I work at Baptist Health Louisville. I'm a barista in the coffee shop. It's my retirement job which keeps me out of trouble.
One of my favorite things to do is playing with my dog. We walk every afternoon. So I'm on my feet all the time, and I noticed that my walk was off, and I thought maybe it was my back that was causing the hip pain. And so I had been to Doctor Brown for my knee replacements. So they did some x rays and found out my hip was bone on bone. The pain was so bad that I just knew I had to get something done.
It can really be depressing when you're in a lot of pain.
I don't decide when it's time for surgery. I let the patient decide because we're dealing with quality of life issues.
I went to Doctor Brown because he had done two surgeries on me prior to this, and he had done both of my knees at different times. I was very happy with the results of my knees, and so I decided to go back to him for the hip.
We build our relationship through fixing a problem. And I loved the fact that someone came in, had a problem, you fixed it, and then you can see them recover and get better. And in orthopedics hip and knee replacement especially, you can see people getting better very quickly, almost in front of our eyes. The most basic thing is I want to treat that patient how I'd want to be treated. I want to treat them like a family member. And I've been here in Louisville doing this for quite a while, I've found that if you treat that patient like you want to be treated, then things will go well.
I had envisioned probably the whole side of my hip being sliced open, but it was just a very small incision. It was just kind of shocking, really, that it was such a small area.
I did not have any residual pain at all. It was kind of like night and day.
They're walking about forty five minutes to an hour after surgery, usually on a walker, initially until their strength is appropriate and they're nice and stable. But a lot of the hips transition to a cane within a couple few days and then off within a couple weeks.
As with my knees, I had to do physical therapy for that. Gave me confidence that I was gonna be safe, that it was gonna be okay.
I tell everybody that I expect a thirty year lifespan out of a joint replacement. That newer technology joints with good long lasting bearing surfaces, they're very well tolerated and they're very durable.
She was a great patient. In fact, I think I had to keep the brakes on her a little bit. I know that I would see her from time to time in the cafeteria and wanting to get back to work and oftentimes sooner than other patients do. So we have to keep the brakes on her a little bit. But I love patients that are motivated to get back to work. Those are the patients that are putting in a little bit extra effort because they want to get to work and I know she was a very motivated patient.
Baptist has a good reputation and always has. I think that gives me confidence that I will come out healthier than I go in. I wish I had done it months earlier. I wish I hadn't put it off.
It's just like daylight and dark. There's no other way to look at it. It's just a 180. So much better.
