Just eight weeks after Dr. Louis performed an anterior approach hip replacement surgery on Mary Ann Tomczak, 70, she was riding roller coasters and walking all over the Silver Dollar City amusement park in Branson, Missouri with her two young granddaughters.
“I thought about bringing a cane and renting a motorized wheelchair, but I really didn’t need them,” she explains. “They would have just been a nuisance as I got on and off the rides anyway.”
Mary Ann, a resident of Carillon Lakes in Crest Hill, Illinois, has no time for hip pain. She regularly dances, walks around the lake and does water aerobics with friends. She also keeps up with her grandchildren and drives to a family vacation home in Branson. Just this summer, she started a part-time job as a receptionist at a physician’s office in Crest Hill.
When her painful hip started in December of 2009, she took the recommendation of another resident of Carillon Lakes, and contacted Dr. Louis of Hinsdale Orthopaedics. She enjoyed his casual manner, sense of humor and felt comfortable asking him questions. Dr. Louis diagnosed “bone-on-bone” osteoarthritis and worked with Mary Ann on different therapies, including ibuprofen and physical therapy. When her pain persisted and sleep became difficult, they discussed the anterior approach hip replacement procedure that Mary Ann had also recently read about in the newspaper.
“Mary Ann was a perfect candidate for this new procedure because she was in good health and wanted to get back to her active lifestyle as quickly as possible,” Dr. Steven Louis explains. “This less-invasive approach is much easier on the patient because there is less tissue and muscle involved in the surgery.”
A model patient, according to Katey O’Connell, Dr. Louis’ physician assistant, Mary Ann exceeded all of her recovery goals. Leaving her six week visit, Mary Ann convinced daughter Kelly to let her drive, which she did successfully. She continues to feel great and enjoys the same, active lifestyle she enjoyed before her hip pain began.
For more information on Dr. Steven Louis or anterior approach hip replacement surgery, call Hinsdale Orthopaedics: 630-323-6116.
Free informational seminar:
Dr. Steven Louis of Hinsdale Orthopaedics is conducting a free, informational seminar on this technique. The seminar will be held at 7 p.m., Tuesday, January 25, in the Red and Black Oak Rooms at Good Samaritan Hospital, 3815 Highland Avenue in Downers Grove. To register, please call 1.800.323.8622 and use event code 4G78. This event is free and open to the public.
