Quick Summary Donna reached out to X10 in the spring to talk about using the program for a single total knee replacement planned for later in the summer. She did some exploration of doing both knees at once and ultimately went in that direction. Donna discusses deciding on bilateral knee replacement and her recovery here.
One Highlight
This was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made ever. If I had known then everything that I was going to have to go through, everything that my family was going to have to go through, I would have thought harder about doing two knees at once from the beginning.
Favorite Quote
“When I go to physical therapy now the therapist is like, “Oh my goodness, you are our star patient,” because my flexion is at 120º and my extension is at 0º. I’m walking with a cane now instead of a walker. And they’re like, “We wish everybody could be like you.” So I feel successful.
Is this for you?
Listen to the podcast or read the text below if you are considering knee replacement and want to make sure you know about the latest recovery technology. The audio interview provides a very detailed explanation, from a patient’s perspective, about how the X10 can make quick work of a bilateral knee replacement recovery.
Deciding on Bilateral Knee Replacement
An interview with Donna Groce by PJ Ewing
Donna had bilateral total knee replacement surgery. What follows is an interview with Donna conducted by PJ Ewing from X10 Therapy.
My name is Donna. I live in Winston Salem, North Carolina. I am 65 years old. I have a son and a daughter and am a grandmother of four. I have three granddaughters and one grandson ranging from ages nine down to three. They are the joys of my life.
I am a born-again Christian. Praise the Lord for watching over me, taking care of me during this process. He’s been so good to me. That’s probably my number one praise, and I think that’s why I’ve been able to do as well as I have.
I’m exactly four weeks out from bilateral surgery, four weeks ago today. I was in the hospital for four days and came straight home. I am doing wonderfully, wonderfully well. I have been able to rest and relax, do some things that I’ve been wanting to do. I’ve done a lot of reading in the last four weeks, a lot of studying and things like that I don’t usually have time for.
This has kind of slowed me down somewhat and giving me a little bit of personal time to do some things that I wanted to do. I am very thankful for that. So even though it has been quite a journey so far, not being completely pain-free, but it’s not been an unhappy or bad journey, that’s for sure. And I’m super-glad that I’m four weeks on this side of the journey instead of four weeks on the other side.
Four weeks before surgery, how would you describe yourself?
Life was very painful. I had two really bad knees, bone-on-bone, both of them. One was a little worse than the other. I had meniscus tears in both knees, arthritis in both knees. Every step I took was a jolt of pain. I endured it for probably two years. It gradually got worse and worse. I have done everything possible that I could have done leading up to the surgery. I’ve had physical therapy. I did cortisone shots, two different sessions of the gel injections, everything that I could to prevent having surgery.
Finally, it just got so bad the doctor said, ‘you just have no other choice. You’re going to have to live with this pain, or you’re going to have to have it replaced.’ At the time I was only going to do my left knee, which was a little bit worse. I went into all the preparations. At the very last minute I decided to do both at the same time and get it over with.
Tell us more about that. How did you make that decision to go for two at once?
I had done a lot of research. I’ve done a lot of reading about the surgery, about what was going to happen, about the recovery, and about the physical therapy. I am not the type of person that likes to go into something without my eyes being wide open. So, I knew that there were things that I needed to plan for. There were things that I needed to do ahead of time.
Actually, this is kind of funny. You, PJ, were the first one that mentioned to me that maybe I should look at bilateral surgery instead of just doing one. It was in a conversation that you and I were having one time. You said, ‘well, have you ever thought about doing both knees at once?’
It kind of opened my eyes a little bit because I never had even thought about it. And, I said, no, not really. But after we hung up I talked to my husband about it and I thought, ‘Man, what do you think about this?’
I realized that it would make a difference. I would need more help, I wouldn’t have a good leg to stand on, so to speak. I did a little bit more research on the bilateral process. Fortunately, I had the perfect situation as far as coming home after the hospital. My mom lived with us for 10 years before she passed away earlier this year. My husband made her
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