Post-operative patient testimonials: Results speak for themselves.
Dr. Rodriguez believes that the best thank-you he can receive is a positive response from his patients. Enclosed are patient testimonials. In their own words, Dr. Rodriguez' patients tell their own stories.
Elizabeth A.
Hi Dr. Rodriguez.
You are so right, one never knows what the outcome of a complicated surgery will be and even the most expert and gifted doctors will have disappointments. We are indeed grateful for Elizabeth's outcome, that all things worked towards her good. It still seems like a miracle.
I am attaching two pictures of Elizabeth in Switzerland during her weeks of treking the Haute Route in late August, almost exactly a year from the operation to remove her pins. I am sure they will make you smile.
Kathryn A. (Elizabeth's sister)
Dr. Rodriguez,
I wanted to write to let you know how much I appreciated the Ask Your Surgeon Post-Operative pain relief marcaine drip you gave me after my recent ankle surgery. I was able to walk only hours after my surgery. I was also able to sleep soundly the first night after my surgery. I took only one other pain pill that first night and after that, I didn't need any additional pain relief.
I flew on an airplane the next day and had to walk relatively long distances on hard floors through the airport. I had no trouble walking. I was also able to pass through airport security without much hassle; all the TSA agents did was swab the device to check for any explosive residues and then they let me through.
None of my friends even noticed the pain pump in its discreet waist pouch. The pump made me able to continue my life as normal just days after the surgery.
When the marcaine drip was finally finished, I was able to remove the catheters without any difficulty.
Thank you for prescribing one of these pain management devices for me.
Elizabeth A.
Hello AAC E-News,
I know it is not uncommon for climbers and mountaineers to break bones in their feet and ankles. What I didnít realize until it happened to me is how debilitating some foot injuries can be. After much research I found a seldom-used medical technique that can make the difference between climbing again and being crippled for life. I want to share this option with other climbers.
In May when I was guiding in Utah I landed on a ledge from a height of only twelve feet. I shattered my right heel, driving it up into my ankle, and broke three metatarsals. The first Orthopedic Surgeon I saw, an expert in heel fractures, told me I would never again walk on un-even terrain. He said the bone fragments were so small that he could not confidently screw them back together. He suggested just putting a cast on it and letting it heal as best it could. This would leave me with a deformed foot and one leg a half-inch shorter than the other. I talked to a friend who suffered the same break in 2003 and just put it in a cast. Three surgeries later she is still not walking without a cane.
I decided to research my options. I spent days reading articles from medical journals. They all gave the same grim outlook: people with heels broken like mine are never again pain-free and very few can even return to work.
I called Malcolm Daly to get his perspective. He broke his talus, the bone just above the heel, in 1999 in a climbing accident in Alaska. After many surgeries he realized he was going to be permanently crippled, so he decided to amputate his leg below the knee. I am a twenty-eight-year-old professional guide and want to avoid this drastic option if I can find another way to recover my active lifestyle.
Finally I found a medical journal article that gave me hope. A few doctors in the United States are using External Fixators to treat complex foot and ankle breaks. The fixator has several carbon fiber rings that encircle the foot and ankle and hold tensioned wires in place that run through the foot and out to the other side. These wires hold the bone fragments in the correct position while they heal.
I was treated with an External Fixator by Dr. Edgardo Rodriguez at the Chicago Foot and Ankle Deformity Correction Center. He was able to completely restore the anatomy of my foot. When the fixator is removed, no hardware will remain in my foot. I am starting Physical Therapy to regain my range of motion. My doctor and I are confident that I will climb and guide again.
Other doctors in the United States who do this procedure include George Vito at the Foot and Leg Centers of Georgia, Dror Paley at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore and David Levine at the Hospital for Special Surgeries in New York.
I want to get the word out to the climbing community so that others who suffer complex foot and ankle breaks will know about the External Fixation option. If I hadnít found Dr. Rodriguez in Chicago, I may have opted for amputation.
Elizabeth Andre
Casie H.
