YOUR HEALTH CAN’T WAIT, NEITHER SHOULD YOU.
Mrs. Pamela Swanson shares her story about how Dr. Santiago and the Lowcountry Orthopaedics team acted fast on behalf of her family when others could not.
Mrs. Swanson, a long-standing patient of Lowcountry Orthopaedics, arrived for her post-hand surgery check-up with Dr. Santiago. During her appointment, Ms. Swanson lamented that her husband was at home in excruciating back pain, likely due to issues related to his prostate cancer. Despite his pain scale reaching a 10, Mr. Swanson was unable to get a timely appointment with his current provider at another medical office. He was expected to wait in his debilitating condition for weeks. Ms. Swanson recalls Dr. Santiago’s response, “Dr. Santiago immediately said ‘No, nobody has to suffer like that.’ After taking my stitches out, he spoke with the women at the front and said, ‘I want you to get him seen today.” He was given an appointment an hour later.
Mr. and Mrs. Swanson arrived at the hospital to a personal greeting from Dr. Santiago. “Dr. Santiago showed up at Trident Hospital from seeing patients at his Lowcountry Orthopaedics Summerville office to check to make sure that everything was okay and we were in good hands,” Mrs. Swanson recalled. Mr. Swanson’s MRI scheduled within 24 hours did reveal that Mr. Swanson’s prostate cancer had unfortunately metastasized to his spine. Lowcountry Orthopaedics spine specialist, Dr. Battista quickly got on the phone with the urologist to facilitate Mr. Swanson’s radiation.
“This all happened so quickly because of Dr. Santiago because he cared about somebody being in pain. It was just excellent, it was just beyond excellent.”
Looking back on this incident Mrs. Swanson states, “I’m totally grateful for all of the immediate action, for not putting something off for weeks. It wasn’t even a Lowcountry Orthopedics problem or specialty, yet they stepped up. I’m hoping that by getting it early that the radiation took care of the tumor and the chemo cuts down on the cells in the blood.”
When asked about Dr. Santiago, she said, “I think he is absolutely wonderful, he’s very efficient, he’s very quick, he listens and I think he cares. Where a lot of doctors really don’t seem like they do, I think he really cares about what’s going on. I would recommend him to anybody.”
The Lowcountry Orthopaedics’ mission is to care for the whole patient and navigate all aspects of care in a timely manner. Same-day appointments are available, five convenient locations are open to provide quality access to orthopedic care, and an After-Hours clinic provides evening and weekend express orthopedic care needs. To schedule, please call 843-797-5050 or request an appointment online.