The Road to Recovery – Michael’s Story

Michael S., 52, has always bal­anced his career as a com­put­er spe­cial­ist with fam­i­ly and adven­ture. As emp­ty nesters, he and his wife, Tina, enjoy trav­el­ing, stay­ing active and cheer­ing on their daugh­ter, a col­le­giate vol­ley­ball play­er. How­ev­er, Michael’s life took an unex­pect­ed turn dur­ing a vis­it with friends.

While out of town, Michael and his friends decid­ed to take ATVs out for a ride. Hav­ing expe­ri­ence dri­ving ATVs, Michael felt con­fi­dent in nav­i­gat­ing the trails. But when he approached a steep hill, the ATV lost con­trol and crashed, land­ing on his right leg. Michael was pinned under the vehi­cle, but some­how man­aged to push it off. His wife rushed him to a local hos­pi­tal, where an X‑ray con­firmed mul­ti­ple frac­tures in his tibia. 

Giv­en the sever­i­ty of his injury, Michael want­ed to see a spe­cial­ist he knew he could trust and quick­ly con­nect­ed with Dr. Salman Chau­dri, a Duly ortho­pe­dic physi­cian. Michael was admit­ted to La Grange Hos­pi­tal, where he then under­went surgery. 

Michael felt calm and com­fort­able with Dr. Chau­dri, say­ing, ​“I was relaxed about it because I knew I was get­ting the best care I could pos­si­bly get.” What expect­ed to take two hours end­ed up last­ing over four due to the com­plex­i­ty of his fractures. 

“I’m def­i­nite­ly hap­py I went to Dr. Chau­dri,” Michael said. ​“I knew I was in good hands.” 

After surgery, Michael relied on a walk­er, wheel­chair, and crutch­es for mobil­i­ty. Though he had to can­cel an upcom­ing knee replace­ment and a trip to New Zealand, Michael stayed pos­i­tive and focused on his recov­ery through phys­i­cal therapy. 

“I’m get­ting a lit­tle bet­ter every day,” Michael not­ed, thanks to Dr. Chau­dri and his care team. As his heal­ing pro­gress­es, Michael looks for­ward to get­ting back to his active lifestyle. 

“I appre­ci­ate their care and pro­fes­sion­al­ism,” he said about the Duly team. And if any of his friends were in need of orthopaedic care, he added, ​“I would def­i­nite­ly steer them to Duly.”