KNEE & HIP Replacement Center

A Patient's Story

Zimmer MIS Knee Replacement Procedure: Patient Darlene Stark

Darlene
An active grandmother — a pain-free knee

For years, Darlene planned each day according to how far she might have to walk on her painful knee: "Every single step had to be thought about."

Then she took the biggest step of all — asking her orthopaedic surgeon about knee replacement. Today, no longer in pain, she says, "I just get up and go!"

Transcript:

Before Surgery: The Pain

Every single thing I did from getting up in the morning, if I was out with friends having dinner, to standing up to go to the restroom — every single step had to be thought about. Most of them were pain filled. Every single thing I did was determined by my knee.

It was — whatever was going on, can I walk, and if I can, can I get back? How painful will it be? How many stairs are there? How about the flow of traffic? Will somebody push me over because I'm blocking traffic? All of those things.

If it was really, really swollen I would seek a doctor's care. He would drain it and I would try to immobilize it as much as possible while it tried to heal. If it was very, very painful I took Advil three at a time.

The very last time was the Christmas before I had surgery, my daughter was visiting here from New York and I went to church with her on Christmas Eve. And I went to kneel with her and could not. Not only could I could not, I could not get up. And it was, again very, very painful and I thought, this is nuts! So I started informing myself — asking questions, talking to people who had had it done, using the Internet.

The Surgery

I'm lucky enough to have a health care professional in my family… so they were able to guide some of the questions that I asked, and one of them: What kind of appliance, if that's the word, would I be using? And when I went to see the orthopedic surgeon, we talked about that for a brief time, and Zimmer was the one that he preferred, which was hands down exactly what I wanted.

And he suggested the minimally invasive knee replacement surgery.

What I did like was in talking to the surgeon that he was going to do what needed to be done without getting carried away, which is exactly what I wanted: Fix the problem, send me on my way.

The Recovery

I was waiting for the horrible to happen and it never did. I went in about noontime on a Thursday and came home about noontime on Monday and it just got better from there.

I have to tell you, I never experienced any pain greater than what I had before surgery.

In the hospital, surgery was about 2 o'clock on Thursday — the physical therapist had me up the next day walking on crutches. The fact that I was able to walk on crutches and come home — I had a friend stay with me several days, which is probably a good thing — but I was able to move around and do everything immediately.

I had a physical therapist come to my home three times a week for about three weeks and he made sure that I could do things within my home. He had me do exercises twice a day, which I did religiously. And then I saw a physical therapist at a rehab center. They got me onto straps, bends, elliptical machines just using my knee and making it all mesh.

I did not fill my pain meds prescription, but I don't know that everyone feels like that, I just — I was just so happy (laughs).

A New Life

I just get up and go! I don't have to stop and think about anything. I can go up and down stairs not like a 2-year-old, I can go just like a normal person. I don't think twice about grabbing a granddaughter and hopping on a train and walking all over the city; I can do whatever I want.

I walk with a friend's dog and we walk from three to five miles, three or four times a week; I use my HealthRider and I'm up for what anyone wants to do.

I have a 6-year-old granddaughter that when she was little and just walking and, of course, wanted to be picked up, I could not, I could not lift her up. Now I have an 18-month-old grandson; he's a little chunky monkey and I can dead-lift him off the floor. And it's wonderful.

A Message for Others with Knee Pain

I think everyone has to come to their own determination, what's best for them, and how they want to lead their life, but the bottom line is, if you want to be in charge of your life and to go on and to do exactly what you want to do, you need to consider what I had done to my knee because it has changed my life.

I wish I had done it sooner.

Individual results may vary. Your results will depend upon your personal circumstances. This information is intended to provide an overview of knee replacement surgery. Review this information with your doctor. Joint replacement is usually a last option after all other treatments have been exhausted.

Click here for additional information pertaining to knee replacement indications, contraindications, warnings and precautions and adverse events.

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