Hank’s Story: Giving Up Golf Was Not an Option

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The golf tournament trophy Hank Chafin won this past summer means so much more than a good golf game. The journey that got him to winning that trophy is a journey Hank is excited to share with the world. The pain, fear and general anxiety Hank had about addressing his hip pain had him limiting his life’s activities. He couldn’t get out of his lounge chair. Going to the basement was excruciating. Fear of pain made getting in and out of his truck a monumental task. And golfing was becoming next to impossible. “It was a shooting pain, both in the front and back portions of my hip. When I would get up from a chair, the pain would shoot up my back,” he recalls. Hank said he could only swing his golf club halfway and even then the pain would shoot up his back. His golf game was suffering, and he knew it wouldn’t be long before his ability to golf ended.

Hank lives to golf. He was the manager at Kittyhawk Golf Course for years. The idea of giving up golf was not an option. That’s when the research began and Hank chose Dr. Ryan Bauman, an orthopedic surgeon at Miami Valley Hospital and Miami Valley Hospital South.

Dr. Bauman gave Hank a cortisone shot treatment first. Three or four days later, Hank’s pain returned and he called Dr. Bauman. “I’m ready for surgery,” he said. Surgery was scheduled for May 14.

Deciding to go with Dr. Bauman was easy. Deciding to proceed with surgery was easy. But, Hank is the first to admit going through with surgery was not easy. “I had fear. It was one of the hardest things I had to overcome and I’ll say this, Dr. Bauman was the chief person in helping me overcome that,” he recalls. “He had a way about him that helped instill in me a confidence that I knew he could do this to my satisfaction.”

The morning of May 14, Hank and his wife arrived at Miami Valley Hospital South early. A golf cart picked him up at his car and delivered him to the front door. “They ushered me right into the room where the surgery was going to take place and showed it to me.”

Everything went as planned and before he knew it, Hank was in recovery with his wife, son and granddaughter. “Victory was mine and I felt awful good about it.”

Headshot of Ryan Bauman, MD

Ryan Bauman, MD

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