A Day in the Life of a Podiatrist

Get to know Doctor Anderson by reading a little about his average day on the job!

“My Wednesday starts early as it’s my surgery day. Surgeries begin at 7 am and may end at 5 pm on a busy day. So, today being Wednesday saw me out the door grabbing a handful of nuts and blueberries for my breakfast. I grabbed some coffee with butter and cinnamon, a daily habit of mine, and started my day.

My first patient had traveled all the way from eastern Nebraska, and as with most of my patients this day was a nerve surgery case. He was a very nice Nebraska farmer with diabetes suffering from severe neuropat Dr. James Anderson, DPM hy. I had six surgeries with only a five-minute break between surgeries to celebrate Rhonda’s birthday (Rhonda has been our recovery room nurse for 10 years and she is absolutely the best! Patients and staff love her.)

So, after opening her card and getting a box with her favorite perfume, it was back to work. Another staff member, Jeanne, was excited to hear that she would be acknowledged in a research paper getting published on the intraoperative nerve monitoring we do. She helps set up the monitoring equipment and assists me in surgery.

The highlight of the day
was the last case. A 14-year-old from Nebraska who had been in a bad car accident 2 years ago. She had severe nerve pain in her foot and weakness, drop foot, in her leg as it was trapped beneath the seat of the car in a rollover accident. After seeing multiple doctors, they had almost given up hope until they learned about what we do. The nerve monitoring we did in surgery to see how well we improved the function of the nerves that had been damaged in the accident were showing us amazing improvement of nerve function! I’m very optimistic for her, and feel confident she and her mom can avoid a life of medication for her chronic pain condition, which is the goal they had.

I did end my day a little later than I had thought I would. I was expecting to catch up on things, but only had time to meet with my two research assistants. We recently submitted a paper for publication on restless legs, and reviewed three more studies that we will be starting on. They are young and bright and are a huge asset to me. It’s a real challenge to see patients, run a business, and then do research, so I am blessed to have them.

Lastly, I joined in late on a conference call with our CEO Eric, and my wife, COO Adriann, in regards to new opportunities for our surgery center.

Finally, out of the office by 6:15; that’s early! I even had time at home to watch some TV, answer emails, and jump on the elliptical machine. Oh, yes, and wash some clothes. That’s my day!”

We are proud of what we do and the doctors we represent! Contact us today to talk to any of our doctors one-on-one!

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