So the last few years, I've been dealing with debilitating foot pain, and it's
been getting progressively worse. And it's been hard to think slowly getting,
gotten out of almost all physical activity, and it got to where I couldn't
stand it any longer. My name is Katherine Gaffney, and I got relief from my chronic
foot pain at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital I've always been
very athletic. I've always swam, cycled. I did a half
Ironman. But both feet over the years have cost me a lot of problems. I guess
being very athletic and also all the impact aerobics from the 1980s of
probably didn't help. And both big toes, the cartilage had deteriorated from, I
guess, being active, arthritis. So 15 years ago, my left foot, I had a metal implant
put in and that did work for a very long period of time. And about six years ago,
on the right foot, I had that big toe fused and metal implants almost always
fail over time. The metal wears on the bone and so it was quite painful towards
the end.
So then, I was referred to Dr. Cooper at MedStar Georgetown, and he told me about
this Cartiva. In the past, we used metal implants which had variable outcomes. A
more natural approach is to use a synthetic cartilage called Cartiva
which has a lot of the characteristics of natural cartilage and is made of
a viscoelastic material. It was amazing, nice and soft. It really did look like a
gummy bear cause he calls it a gummy, and he told me he could correct both feet,
one at a time. But I was so excited about this new procedure and Dr. Cooper
because very few are trained in it and he is.
He told me, 'We'll start with the left and take your metal insert out, insert the
gummy bear, switching one out for the other.' And I had an amazing healing
process with it.
With my right foot with the fusion, he suggested breaking the fusion, taking out
all the metal in the foot, and recreating the joint and putting in Cartiva. So
it's interesting for five years, I couldn't bend my right toe or move my
foot properly, and now, I can. I'm very grateful. It's great to be walking again,
and I haven't been able to walk barefoot for years, not even in the house. And now,
when I go to the beach, I can walk on the beach. I take five mile walks on the
sand. It feels wonderful. I'm back to cycling. I'm swimming, and now I can wear
normal shoes again. That's a big deal. And I could only wear flats for the longest
time. Now, I can wear heels and look normal, feel like everything isn't just
from the comfortable shoe store. And I encourage anybody. if you have pain. don't
just live with it. Go to Dr. Cooper. See what he could do for you because I've
got my life back, and it's wonderful.
you