Hi, my name is Cassie. I am 12 years old and live in Northwest Indiana. I was born with extremely flat feet. My feet, legs and hips hurt me everyday. I could not play any sports because my feet were so flat. I had a hard time in gym class. I couldn't run like the other kids. My feet would get sore and I would get horrible cramps in my legs and hips. My mom and dad took me to a lot of doctors where we live and they would tell me that would I grow out of it or give me excercises to do. Some doctors made me wear hard plastic orthotics that made my feet hurt even more.
My mom found Dr. Rodriguez and made me an appointment to see him and I am so glad that she did. Dr. Rodriguez said he could help me and that I didn't have to suffer anymore. Dr. Rodriguez was right, I do not suffer anymore. He did surgery on both my feet and I am 100% better. I can do anything I want now because of Dr. Rodriguez.
Charles B.
My name is Charles B. I am a pastor in Gary, Indiana, currently in training for my first Church assignment.
I thought this information to be important because all that follows is true to the best of my remembrance. I have suffered from a chronic diabetic ulcer on the bottom of my right foot for the better part of 4 years. After years of treatments and surgeries, I developed Charcot in the foot which resulted in the wound not only staying chronic, but also enlarging to its largest measurement of about 6-1/2cm by 8cm. The Charcot also brought about major foot deformity resembling a club foot.
In February of 2006, I had my latest major infection take place in my foot and again was placed on intravenous antibiotics, and had many of my doctors tell me I was looking at being a prime candidate for below the knee amputation as a solution to years of frustration.
Being a man of faith, I was not ready to accept amputation as my only option so my wife began to scour the Internet for information about Charcot foot treatments, and she found the talented but humble Doctor Edgardo Rodriguez.
After journeying to his office, he thoroughly explained my options--amputation or the application of an External Fixator that would give me my best chance of saving my foot. So after a lot of prayer and researching all we could about the Fixator my wife and I agreed we wanted to try this treatment plan.
Having, as I said, read a lot of information about Charcot as well as External Fixators, we were looking for someone who had a lot of experience applying these formidable contraptions.
I thank God He led my wife and I to Dr. Rodriguez. Dr. Rodriguez had the experience we were seeking, a very gentle but strong presence in his demeanor, and like myself he also is a man of faith.
So, on May 23, 2006, Dr. Rodriguez applied an external fixator to my foot and leg, and as he said I was taking light steps the very next day with the support of a walker.
When you become sick and tire of being sick and tired, any inconvenience, any discomfort is acceptable and tolerable for the hope of being restored to an acceptable level of a quality life.
I believe God gave me a great wife, a great physician (Dr. Rodriguez) and many prayers were said on my behalf.
This month October 2006, my foot is healed, my ulcer gone, my foot alignment near perfect, and my level of life improved 100%. There are small hurdles yet to overcome, but I would recommend Dr. Rodriguez to anyone who has come to a point where their foot has impaired or hindered their level of life to unacceptable standards.
Dr. Rodriguez is one of God's heroes who love to help those in need of his skills with both passion and compassion.
I love you "Doc"
Pastor Charles B.
Jolene G.
I came to visit Dr. Rodriguez in the mid year of 2003, to see if there was anything he could do with my left foot. I have flat feet and the past year I started having problems, pain in my legs if I walked or stood too long and my foot seemed to be falling in more. I had seen a doctor prior to Dr. Rodriguez and had two different surgeries.
The first was to reattach a tendon and remove a calcium deposit on the inside of my foot. After six weeks, my foot had fallen in even more. The second surgery involved reconstructing my foot and inserting a screw through the heel to keep the foot straight. After 12 weeks (6 weeks in a cast) this surgery was not a success either. Because my foot was not correct, I started having problems with my knee and back. I decided to see another doctor and he recommended Dr. Rodriguez, very highly I might add.
On my first visit with Dr. Rodriguez, he had explained that because of the two failed surgeries and the fact that I was having other problems, he was very concerned with my ankle. I was actually walking on the inside of my foot. There was no other option but to perform a Triple Arthodesis. He explained the procedure with the External Ring Fixator versus a cast. A cast would be non-weight bearing but with the fixator, I was able to apply weight after a short period of time. With this, the healing time is almost half the time vs. the cast. There would also be no screws, plates or anything like that in my foot and the full healing process is about a year and a half.
