Patient Testimonials
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Gildas Testimonial
Gilda: Hi my name is Gilda, I’m 72 years old and I had my right hip replaced. I was having problems for over a year and kept procrastinating thinking it would go away and it was just progressively getting worse. Dr. Karkare: Before recommending joint replacement surgery, I follow the 3 strike rule. The first strike and the most important strike is the patient telling me that the pain interferes with what they do on a daily basis. It interferes with the activities of daily living. Gilda: I couldn’t bend, I couldn’t walk without pain. I was in total agony, absolute total agony. I found Dr. Karkare and decided to call him, make an appointment and see if something could be done and he told me absolutely he could take my right hip out and put a new one in and it would work like a miracle. He was absolutely right. Dr. Karkare: The second strike is that on examination I find that the pain is coming from that joint. The third strike is that the x-ray shows arthritis and only if these 3 strikes come together do I recommenced joint replacement surgery in a patient. Gilda: I was not afraid of the surgery only because when I met Dr. Karkare, I like him and I trusted him right away. I knew I was in good hands. The way he does it is the best way to do it because he does anterium surgery which is done in the front of the thigh, rather than the posterium surgery which is done on the side of the thigh. It’s less invasive that way and faster recovery. Dr. Karkare: It’s a muscle spanning approach to the hip joint in which absolutely no muscles are cut at all. You go between the muscles and do the hip replacement. The advantage of that is that the risk of dislocation after the hip replacement is very minimal. The rehabilitation is very, very fast. After a hip replacement I make my patients stand up and walk the same day of surgery if they’re able to do that. Next day they’re definitely walking with a walker and then they progress to walking with a cane to no support at all. Gilda: When I was in rehab after surgery, there were other people there who had hip surgery also and they had the posterium and they’re rehab went slower than mine. I was running circles around them even though some of them were younger than me. I was definitely more advanced. Dr. Karkare: Hip replacement surgery is one of the most satisfying surgeries in orthopedics. What we do is replace the ball and socket type of joint. As you can see here on the cup side we replace it with metal and plastic and on the thigh bone side we place a stem inside. There is a head that goes on top of the stem and then we put that together in the surgery. How are you doing? Gilda: Good, fantastic. Getting ready to go back to work tomorrow. You did a great job. Dr. Karkare: Thank you. Gilda: Now you’ve got to fix my knee. Dr. Karkare: How does the hip feel? Gilda: Fantastic, no problems whatsoever. Dr. Karkare: Excellent. Any pain in the hip at all? Gilda: None whatsoever. Dr. Karkare: Excellent, all right you can bend it all the way. Gilda: Now I feel great. Ready to get back to normal, going back to work. Happy, no problem either. That’s fantastic, I’m normal. Dr. Karkare: I get my patients up and moving very, very quickly after the joint replacement surgery. I therefore do not need to use what is call as potent anticoagulant drugs like Lovenox or Coumadin. What I use is Aspirin. Aspirin has a huge advantage. It provides excellent pain relief. It does not need any needle sticks for checking things like INR which is needed after using using potent anticoagulant drugs. The risk of bone formation in the joint is very less. What does results is an excellent range of motion after the new joint replacement surgery. The arthritis is gone, that’s history and you can see that. Gilda: That’s amazing. Dr. Karkare: You can see that the stem is also very nicely fixed. This x-ray looks great, so does this x-ray. X-rays look fantastic. You’re doing very, very well. Gilda: I have to tell you one thing about him. He’s fantastic. His bedside manner is out of this world. I can’t ask for anything better. I’ve had other surgeries and this is the first time I’ve had a doctor check up on me at home and in recovery where, for days after the surgery. Dr. Karkare: I treat my patients like family. I provide individualized care to each patient. When a patient is having a hip replacement surgery, knee replacement surgery or I’m fixing a fracture I tailor the patients needs to the equipment that I use. I try to make sure that the patient is up and moving as soon as possible. Gilda: Now I can bend. I can put my own shoes and socks on. I can get dressed with no pain. I can take a shower without having to be afraid of falling in my bathtub. Everything moves, everything works. I’m very, very happy with the surgery. I’m very happy with him, 1000% all the way around.
