The wrong surgery with the wrong doctor took Ellen Polack down a path of frustration and gave her no relief from the pain in her right hand.

Ellen has arthritis and for years her hands ached with every move. She couldn’t be as active as she once was. She had to give up her golf game, she could barely hold her husband’s hand because of the pain, and the lighthearted joke in her family was that she wasn’t allowed to carry anything in the kitchen because she would drop it.

Ellen Polack.

The failed surgery on her right hand five years ago left Ellen doubtful that the eventual surgery on her left hand would go any better. One thing she was sure about: she would not use the same surgeon.

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Francisco Schwartz-Fernandes, MD, joined the Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine in the fall of 2014. He specializes in orthopaedic hand surgery and was trained in microsurgery for conditions affecting the wrist and hand. He is part of USF Health’s orthopaedic team that treats the USF Bulls.

Dr. Schwartz-Fernandes knew when he met Ellen and evaluated her left hand that she was the perfect candidate for a new procedure called a mini tightrope. In the market for only a few years, the technique is different than previous treatments, most notably because it doesn’t require transferring the tendon across the thumb, a more complicated surgery. For patients, the decided advantage is that they are immobilized for only four weeks, rather than eight.

The procedure works by threading a small suture wire between the thumb and its neighboring index finger and anchoring both sides. The long-lasting wire is then tightened to realign the bone, offering support and preventing the thumb from collapsing or rubbing against the wrist bone.

“Short term outcomes are much better with the mini tightrope than with traditional procedures, which use a tendon or artificial joint,” Dr. Schwartz-Fernandes said. “The wire is much more stable and secure and patients don’t have to be immobilized for nearly as long, just a few weeks in most cases. The recovery time in vastly shorter and, more importantly, the pain is much less. Patients love that.”

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Ellen’s experience caused her to delay seeking help again. Or at least to approach it with trepidation.

“Having another surgery was very hard for me to do,” she said. “I knew what kind of limitations there would be, that I would be wrapped in a large bandage for a week after the surgery and have a cast on my hand for four to six weeks. It’s not only very, very painful, but you find that the day-to-day things – brushing your teeth, for instance – with a cast on your hand becomes very difficult. Being able to comb your hair or put on makeup or even put on your clothes, you have to do things totally differently. I couldn’t even tie my shoes. So I didn’t want to go through that again because I knew what was ahead of me. But I also knew that I couldn’t live with the pain in my hand anymore.”

Ellen Polack visits Dr. Francisco Schwarz-Fernandes for a follow-up of her hand surgery.

When the day came to find a new specialist, Ellen turned to Dr. Schwartz-Fernandes, USF Health’s hand expert with a local reputation for strong knowledge and amazing patient care.

Ellen Polack with Dr. Francisco Schwartz-Fernandes.

“When I first met Dr. Schwartz-Fernandes, he gave me a great deal of confidence,” Ellen said. “He has a way of making a patient feel very comfortable. He explains things to you in common, everyday terms. And he really gives you the confidence to say ‘I know he can help and that he’s going to care that my pain is alleviated.’ ”

Ellen’s hand surgery was in January 2015 and was the complete opposite of her disappointing earlier experience.

“I was in a cast for only two weeks,” she said. “But when the cast first came off, I was worried – I’ve gone through this before and I wondered if it was going to work the way I expected it to work and whether I was going to have any pain.”

There was not pain, she said. None.

“Just the relief of being able to open and close my hand without having pain shooting up into my arm, it just brought tears to my eyes,” Ellen said. “It was the first time I had been able to do that in years. And the look on Dr. Schwartz-Fernandes’ face when he saw how happy I was just made my whole day, because everything had worked the way he said it would and with no pain.”

Her advice to others who might be delaying getting help: See Dr. Schwartz-Fernandes.

“I’m referring him to others,” she said. “I tell everybody he’s the best around and is a genius. I’m still so impressed. My day-to-day activities are no longer filled with pain and it’s wonderful.”

Story by Sarah A. Worth, video by Sandra C. Roa, photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications.