed but still hurts, that's more complicated. I'm not sure surgery would correct that.

Lot's of good docs in Boston, I just don't know any of them. You might consider one of the med schools. they get lots of off-the-wall cases nobody else wants or knows how to deal with.

[my2cents]

smiley,

yeah, this is from that crash on the ottrott way back when.

and i am coming to dc as a matter of fact. from xmas, my wife purchased plane tickets for me to visit my lifelong friend who moved down there a bunch of years ago. actually, i forgot, he just bought a house in chevy chase, so i won't be in dc proper.

i arrive 2/20 in the AM and leave late 2/22. i have no ideas at all about what we plan to do while i'm down there. i don't know if i will bring my bike (i'm taking turbo props to and from, and i don't know if that is good, bad or indifferent in terms of bike-as-luggage. i haven't ridden at all since mid-september (was given a bone growth stimulator at that time so i have been taking it easy trying to rest the busted bone and give it another chance to do the right thing).

--lee

[keno]

have a non-union in the collarbone break I suffered in June. I am dealing with my third orthopod, Lou Bigliani, who is in NYC at Columbia Presbyterian. He is one of the top shoulder surgeons in the country. I would suggest you call his office and ask for a reference in the Boston area. There are surgeons who deal with many non-union cases and the good ones know one another. The second surgeon I dealt with here in NJ is a noted shoulder specialist and when I asked him about the surgery he told me he would not perform it but would recommend someone. It sounds like you are having more trouble than I am. I have not decided whether to have surgery. Bigliani assured me that timing was not critical, and that if I could live with it, that would be the preferred course. He also said that he has high caliber competitive athletes who decided not to go for surgery and have been successful.

Make sure you have the right surgeon. My wife has had too many orthopedic operations resulting from horse riding competitions, and out of the the six surgeons, three were worth it. One is in Boston, Larry Geuss, I believe at Newton Wellesley. He did a novel procedure that saved her left elbow from becoming permanently frozen. He does not specialize in shoulders, however, but is very good. He did some wrist work for a friend I sent to him, as well.

Good luck,

keno

[Smiley]

my2cents , if in Chevy Chase ( the HIGH rent hood ) your just around the corner from us in Kensington MD , can we take you out for Breakfast or lunch while there. Also what bike size you need ? My wife rides a 50 cm Legend and Spectrum Bob has a 48 or 50 cm Vitus. Do you want to ride with us if its nice ????
Listen to keno for Doc advice if he says the guy is good take that to the bank, his wife is proof positive.

[Don]

2 cents: take Smiley up on his offer to ride with him and his friends. My wife and I were treated like royalty on December 21st when Smiley and his loyal followers took us on a 25 mile ride. It was one of the highlights of our trip to Merryland!

[Bruce K]

my2;

One of the guys in the group I ride with is I believe an ortho. He has been treating several of the riders in the group including the guy who was hit by the van out in MN. Terry is now almost back up to his pre-crash average and riding 2-3 hours at a time outdoors on weekends.

Ira's office is in the Beverly, Manchester, Gloucester, Rockport area.

Let me know if you are interested and I'll get his number and address for you.

BK

[JStonebarger]

Right here in Boston I would recommend Dr. Paul Weitzel at New England Medical Center. (Sure, I'm biased--I work for Dr. Weitzel as an ortho. technician.) Also, I mentioned your question to him and he said he could also recommend folks in Portland, ME, or in Exeter, NH, depending on your location.

Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions...

John

[davids]

I've got nothing to add in tems of ortho recs, but -

I'm amazed at the number of Bostonians hanging out here! Why do you think that is?

[Bruce K]

'cuz we can.?

But seriously, it would be very cool to get a huge fleet of Serottas out at one or more agreed upon rides this year.

There are certainly LOTS of bike clubs in the Boston area (quit drooling BBD) with lots of events and lots of riders.

Larry D and I are going to try and organize something around the Essex County Heritage Ride in the spring. Nice evnt with 3 different route choices, good cue sheets and road markings, and decent support.

Keep in touch,

BK

[davids]

That could be fun, Bruce.

I live right in the city, and am oriented towards the south - My daughter attends school in Milton, so I've got a lot of friends there, including my riding buddies.

But I'm always interested in expanding my cycling horizons, especially if it means I get to drive across the Zakim!

[Climb01742]

let's definitely try to organize a serotta wheel person's ride this spring.

ok, who's gonna ride outside this weekend? i'll do it one day, maybe sunday when it's supposed to "soar" up near 20. i ran this morning, -2 in concord, with what they said was a windchill of -10 to -20. it sucked. but the bike comes out this weekend. who else?

[Bruce K]

Not me.

My local group is having an indoor 2 hour trainer ride in one guy's garage.

Anything much below freezing and I'm off the road.

BK

[my2cents]

I will follow-up on each of your contacts / references / ideas. I'll keep you posted of what transpires.

interestingly and thankfully, riding does not generally result in discomfort -- the pain comes when weight-bearing or putting my arm across my body or when trying to throw, etc. falling asleep on the bum side for more than a few minutes at a time and i wake up nearly crying!

again, much thanks for you posts.

--
regarding the other discussion in this thread, my group ride (the saturday morning ride from the Cycle Loft in Burlington -- out thru lexington, concord, bedford, etc.) generally has 6-10 regulars (out of say 20-30 regulars) riding serottas.

[Climb01742]

bruce,
i'm not sure which is worse: outside below freezing or two hours on a trainer!
climb.

[davids]

I'm hoping to be on my mt. bike Sunday morning, wearing every piece of winter gear I own, my face smeared with some kind of salve against the cold.

But I don't know. I've had no problems at all when the temps in the teens. I fear that this is totally different - my back porch thermometer read "-0.4" when I left for work this morning.

Anyone have experience or advice for this kind of cold?

[Bruce K]

Climb;

With this group 2 hours on the trainers will be quite the experience (if I make it). It looks loke there will 5 or 6 guys on rollers or wind/mag/fluid trainers on various types of bikes. Heated garage with fans for those who overheat, liquid refreshment of the sports variety, and either music, DVDs, or training videos to keep us entertained.

david;

My advice - stay inside, it ain't worth it. Tomoorow is supposed to be a record low for Boston. Besides you don't want to miss the Patriots-Titans game while you're lying in a warm bathtub trying to get your fingers, toes, and other extremities to return to their normal color.

BK