Shannons Testimonial
Dr. Karkare: Shannon came to me from Massachusetts. She had a bad ankle fracture, there were many pieces in her ankle. She had a huge swelling of the ankle and she could not be operated the day I saw her. She had any pieces in her ankle and it was a jigsaw to put it together. Some pieces were very, very small. As a matter of fact, to put the pieces together we had to use screws with a washer to buttress the bone pieces together and attach it to her ankle.
Shannon: I was very confident in him. He was compassionate to my situation and informed me calmly and politely and respectfully that I needed surgery. He proceeded to tell me what would happen with the surgery and how the procedure would go. He was very confident and reassuring. Dr. Karkare is an excellent listener, he answered every single one of the questions that I had in full detail and he took all of my concerns and washed them away. He made me feel very comfortable and respected. I haven’t had that with another surgeon or doctor before.
He made me comfortable speaking and expressing my fears and reassuring me every step of the way. Now, 9 months later, I’m back to playing the sport that I love. I’m captain of my women’s rugby team and have played, so far, in 4 games. I see no problem playing the remainder of the season and will hopefully take the team back to the team back to championship game where we will win this year. I couldn’t be any happier or pleased with the outcome of the surgery.
Dr. Karkare: Good luck to you, let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.
Shannon: Thank you so much.
Dr. Karkare: Anytime.
Shannon: Dr. Karkare, I sincerely thank you and I could never express my appreciation for everything that you’ve done for me in enough works. I couldn’t ask for a better outcome. I never expected to be able to play for my senior year. I was hoping and praying and you were always there to reassure me that I could do it if I rehab properly. I couldn’t have asked for a better surgeon. Thank you so much.
Connies Testimonial
| Connie: | A year ago, I was out skydiving on a very windy day any my canopy collapsed and I fell 12 feet. I was rushed to the emergency room with an extremely bad fracture-compound fracture-of my leg and my ankle. The first thing that came to my mind was, “I’m getting married in three months, what am I going to do? Will I ever be able to walk down the aisle with my husband? Will I ever be able to run again?” Which was my second passion. And of course, “Will I ever be able to skydive?” |
| When I got to the hospital, they took one look at my leg, they brought me in for X Rays, and the doctor on call had said, “It’s very bad.” They were bringing in their orthopedic specialist to have a look at my leg. When he arrived, he took one look at the X Ray, he smiled and he said, “You did a pretty good job.” | |
| Dr. Karkare: | She had numerous fractures of her ankle and foot. The fractures went inside the ankle joint and she had to undergo surgery immediately to get the bones fixed. |
| Connie: | I was very confident with Dr. Karkare. I knew from the way he explained the surgery that everything would be okay and I would be able to run and live my life again. |
| Dr. Karkare: | We used two screws on the inside of the ankle joint, a plate on the outside of her ankle. She had actually split the two bones in her ankle, so we used an additional screw to hold the two bones together. She also had fractures in her foot, which did not need surgical fixation. |
| Connie: | We went in for surgery, and about three hours later, we came out. The assistant in the surgery came over to me after the doctor left and said, “He did an amazing job on your leg. He put you back together exactly as you came in.” |
| Dr. Karkare: | This is an example of a plate that we used in Connie. This is a plate. This is the bone, and we placed the plate on the bone using screws. |
| Connie: | The one thing that sets Dr. Karkare apart from all the other doctors that I’ve met is his knowledge, his calmness, and the ability to listen to what my needs are and to work with me as a patient, not so much as a doctor, but as a coach, which I’m used to as a runner. As a team, my healing, my process, everything has been fantastic. |
| Dr. Karkare: | That doesn’t hurt at all, right? |
| Connie: | No. |
| Dr. Karkare: | There’s no clicking, no locking? |
| Connie: | No. |
| Dr. Karkare: | No pain at all when I do that? |
| Connie: | No. |
| Dr. Karkare: | Excellent. |
| Connie: | Dr. Karkare is a great listener. He was very proactive in helping me with my rehab and he understood that as an active person, I wanted to be able to be active during my rehab. He was very supportive during the whole process. |
| Dr. Karkare: | You’re back to skydiving. |
| Connie: | Yes. |
| Dr. Karkare: | Excellent. |
| Connie: | I’m running, I’m skydiving, and doing everything that I was doing before. |
| As an athlete, I’m big into nutrition. We had developed a program together that would help my healing. With the better nutrition and some rehabilitation, he had been instrumental in helping me speed up my recovery. I’m extremely happy with the surgery. I’m amazed by the surgery. My leg feels perfect. I had no pain through the whole process. | |
| I would recommend Dr. Karkare to my friends, my family, and especially my skydiving friends. From listening to other people’s experiences with a similar injury, I think I was extremely lucky to find Dr. Karkare. | |
| Now I’m skydiving again, I’m running, I’m back to doing everything that I love. I was able to walk down the aisle with my husband. I can’t thank Dr. Karkare enough for giving me back my life. I feel great. |
Miriams Testimonial
Miriam: I’m Miriam. I had arthritis in both my knees. I was having difficulty walking on and doing stairs especially.
