Andrea’s video testimonial after Morton’s Neuroma Cryosurgery treatment

Transcript:

Andrea: So, when I first got there I was a little cranky and anxious, but the staff was super nice and welcoming. Debbie had a cup of tea for me every time, and Dr. Pearl was very nice, helpful and supportive, and I think she had a good plan for me.

Yeah, I had one in each foot, and I had seen a podiatrist downtown and had a couple of injections which allowed me to at least walk somewhat comfortably for a few weeks, and then I had the same problem again. I eventually learned that injections can weaken your muscles and tissues, and I didn’t want that. I saw another … I also didn’t want to have injections indefinitely. I saw another podiatrist and they suggested an open procedure, which would have been a fairly big surgery. I think they were going to cut off the nerve and bury it in the bone. And I would have been off each of my feet for six weeks, if I remember right. Which sounded completely unacceptable.

So I looked around online a bit more and found some information about this option. I was excited because it seemed to have a much better rate of remission for pain, and no possibility of the stump neuromas which sounded like a dreadful possible complication, and also a common one from the surgical procedure.

Speaker 2: Can you tell me, what are the things that you can do now that you couldn’t do before? Or how bad were you before?

Andrea: Well, I was bad enough at one point that I was becoming that mother who won’t get up off the couch, who’s sitting there trying to think of ways to get the children to fetch things for me. It was painful to walk up the stairs barefoot. Yeah. I felt a little crippled thinking that if I had to, I maybe couldn’t walk across a store barefoot, or down a hallway. I put shoes on even to walk across the room, and of course I couldn’t wear any of my dress shoes anymore. Just clogs and tennis shoes. I went through a whole series of arch supports, and they were a little help but not enough, and the snapping feeling was really most unpleasant. Like an 8 out of 10 pain, just very quick, but totally unpredictable, and distressing when you think about every step.

The first thing I’d think about when I got up in the morning was that it’s going to hurt to put my feet on the floor.

Speaker 2: And how is it now? How’s your mobility and walking now?

Andrea: Yeah, my mobility’s great. I was almost free of the neuromas pain before this last procedure, but not entirely free, and I had had so much improvement with the first treatment that I thought, “Let’s go in and just finish the things off.” And you know, if they come back in a year or two, I’ll have another cryo.

Speaker 2: And how did you find the cryo? I mean, how was the procedure?

Andrea: Yeah, well, it’s kind of a long careful procedure. I think they do some ultrasound imaging to try to locate, and then there’s a big of anesthetic, and then there’s the insertion of the probe and the freezing, and you know, not worse than a shot at the dentist.

Speaker 2: What advice do you have for other folks who are suffering from Morton’s neuroma and they’re considering what they should do and what options they have and where they should go.

Andrea: Yeah, well they should come to Dr. Pearl and get a cryotherapy. I can’t imagine anybody getting injections indefinitely. I think it’s damaging to the tissues and it’s just a, frankly, a big nuisance. I certainly wouldn’t want anybody to have an open procedure without trying this first.

I think access is a bit difficult. I’m glad I live close and that you’re nearby.

Speaker 2: It’s convenient, definitely.

Andrea: Yeah. I think it’s not available in a lot of parts of the country.

Speaker 2: Unfortunately.

Andrea: I would have probably taken a trip to London to have it done, or Florida, if I’d needed to.

Speaker 2: Wow. It was that debilitating.

Andrea: Yeah.

Speaker 2: Horrible.

Andrea: Yeah, you don’t think about how much you need your feet.

Speaker 2: Is there any other thoughts that you would like to say to any folks thinking.

Andrea: Oh, yeah. So, I guess the other thing that I would just say, that the cryo wasn’t so difficult or so painful. I read online that it’s the treatment that doesn’t disturb the coating around the neuron, and I liked the idea. I’ve had warts frozen off before and this didn’t seem so much worse. So, as opposed to using this instead of the RFA, it looked to me like the outcomes might be a little bit better established for cryotherapy, and I liked the idea of not disturbing the perineurium, so I’d recommend it.

Speaker 2: We’re thrilled that you’re better. I mean, that’s what keeps us going.

Andrea: Yeah, I’m thrilled, too. Thanks a lot!

Speaker 2: Thanks a lot. Have a good evening!