“If the rest of the medical community would get their surgery techniques and recovery right – like Dr. Crovetti has – this would be a better world.”
Those were the first words to come from Tim Madigan when he was asked to share more about his medical journey, which was finally resolved after he met with Dr. Michael Crovetti of Crovetti Ortho. Within 6 months of his first consultation, Dr. Crovetti performed one hip replacement and two knee replacement surgeries for him. And now Tim’s doing something he never thought was possible: The things he loves – pain-free.
Tim Madigan is a nice, regular, hard-working guy. “But after 38 years of hard work, it just wore my knee out,” he says. “I’ve spent many years seeing one doctor after another, following their recommendations for pain injections and other treatments that would help for a week or so, but the pain always returned. The last doctor I was with before Dr. Crovetti told me that I was too young to consider joint replacement. So I was pretty much just told to deal with it as best I could for another 20 years or so.”
The pain Tim experienced affected more than his knee, though. On his feet all day as an inspector with Nevada Energy, over time his condition gradually worsened. “I’ve always lived in Pahrump, and at the end of the day I’d be stiff-legged and hurting. By the time I made that 90-minute drive, everything pretty much seized up and after I’d finally get home, just getting out of the car was tough.
The pain levels increased slowly until one day while watching her husband, his wife said “that I was suffering like a 92-year old man. After that, sometimes I would walk past a store window or a large mirror and glance at myself – and I didn’t even recognize the slow, shuffling gait that had become my ‘normal’ walk without even realizing it.”
But fortunately for Tim Madigan, not all doctors think alike. After Tim spoke with a co-worker who had recently had a very successful joint replacement surgery with Dr. Crovetti, he thought it just might be time for a new medical opinion.
Tim laughs as he recalls his first meeting at Crovetti’s office: “I came in, Dr. Crovetti looked at me, and said “How in the hell are you even walking?” After subsequent tests confirmed the doctor’s suspicions about the level of damage to his knee and hips, it was clear that the best and only lasting solution was to have them replaced.
When Tim explained what his previous doctor had said about waiting for that surgery, he was met with what he believes was a pretty wise (and logical) response from Dr. Crovetti: “You are in the prime of your life, and this is the time to do this. Why put it off?” As Crovetti explained it, even if he did outlive the surgery’s results and it did need to be done again later, what is the point of missing out on these years to enjoy his life, his retirement, and do all the things he want to do?
Why indeed.
As Tim and his wife sat together with Dr. Crovetti prior to the surgery to discuss the procedures and his recovery plan, at one point the doctor looked at Kathy and asked her thoughts on the whole process that lie ahead. Her reply: “He should have done it years ago.” Tim recalls that day with humor as both Kathy and Dr. Crovetti “gave it to me with both barrels for awhile about why I hadn’t done exactly that.”
When it came time for the first surgery at Dr. Crovetti’s surgical suites shortly afterward, Tim shared his thoughts about the experience in his typical straightforward language: “It was like going on vacation there.” (How often does one hear that about a medical procedure?) Every single person who was involved in the process – from Dr. Crovetti to his entire staff – was fantastic.
“Jamie, she’s just a sweetheart,” Tim explains. “She is there and on top of everything, ready to answer any questions, address any problems. And the nursing staff at the recovery suites, every single one of them – both day and night shifts – were people who took extraordinarily good care of all 6 of us patients in the suites. Like I said, if the medical community would follow Dr. Crovetti’s lead – we would all be in excellent hands.”
Tim should know – since he went through the process three times – once in June, again in July, and finally in December. “Two hips and one knee replacement – and I still managed to get my ‘frequent flyer’ miles with Dr. Crovetti in only 6 months,” he quips.
Tim Madigan is one of the first of Dr. Crovetti’s patients to share his “I Can Again” story, and he was honored to be asked. “Within two months after my third surgery, I was feeling back to normal and started making plans for my future. We listed our house for sale – that sold in 22 hours. So we began packing for our move to Oklahoma; changes at work put me back on a line crew for a time; and in fact, my last day was July 31 and my retirement is finally here. But the last 3-1/2 months was kind of like living in a blender,” he remarks.
However, when Dr. Crovetti called, even with all the craziness going on, Tim was compelled to participate. “I’m 100% sold on Dr. Crovetti. He’s changed my life and given it back to me, pain-free. I want people to know that the right help is there if they need it – you just need to know where to look. In my eyes, he’s a miracle worker.”