My decision was to have Dr. Rodriguez perform the Triple Arthodesis, which was done on October 17, 2003. The top ring was removed on December 2nd, and the last two rings were removed on December 19th. I continued with crutches and started with a walking boot and by New Year's Eve, I was walking with just the boot. With therapy and hard work, by June of 2005, I was doing the things I enjoyed doing. My foot is straight and I have had no problems with my knee or my back.
Dr. Rodriguez is definitely one of the finest doctors I have met and he is very dedicated to his work. I am so very grateful for everything he has done for me, my life would not have been the same if it weren't for Dr. Rodriguez.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Jolene G.
Joseph M.
For a number of years I have had pain and discomfort in my right ankle. I have had it scoped a couple of times and have had numerous injections of cortisone.  In the Spring of 2006 I finally realized that non of these procedures were improving the condition of the ankle, the pain was increasing, the ankle was swelling on a daily basis and I was having difficulty walking. Having recently moved from a town 40 miles away from my current residence, I decided to find a foot and ankle doctor and get his opinion on options to improve my ankle.
Upon the review of Dr. Wood, he said he only sees an ankle in such poor condition once a year. He felt it would probably need to fused but, since he has only done a few of these procedures, he reffered me to Dr. Rodriguez. Upon the review Dr. Rodriguez said that he would like to try a procedure that would repair the current condition of the ankle and allow movement of the ankle. Fusion would not have allowed this flexibility.  I must admit the procedure has been much more involved than I thought it would be, but the result has been wonderful.  After the procedure I was in the hospital for 23 hours of observation and went home with a newly constructed ankle and a mechanism from mid-calf to my ankle that included quite a few wires inserted into the bones of my leg and ankle. It was cumbersome for the six weeks I was required to wear this mechanism and could not put much weight on my foot so I required a walker, but I didn't not have much pain. At Six weeks the mechanism was removed and the ligaments in my ankle were repaired. I could then progress to a can and therapy. Although therapy could be painful at times, I could quickly see the improvement in flexibility in my ankle. Immediatly I noticed an improvement to the flexibility of my ankle pre-surgery, but now, after five weeks of therapy and walking on the ankle it has improved such that I have very little pain walking and the ankle is more flexible than it has been in ten years.
I am very thankful that this procedure was done instead of fusing the ankle because I still have flexibility, which I would not have had if the ankle had been fused.  As for Dr. Rodriguez and his Staff, they followed my progress closely and were always available to answer questions, to set up appointments and therapy at my convienience. Dr. Rodriguez is very competent in this procedure and you always leave appointments with him with confident feelings that you are improving and that you have received all the information that you need from Dr. Rodriguez to continue to improve. I would Recommend Dr. Rodriguez and this procedure to anyone who is thinking that fusion is their only option left to repair their ankle. They would find, as I have, how great it is to have the use if your ankle again.
Joseph M.
Yvonne M.
Dear Dr. Rodriguez,
During my early childhood, I remember growing tired during walks and resting on park benches. I was never especially athletic and remember having a particularly hard time in ballet class. At age 9, I had an accident for the ER requested foot x-rays. These images showed that nothing serious had happened, but allowed the physician to see a bone bridge in the calcareal and navicular portion of my foot. This would explain my unstable footing and frequently twisted ankles. Soon after, I had surgery on both feet, six months apart. I wore a cast for five to six weeks, then continued walking with crutches for a couple more weeks, and continued ankle rotations as part of my physical therapy. My right foot was more successful than the left, but I essentially forgot about this condition in the following years.
Taken by a sudden urge at age 25, I started jogging for an hour and a half and continued without a days rest for months. I associated pain with a weak condition and charged up and down hills and cobblestone streets until the pain was intolerable. It even bothered me while walking. I tried to go to the gym, but the step aerobics classes they offered provoked too much pain. I resigned to the weight room where I started a monotonous routine that consisted of a stationary bike, an upper arm "bike," and an rowing machine. I tried many times, but treadmills were impossible for me. This discomfort infringed on my work as a teacher and tour guide - standing and walking on irregular surfaces for hours at a time.