Dr. Karkare: Miriam had bad arthritis of her right knee joint. What we do is we plan the surgery and make customized knee replacement jigs, which help do the knee replacement surgery in a very minimally invasive manner. There is less drilling into the bone, less muscles are cut during the surgery, and as a result of that the rehabilitation is better. The need for pain medication after the surgery is less. Patients are able to get back to what they do or they like to do very, very quickly.
Miriam: Everybody’s surprised at how quickly I have recovered and that I can do almost everything that I’ve done before the arthritis.
Dr. Karkare: This is a example of a customized jig made from the patient’s MRI. As you can see, it sits very well on the patient’s anatomy. This is the thigh bone of the patient. We have a similarly made jig for the other side of the bone, which also sits very beautifully on the bone. What this allows us to do is perform the knee replacement surgery in a less invasive manner. This is impressive range of motion.
Miriam: Dr. Karkare has got the best personality going. He’s very caring and he would call on a regular basis to see how I was doing. I think he’s great. First day of surgery they had me standing. The next day I was walking down the hall and I’ve been walking every since.
Manny's Testimonial
My name’s Manny and I’m from Canada. I’m here in the United States to have minimally invasive hip replacement surgery with Dr. Karkare. After looking at a number of different surgeons, Dr. Karkare was short listed, and I have the opportunity to send him an e-mail.
Within 45 minutes of sending that e-mail, he had called me and asked me what my symptoms were and indicated exactly what I would have to send him so that he could make a long-distance prognosis. Then he would let me know if he would be willing to take me on as a patient.
My quality of life was reduced to almost nothing. I couldn’t perform any of the daily functions that a normal person could possibly do, and everything was very restrictive.
The reason I came to the United States to get the surgery done in the first place was because of the wait time in Canada it would be a year and a half. Where here, it took less than a month and the surgery was completed.
On the day of the surgery, I was still in the hospital and I was walking with a walker. The day after, I was walking with a little bit of assistance from a cane.
One week after surgery, I’m walking pain free. I no longer have the limp, and the pain is completely gone. Other than what I was given in the hospital, I have not taken any pain medication since I’ve left the hospital.
Dr. Karkare is a … he’s a very, very kind, gentle man, but he expects that this is going to be a partnership between him the surgeon and me the patient.
What he expects is that he will do his part picking the best materials and using the best procedure for me specifically, but after that I’m expected to do what he lists are the items that need to be done, the protocols, things to avoid, eating well, drinking lots of liquids, doing the exercises, walking.
This is, like I say, it’s a partnership and he does expect you to be plugged in 100%. The care was very affordable, and every step of the way was laid out so I knew exactly what everything was going go cost all the way until the very end.
I would recommend Dr. Karkare for any orthopedic surgery because of his bedside manner and because of his positive thinking and his willingness to put in the effort to make you a better person and be cured of whatever it is you have. I would definitely recommend him.
Because of the way Dr. Karkare does his surgery and interacts with patients, there are no surprises. You’re told upfront exactly what to expect, exactly how long things are going to take, so you are not surprised at any point.
I’m extremely happy and pleased that I was able to connect with Dr. Karkare. He met all my expectations, and he has given me my life back.
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