In June 2023, life took an unexpected turn for Jerry Zenter. After falling off a ladder, Jerry broke his foot and dislocated his ankle. A few days after the accident, Jerry had surgery on his foot and was told by his surgeon that he would be able to walk without his boot starting in September.
“The morning I started doing short walks using a cane, it was very painful. Just as painful as before they operated on me.” Jerry said.
After enduring weeks of discomfort, Jerry had x-rays taken.
“He had noticed that my ankle was still dislocated and some of the bones didn’t fuse together. He suggested fusion, putting a rod up my heel to fuse all the bones together. He also noticed some dead bone and was going to leave it in” Jerry said. “I wasn’t satisfied with his answer. At that time, I didn’t know who to call or where to go.”
Feeling lost and uncertain, he sought a second opinion and was referred to Dr. Jason DeVries.
A Transformative Experience
A few weeks later, after deciding not to continue going to the previous surgeon, James went to Orthopedics and Sports Medicine BayCare Clinic - Manitowoc and met with Dr. DeVries.
“Dr. DeVries pointed out that my ankle was still dislocated. The previous doctor used five screws and one of the screws was not securing anything.” Jerry recalled. “Dr. DeVries wanted to have a first surgery to check if there was any infection in my foot, to take out the screws that weren’t doing anything and to also go in there to clean up the bone fragments.”
After the initial surgery to clean everything up from the previous surgeon Jerry had a second surgery with Dr. DeVries to fix his dislocated ankle and broken foot. He noticed a huge difference in care and professionalism with the staff that took care of him compared to the previous hospital.
“The care, professionalism, the cleanliness was just awesome.” Jerry recalled.
Jerry’s recovery process included therapy every two weeks, complemented by at-home exercises, which later transitioned to sessions every four weeks.
“Every step of the way, Dr. DeVries sat down and explained in layman’s terms what he was going to do, what he did, and what was going to happen moving forward.” Jerry said.
Taking Steps Forward
It’s been nine months since the surgery and Jerry is in a much better place than he was one year ago. He is excited to get even better so he can go back to doing things that he used to do, which includes doing things with his grandson.
“I am now just starting to walk without a cane for short distance and was told that I should be starting to walk even better in December.” Jerry said. “I can’t say enough good things about Dr. DeVries. He met my expectations and then some. It was a mess that he had to take over and was able to fix me so that I could start walking again.”