Two and a half years ago, I approached an orthopedic surgeon who advised me to delay surgery and work on my reflexibility with a wobble board. Furthermore, he prescribed a soft insert for my shoes. They did little to nothing. A year later, I turned to Dr. Rodriguez who suggested plastic inserts which offered more support. They did not, however, help me during long tours or in rainy weather - my feet grew tired and the arthritis flared up. Furthermore, I could increasingly feel the pressure on my hips and back.
Last June, Dr. Rodriguez chose to perform bilateral nerve sections and calcareal-navicular resections. I was in bed with a bandage and gradually grew comfortable on crutches and a walking boot. The first surgery was notable more draining with a slower recovery. I should mention, though, that two weeks after the surgury I was working long days at a large campus due to a short-term fellowship. The next surgery followed six weeks after first. I was relatively lighter, aided by closer care, my young daughter's presence and cheer, as well as acupuncture treatments. I believe all three elements contributed positively to my second recovery.
After three weeks, I was travelling again, for pleasure. Although tiring, I was visiting Manhattan museums and working around the rented apartment in the evenings. A full three months after I abandoned my crutches, my left foot is still stronger than my right foot. I still get worn down after 12-hour days or in the rain. On the other hand, I am walking intensely - essential for someone living in a historical center. I live in a tall tower which obliges me to climb many stairs daily. I can confidently go about my daily business and work. As a whole, I feel unbelievably better.
Clearly, THANK YOU!!!
A presto!
Yvonne M.
Judy S.
On May 15, 2004 I injured my right foot in a fall on the basement steps of my home. Our local DPM diagnosed it as an over extended foot and continued with standard treatment practices. Later, a rather large knot appeared on my foot. When I asked him what it was, he replied that he did not know. The foot was now starting to curve to the outside and was rolling inward. It was becoming painful to walk and more impossible to get into a shoe. By this time he was advocating possible reconstructive surgery.
We had a consultation with a orthopedic surgeon, in Peoria, Illinois who indicated that the condition was from a ruptured tendon and too much time had been lost to repair it. He did say that he could straighten the foot. However at this time I was in kidney failure due to unknown causes, the surgery was scheduled for May 14, 2005. The surgery was of the conventional practice of the installation of reinforcing plate and screws. The surgery had no effect on stopping the twisting of the foot, in fact by November of 2005 it was impossible to walk for more than a two hour period and I was in the widest men's shoes available, and it was becoming impossible to get into. Special soft orthotics were ordered to support and cushion my foot. I was told there were 128 bones in the foot and was being discouraged from attempting a second surgery. I was told that when it became impossible to wear a shoe, Hangers in Peoria would make a mold of my deformed foot and a special shoe would be made. I wondered at this point how long this could go on. At age 59, the future seemed bleak.
I decided to get a second opinion and check on my options. I consulted another physician in Hamilton, Illinois. I was told that if I continued walking on the foot that I would be in a wheel chair in 5 to 10 years and that if the bone I was walking on ulcerated, I would lose the foot. It became obvious to us at this time that conventional type surgery would probably be of little or no effect. He told us about Dr. Rodriguez in Chicago, Illinois and said that it was the only place he would recommend. After researching all available information online we asked him to make an appointment for an initial consultation to discuss our options and possible treatment. We met with Dr. Rodriguez on February 20, 2006. After discussing the surgery and healing options, surgery was scheduled for March 29, 2006. The surgery and recovery went as explained by Dr. Rodriguez. I wore an external fixator until May 22, 2006. The external fixator allowed me to bear weight on the foot and leg right out of surgery making it possible for me to walk and be mobile. With the conventional surgery I was off my foot for 14 weeks, what a difference that makes.
There were unforeseen complications. On a follow up office visit Dr. Rodriguez noticed the foot was starting to turn at a point past the foot fusion, due to a tendon pulling more on one side than the other. A second surgery was performed on July 17, 2006 to relocate the tendon. As of this date, November 6, 20006, it has remained straight, I have no pain, and I am now wearing a normal shoe. Thanks to Dr. Rodriguez I was able to dance with my son at his wedding reception in October. Without Dr. Rodriguez help I am sure this would not have happened.
Thank You Dr. Rodriguez for giving me back my quality of life, you are a true miracle worker. May God bless you to continue your work.
Judy S.