Mike's Orthopedic Story
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- [Mike] I live with my bride,
my gift from God, Barb Ryan.
Barb and I both, our life's goal was to just get to the
freedom to where we could have the time to go and
do travel, and we both love to do mission work.
We're heavily involved with
Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief.
My knees first started bothering me,
well, a long time ago, about 20 years ago.
I was playing basketball.
I was still trying to be 21.
Arthritis started coming in on my knees,
and someone gave me a name of a good doctor,
and so I went to see Dr. Janak Talwalkar.
- [Dr. Talwalkar] So Mike's condition started
out as...he had torn cartilage in his knee,
and he had a prior surgery where we did an
orthoscopic procedure, minimally invasive procedure,
cleaned his knee up, and that
kept Mike going for several years.
Over time, the articular cartilage or the cushioning
in the knee started to wear down and thin,
and eventually, he lost all of his articular cartilage
and then developed bone-on-bone arthritis.
- He let me determine when I was ready.
He said, "You'll know it when you're ready."
And so, I put it off for quite a while until the
weekend hit the...I had reached the bone-on-bone.
And when it did, it literally locked my left knee up.
It was straight. It was peg-like.
I couldn't bend my knee.
I could barely bend it enough to get in a car.
It shut me down.
It literally made an old man out of me quick
because I couldn't do anything with a stiff leg.
- We often say life is motion and motion is life.
And so, being able to be up
and active and moving is critical.
It's critical to bone health,
muscle strength, muscle health.
Motion is a basic thing but it's so critical.
- He did a great job of preparing me what to
expect, and kind of how the surgery would go,
and then how my recovery process would be.
They said that most people, the day of surgery,
would spend the night and then go home the next day.
I told him I wanted to go home that night.
And he said, "Well, if you can do what the
therapist require, then they'll let you go home.
I went home that night.
- Mike was an ideal patient.
He brightens up our office every time he walks in.
He's full of energy, very positive spirit.
I saw him just after he retired.
You knew he was still very busy, very active,
and had a lot of things that he wanted to do
with his life still.
- They told me that I would have continual improvement
up to a year, and I didn't really think at the time
it would take that long because I knew
I was going to work so hard at it.
But I also know this,
there's some things you can't rush up.
I pushed through the therapy but mother nature
just takes its time when it wants to heal the body.
I saw progress all the way up through the first year,
and since then, I have no pain in my left knee.
I can't imagine life without having had that surgery.
- The morning of surgeries can be a tense time,
and we have to sometimes come in and break the ice
and try to get patients to relax.
Well, I pull back the covers and see I Mike has
something taped to his knee that he had written,
and he's the one breaking the ice.
- "I've been waiting for months to fix this knee.
You have no idea the pain it's caused me.
Now the time is here so let's get it done.
I'll soon be good as new and back on the run.
I pray the Lord watches and angels attend to
guide your every thought and to steady your hand.
Now, put me to sleep and let the surgery begin.
Wake me up when it's over, and I'll be happy again."
- We try to give everyone gold-standard care.
The patient's attitude makes a big difference,
and their desire to recover,
and I'm glad I was just a small part of his
recovery because I know he's doing wonderful things
with his life.
- Genuine compassion is
something that you can't imitate.
And so, I could really see genuine compassion
and care from everybody at Baptist Health.
That's why I would send anybody
that needs a total knee replacement,
I would send them to Baptist Health without hesitation.
I'll take them if they're afraid to drive.
♪ [music] ♪
my gift from God, Barb Ryan.
Barb and I both, our life's goal was to just get to the
freedom to where we could have the time to go and
do travel, and we both love to do mission work.
We're heavily involved with
Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief.
My knees first started bothering me,
well, a long time ago, about 20 years ago.
I was playing basketball.
I was still trying to be 21.
Arthritis started coming in on my knees,
and someone gave me a name of a good doctor,
and so I went to see Dr. Janak Talwalkar.
- [Dr. Talwalkar] So Mike's condition started
out as...he had torn cartilage in his knee,
and he had a prior surgery where we did an
orthoscopic procedure, minimally invasive procedure,
cleaned his knee up, and that
kept Mike going for several years.
Over time, the articular cartilage or the cushioning
in the knee started to wear down and thin,
and eventually, he lost all of his articular cartilage
and then developed bone-on-bone arthritis.
- He let me determine when I was ready.
He said, "You'll know it when you're ready."
And so, I put it off for quite a while until the
weekend hit the...I had reached the bone-on-bone.
And when it did, it literally locked my left knee up.
It was straight. It was peg-like.
I couldn't bend my knee.
I could barely bend it enough to get in a car.
It shut me down.
It literally made an old man out of me quick
because I couldn't do anything with a stiff leg.
- We often say life is motion and motion is life.
And so, being able to be up
and active and moving is critical.
It's critical to bone health,
muscle strength, muscle health.
Motion is a basic thing but it's so critical.
- He did a great job of preparing me what to
expect, and kind of how the surgery would go,
and then how my recovery process would be.
They said that most people, the day of surgery,
would spend the night and then go home the next day.
I told him I wanted to go home that night.
And he said, "Well, if you can do what the
therapist require, then they'll let you go home.
I went home that night.
- Mike was an ideal patient.
He brightens up our office every time he walks in.
He's full of energy, very positive spirit.
I saw him just after he retired.
You knew he was still very busy, very active,
and had a lot of things that he wanted to do
with his life still.
- They told me that I would have continual improvement
up to a year, and I didn't really think at the time
it would take that long because I knew
I was going to work so hard at it.
But I also know this,
there's some things you can't rush up.
I pushed through the therapy but mother nature
just takes its time when it wants to heal the body.
I saw progress all the way up through the first year,
and since then, I have no pain in my left knee.
I can't imagine life without having had that surgery.
- The morning of surgeries can be a tense time,
and we have to sometimes come in and break the ice
and try to get patients to relax.
Well, I pull back the covers and see I Mike has
something taped to his knee that he had written,
and he's the one breaking the ice.
- "I've been waiting for months to fix this knee.
You have no idea the pain it's caused me.
Now the time is here so let's get it done.
I'll soon be good as new and back on the run.
I pray the Lord watches and angels attend to
guide your every thought and to steady your hand.
Now, put me to sleep and let the surgery begin.
Wake me up when it's over, and I'll be happy again."
- We try to give everyone gold-standard care.
The patient's attitude makes a big difference,
and their desire to recover,
and I'm glad I was just a small part of his
recovery because I know he's doing wonderful things
with his life.
- Genuine compassion is
something that you can't imitate.
And so, I could really see genuine compassion
and care from everybody at Baptist Health.
That's why I would send anybody
that needs a total knee replacement,
I would send them to Baptist Health without hesitation.
I'll take them if they're afraid to drive.
♪ [music] ♪