I cannot be thankful enough for the blessing of finding Dr. Gavin as my podiatrist. My long history with him began in 2006 during my freshman year of college. After being misdiagnosed by several doctors and specialists over a course of 8 months, I finally decided I needed a recommendation from my primary care doctor back home. I explained my history and she immediately referred me to Dr. Gavin. Even though it was near five o’clock on a Friday evening, given my extensive history he agreed to lengthen his day by one more appointment and see me. Upon walking into his practice I was greeted by the friendly staff and shown into the examination room. Within minutes Dr. Gavin was in the room, examining my x-rays and explaining what was causing all my pain. He and I discussed his treatment plan step by step, including every detail of what full recovery was going to entail and exactly what I should expect. I was so thankful that finally a doctor could pinpoint what was wrong, and had a long-term plan of exactly how to treat it. Due to the severity of my injury recovery was about fourteen months. Throughout my recovery time, between monthly appointments, Dr. Gavin was always readily available to answer any and all of the questions I had; this definitely included several personal calls he was kind enough to make to me over the weekend! I never had a doctor take so much time and care to make sure his patient was comfortable and educated with every aspect of his/her recovery.
After about a year of being fully functional and back to my normal activities, I suffered another injury to my ankle during a volleyball match. Since it was a Saturday I went to the ER where I was told to stay off of it for a week or so and that it was a minor sprain. Monday morning I called the office and they squeezed me into the schedule to see the doctor. Once again after a thorough examination of my injury, x-rays, and MRI image Dr. Gavin explained exactly what had happened to my ankle, turns out several ligaments were completely torn and surgery was the only option for a full recovery. Normally the thought of surgery would have terrified me; even though I wasn’t thrilled about the idea I knew I was in the very best of hands. Once again the subsequent days following my surgery I received several courtesy calls from Dr. Gavin making sure I was doing alright. “If anything doesn’t feel right, or you are in too much pain call me, I don’t care if it’s two in the morning.” He told me. That’s just not something most medical professionals would offer.
The magnitude of empathy Dr. Gavin portrayed regarding both the physical and emotional components of injury was incredible. His knowledge of injury and treatment far exceeds any other doctor I’ve seen. He is a doctor I will forever remember as having some of the most profound impacts on my life in the world of medicine. I now live in Miami and am attending graduate school to get my Doctorate in Physical Therapy. Fortunately I have not suffered any orthopedic injuries since my move, however if something were to happen, you darn well bet I’d be on the first plane out. Having trust and faith in a doctor’s professional opinion and dedication to a full recovery is priceless. I have referred several family members, friends, co-workers, and even complete strangers to see Dr. Gavin. I cannot speak highly enough of his name; he truly has impacted my life in helping me rehabilitate multiple injuries and being there every step of the way.