Conditions + Treatments
ACL Injury/Reconstruction
MCL Injury/Reconstruction
I grew up on a farm and have been working on it my whole life. We have cattle, chicken houses and row crop operations where we grow cotton and peanuts. From an early age, I enjoyed the work and knew I wanted to carry it over into my professional career. So, I studied to become a large animal veterinarian.
One day at work, I was evaluating a small calf when the mother cow became defensive and kicked me about halfway up my femur. I immediately fell to the ground and I knew something was wrong. However, I finished up treating the calf anyways and even took a few more calls before I went home.
After work, I called Andrews Sports Medicine and was able to make an appointment with Dr. Monte Ketchum at the Cullman clinic location for the very next day. I had heard great things about the practice so I felt confident in coming to them for my orthopaedic care.
At my initial visit, Dr. Ketchum told me he suspected an ACL tear and ordered an MRI to confirm his initial diagnosis. Dr. Ketchum answered every question I had about my injury with patience and clear details. He was right about my ACL being torn, so he referred me to Dr. Marcus Rothermich to have ACL surgery.
Dr. Rothermich performed my surgery at the Surgery Center of Cullman only a few days after my first appointment with Dr. Ketchum. As a Snead resident, Andrews’ services provided in Cullman saved me time and the hassle of driving through Birmingham traffic; it’s very convenient to have a location in North Alabama.
The surgery went well with no problems and the recovery process has been just as smooth. As a farmer and veternarian, I’m not used to sitting around doing nothing; but for the first couple of weeks I did exactly that in line with Dr. Rothermich’s clearly-explained recommendations for my healing.
I’m grateful to both Dr. Ketchum and Dr. Rothermich for their knowledgeable care and commitment to helping me heal well. Now almost three months later, I am back to normal, working full time and even exercising in my free time. I highly recommend Andrews Sports Medicine-Cullman to anyone in the Cullman and surrounding areas in need of orthopaedic care.
