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Surgery is a mother's unlikely holiday blessing

Staff photo by Apryl Pilolli Rhonda Johnson and her 8-year-old son, Austin, are shown Wednesday, Dec. 23, in the living room of their Oregonia home.

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By Rick McCrabb, Columnist 5:49 PM Thursday, December 24, 2009

MIDDLETOWN — Rhonda Johnson found her perfect Christmas gift at the most unlikely of places.

The 41-year-old Oregonia mother — in excruciating pain for months and frustrated that her doctor thought the problem was in her mind, not her body — sought another opinion at Atrium Medical Center.

There, she said, she found compassionate medical personnel who diagnosed her fractured hip, and Dr. Robert Roman, who performed the surgery on Dec. 3.

She was hospitalized for five days, and will use a cane for two more weeks until the hip heals.

But she has her life back.

Johnson called the surgery, and the freedom it gave her, “the best Christmas present ever.”

Johnson’s husband, Tim, remembers his wife falling out of bed. They believe that’s when she injured her hip.

She visited her family doctor, and after some tests came back negative, he told her: “It’s all in your head. You need to see a psychologist.”

That caused Johnson to question herself.

“I wasn’t sure if there actually was pain,” she said. “Nobody could find the problem.”

Until she went to Atrium.

“I loved being in there because of the care they gave. You could tell the way they carried themselves they cared. It makes me want to cry because nobody cared for me like this. No one.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.

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