Success Stories

Dr. Berkowitz

William Peterson had been experiencing back pain for four or 5 years on and off, but it was never really bad enough to see anyone. Then, one day, he was out doing heavy yard work, moved a certain way, and his leg fell asleep and never woke up again.

When he went to see Dr. Berkowitz, he learned he had injured his L4 and L5 vertebrae. While he waited for his insurance to pay for an MRI, William says Dr. Berkowitz offered interim treatment options.

William says, “He gave me different options and was very clear about each option would entail. He wasn’t afraid to change course when we had new information and he knew what tests were necessary and which ones were not based o...

Lisa Miloshoff first heard of Dr. Dan Zanotti eleven years ago when he did an emergency surgery on her sister’s ankle. As the pain in Lisa’s left shoulder became unbearable, she didn’t think twice about who to call.

Until recently, the only treatment for a torn rotator cuff was a full shoulder replacement. However, there is an emerging novel treatment called arthroscopic superior capsule reconstruction that uses a graft, or patch, to repair severe tears. Dr. Zanotti reassured Lisa, “You are a perfect candidate for this, because your tear is so big.”

“When Dr. Zanotti got in there, he saw so many tears,” she says. “He said my rotator cuff was lik...

Brenda James and her husband came to Center for Orthopedics and Dr. Dan Zanotti for many years while they lived in Avon. When they moved to Berlin Heights, however, they had no intention of switching orthopedic doctors.

Dr. Zanotti was surprised when Brenda told him she’d moved and was still making the drive for appointments. Brenda says, “I told him, ‘I’d drive over an hour to come see you because I know you’ll do right.’”

The most recent thing Dr. Zanotti has done right for Brenda is a knee replacement on her right knee, which she’d been struggling with for about a year.

She had already had a torn meniscus repaired in that knee and was trying no...

Linda Zochowski fell on an icy sidewalk and landed square on her knees. Although she had surgery afterwards for a damaged meniscus, walking was never quite the same. She missed pain free activities like bowling, bike riding and walking the dog.

So, she scheduled her first visit with Dr. Robert Zanotti and was impressed, especially by Dr. Zanotti’s no-pressure attitude about surgery.

“He explained all my options and never pushed me to choose surgery, even though I think we both knew that would be best. He also took the time to have a separate appointment to talk with my husband about surgery and recovery so he could be prepared.”

While Dr. Zanotti’s openness was remarkab...

Darlene Gargalianos was having a relaxing time in Jamaica until she slipped on the pool deck and broke her wrist. She had never broken a bone before, but even so, she felt like the emergency room at the Montego Bay hospital in Jamaica might not done everything quite right.

So, she called CFO and went to see Dr. Scott Ciaccia and sure enough, it wasn’t set right and was going to heal crooked in the cast. Darlene saw the doctor on Monday and had wrist surgery on Wednesday... complete with pins and a plate to fix the error.

Darlene was worried about the plate and how it would affect range of motion and pain.

“Six weeks after surgery, I didn’t even know I’d had it done. If ...

Michelle Kaiser, who has been seeing Dr. Zanotti for six years for her bad knees, was frustrated getting approval for her orthovisc injections.

"Dr. Zanotti’s Clinical Assistant, Val, jumped in and helped advocate and navigate the process with me. She called me at every step and followed through with everything. And, ever since that time, she has continued to do that and so I always know what’s going on. She does it for my medications and everything else that my family and I need done.”

Patients with chronic conditions get to know doctors and their treatment centers very well. They also often face unique challenges in navigating a sometimes complicated healthcare system full...

Angela Simone had the vacation of a lifetime in Italy -- she walked cobblestone streets, climbed the stairs to gorgeous churches and wandered in sprawling piazzas. Then she came home to growing knee pain. After a week of it getting worse instead of better, Angela knew she needed to schedule an appointment... with someone.

However, she also knew it would take awhile to get an appointment with her family doctor and then he’d make a referral to a specialist, which she knew would take even more time. The issue was that the pain was bad enough that she didn’t want to wait that long, but it wasn’t really bad enough for a trip to the ER. She considered her local urgent care, but f...

Linda Erlenbach first learned about the Center For Orthopedics after her mother fell, broke her hip and needed emergency surgery. Dr. Robert Berkowitz had been the doctor on call. She and her mother had a great experience during that trying time, so, when Linda’s hip bursitis got too painful for cortisone shots to work, she called up CFO and was referred to Dr. Robert Zanotti.

Dr. Zanotti did an Xray and continued non surgical treatments, but when Linda rescheduled an appointment earlier than her usual follow up, due to a drastic increase in pain, he ordered an MRI. The MRI showed that Linda was suffering from Avascular Necrosis of the Hip, which is a known complication in patients w...

When Peg Libecap’s knee started to interfere with walking, she looked for a doctor with a good reputation and found Robert Zanotti, MD at the UH Center for Orthopedics. After seeing him for a while, and being content with cortisone shots, Peg’s left knee got so bad it essentially collapsed. It became very difficult to even administer a shot. That’s when she and Dr. Zanotti decided it was time for the total knee replacement.

Peg says, “Getting this done with CFO was a seamless process. Dr. Zanotti sent me to a seminar to learn all about the procedure and I understood what would happen before and after.”

But it wasn’t just a thorough preparation that impressed...

Reverse Total Shoulder Replacement Relieves Pain, Restores Function

Robert Knight, 78, a retired air traffic controller from Elyria, Ohio, fell off a ladder and severely tore the rotator cuff in his left shoulder. As it turned out he severely damaged his tendon and his traditional rotator cuff repair did not restore function. He was in constant pain and had no movement in his upper arm.

“To put my left hand on the table, I had to lift it up with my other hand,” Robert recalls. “I thought I was going to have to live the rest of my life with my shoulder the way it was. Then a friend of mine saw an article about Dr. Robert Zanotti at center for Orthopedics performing reverse to...