A fix-up for Mr. Fix-It

A lifelong mechanic, Michael Carson, 58, of Spring Brook Township, loves fixing cars and making them as good as new. He never imagined he’d need the help of experts who could do the same for his right shoulder.

Mr. Carson was just 2 months into recovery from shoulder replacement surgery in January 2025 when an ice storm hit the Scranton area. He walked outside, where “everything was frozen over,” he says. “I slipped on black ice and fell right down, and my shoulder hit a brick wall.”

After the initial shock, Mr. Carson picked himself up, but the damage was already done. “The pain never, ever went away,” he says. “Just lying in a recliner with my arm across my chest, the pain was constant. And if I moved it, it was like somebody was sticking a knife in my shoulder and twisting it.”

Running on empty

In the hours after the fall, Mr. Carson went to the emergency room at Geisinger Community Medical Center, where imaging studies revealed he’d torn the subscapularis tendon in his right shoulder.

Mr. Carson tried to push through the pain at first, but his quality of life started to suffer. He had to stop working as a mechanic. He couldn’t play with his 11 grandchildren. Even simple tasks seemed impossible. “Carrying groceries in the house, opening the door with a handful of bags, I had a hard time doing,” he says. “Getting in and out of the car was a pain, too.”

The lowest point came at his granddaughter’s second birthday party. “I had a hard time picking her up with one hand,” he says. “I had to sit down and just hold her on my lap.”

Seeking answers, Mr. Carson returned to Mark Pallis, MD, the orthopaedic surgeon at Geisinger who had done his initial shoulder replacement. Dr. Pallis did a second surgery to repair the torn tendon in Mr. Carson’s shoulder. But when that didn’t alleviate the pain, Dr. Pallis referred him to his colleague, Kathleen Leinweber, MD. 

A rare type of expertise

Dr. Leinweber is one of only 2 fellowship-trained surgeons in northeastern Pennsylvania who specialize in revision shoulder replacement surgeries. The other is Ryan Hoffman, MD. Both are with Geisinger. 

“When I first saw Mr. Carson, he was in pain to the point where he was in tears, and any sort of movement in his shoulder was incredibly painful,” Dr. Leinweber says.

To find the underlying cause, Dr. Leinweber ordered a CT scan with dye and examined his shoulder joint using a pencil-sized camera. The scan showed dye had leaked behind the socket of Mr. Carson’s original implant, which had been knocked loose by the fall. The scope found bone in the back of the shoulder that was “crunched down,” says Dr. Leinweber, which contributed to the loosening of the implant.

Fixing the problem would require a 2-step approach. First, Dr. Leinweber would perform a technically challenging revision shoulder replacement procedure, in which she would remove his existing implant and put in a new one. Then she’d do a bone graft to repair the damaged bone and promote new growth.

An honest assessment

Before scheduling the surgery, Dr. Leinweber outlined the pros and cons. “I’m very honest,” she says. “I tell [revision shoulder replacement patients] that their range of motion may not be what it was before. Their strength may not be what it was before.”

Dr. Leinweber’s honesty, Mr. Carson says, helped him get past anxieties about whether he’d ever regain use of his shoulder. 

“The worries were more challenging than the physical aspect,” he says. “But when I spoke to Dr. Leinweber, she explained everything. She didn’t say, ‘You’ll be perfectly fine.’ She said, ‘This is what your options are.’ She sat down and talked to me like a very good friend.” 

When questions came to mind later, Mr. Carson messaged his care team through the MyGeisinger patient portal. He was impressed that Dr. Leinweber and her associate, Mary Sinan, PA-C, both answered him personally.

Firing on all cylinders again

Dr. Leinweber performed the revision shoulder surgery and bone grafting at Geisinger Community Medical Center in October 2025.  Mr. Carson returned home the next day and began a specialized exercise and rehabilitation program designed just for him.

Recovery happened faster than anyone thought possible — even Dr. Leinweber. Six months after the surgery, Mr. Carson’s pain was gone, and his range of motion was vastly improved. “I saw Dr. Leinweber 5 or 6 months after the surgery, and she was amazed at where I’m at,” he says.

“He’s probably one of the patients who had the best outcome from a revision surgery that I have ever seen,” Dr. Leinweber adds. “His range of motion is excellent. It’s actually as good as it was from his primary surgery, which I would not have expected to see. He exceeded my expectations.”

Today, Mr. Carson is picking up his grandkids, playing with them and taking them fishing again. He’s also enjoying time at the firing range. “I can shoot right-handed,” he says. “The accuracy is back. There’s no weakness, no pain from the recoil of the firearm.” And while he’s now retired, he does plan to finish restoring a classic 1973 Plymouth Roadrunner that sits in his garage.

He credits his care team, and Dr. Leinweber in particular, for their ongoing support. “She gave me everything back with the surgery and her knowledge,” he says. “Each and every single person I met and dealt with at Geisinger treated me with the utmost respect and care.”

His advice to others with shoulder pain? “Find a doctor you feel comfortable with who will answer all your questions and concerns,” he says. “And if you’re at a point where you’re losing your mobility, you can’t function and do the things you like in life, it’s worth doing the surgery. For me, it was the best decision I ever made.”