Patient Experiences

Golfing and Snowboarding After Successful SLAP Repair Surgery

My name is John Mele. I have been very active in sports and weight lifting my entire life. I played football through college, baseball for 12 years, I wrestled and even boxed. Now at 35, I focus on golf and snowboarding. I’ve had the makings of a SLAP tear (torn labrum) for roughly six years. I did physical therapy twice, which successfully made the pain go away for about a year or two, but each time it came back. When the pain came back a third time I decided to just fix it. At this point, I could no longer lift weights and couldn't even lift a gallon of milk! Dr. Cole came highly recommended from a trusted source. Upon consulting with Dr. Cole and his physician’s assistant, Natalie, I immediately felt very comfortable with them. The surgery itself was a piece of cake. I really felt very well taken care of by not only Dr. Cole and Natalie, but the anesthesiologist, the nurses and just about everyone I dealt with at the hospital.

After the surgery I took physical therapy very seriously since I had a driving motivation - my annual golf trip! I'm happy to say that 12 weeks to the day of the surgery I played two rounds of pain-free golf! And if it weren't for one really bad hole, I would have scored my best round ever. After the golf trip, I resumed snowboarding and lifting weights and am currently (at 15 weeks) about 95% pain-free, with the rest just a matter of regaining full strength.