Joe’s Story: A New Lease On Life After Robotic Surgery
Joe Hand’s path to a wonderful retirement was blocked when he started experiencing severe pain in both knees three months before he was to retire from teaching. On a scale of one to 10, Joe says the pain was an eight in each knee.
“It was very, very difficult to walk up the steps at school,” he recalls. “It was impossible to play golf – I love to play golf. I had to hire someone to cut my grass at home. I was basically pretty much confined to a chair most of the time.”
The end of Joe’s pain started with a visit at Premier Orthopedics, part of Premier Physician Network. X-rays and an MRI on both knees showed a need for partial knee replacements.
“The doctor was very clear in his explanation to me, extremely clear about the need for surgery, (for) partial knee replacements,” Joe says. “He showed me on the X-rays and on the MRI that the meniscus on the inside part of both of my knees was literally paper thin. And, so I was having bone-on-bone, and that's what was causing all the pain in both of my knees. It was the bone-on-bone, because there was no meniscus there to cushion it.”
Joe was pleased that a robotic procedure was possible. “Robotic surgery uses a computer and pinpoint accuracy, making the whole surgery so much more effective,” Joe reports. “It’s less invasive. My scars are only three inches on each of my knees. You can hardly see my scars.”
Recovery time from this surgery is only two to three days in the hospital, Joe reports. “At home, Fidelity Home Care sent nurses out - visiting nurses and therapists - and with their help, after a couple of weeks I was totally back to new again,” he says.
How was the pain that used to be an eight? Joe says right after surgery it had already dropped to a two, and before long, it was zero.
“The robotic procedure has given me back my retirement and given me a new lease on my life,” Joe says.
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