TKA and Down

This has been a rather eventful week for me. Last Wednesday Dr. Justin Jones of OrthoTennessee-Maryville (formerly known as Maryville Orthopedic Clinic) put a new knee in me. Yep…one of those knee replacement things.


Now this is something that I know a lot about, though not on quite so personal a level.  As Baby Boomers have hit their senior years, it is becoming more and more common.


The technology is getting better all the time too. (I’m pretty much counting on that). But this surgery was way overdue. I’ve had previous knee surgeries on this knee, dating back to college days, but none quite like this. This was the big one.


If you saw me trying to run onto the football field to check an injury this year, you knew something was up. By the end of this football season, I barely strolled out onto the field, regardless of the anticipated severity of the injury. My right knee just wouldn’t allow it.


It goes back to my football days. And farming, when we would literally tackle calves to give their shots and tags (we were football players—we thought it was cool). I had a few injuries along the way but none too bad. I played basketball until I was 59 when this same right knee told me clearly it was time to give it up.


I have rehabbed hundreds of patients with total knee replacements. A common refrain is “I wish I had done this a long time ago.” I’m not sure I feel that way yet. I probably will.


I do know that literally up to the time of the surgery, I was riding my bike. I had no trouble out of my knee on any of the group road bike rides that I take every week. And weekends on the mountain bike were my regression to a younger self, when I would zoom around sweet singletrack like I was in my 20’s (…OK…in my 30’s).


But walking became difficult and running became impossible for me. Steps were too often one at a time. My family became quite protective of me in recent months but what they didn’t see, they couldn’t change. Like climbing around doing repairs on my barn. Or like last Sunday, when I zigzagged around my lower pasture doing a final season treatment of fire ants.


But it was time. So on Wednesday, I got 90 minutes of Dr. Jones’ best work and now I’m home. Yeah, 90 minutes. Maybe three times longer than it usually takes.  There was a whole lot of chopping and chiseling. The end result will be a much better knee than I’ve had in a very, very long time.


I know it’s my employer but everyone at Blount Memorial Hospital was awesome. From Shannon in Pre-op to Carmen on 5-South and everyone in between. I was well informed through every step and treated with compassion and professionalism by everyone I encountered.


And now the rehab process starts. I’ll be in the hands of my colleagues at Total Rehabilitation-Cherokee, mostly Candy Martin. I promised many that I would be a good patient. Just don’t try and hold me back. Dr. Jones won’t. He already told me as much. He put a great knee in there. I’m not going to be stupid but I do plan on working harder at rehab than I’ve ever asked a patient to do.


I guess the best advice came from my friend David Schoeni—he said “don’t be a hero.” I don’t plan to be but you might see me back on the bicycle sooner rather than later.