Knee Replacement Surgery - One Patient’s Story

with Dave Martin, patient of Dr. Bruce Fauré, Advanced Healthcare

Posted: May 1, 2005

When Dave Martin was referred to Dr. Bruce Fauré five years ago, he was having trouble walking because of constant pain in his knees.

Things hadn’t always been that way. As a young man, Dave was, to put it bluntly, a jock. He played football and basketball in high school, later coached his son’s team, and did some jogging and lifting of weights.

Dr. Fauré, an orthopaedic surgeon at Advanced Healthcare who specializes in knee and hip replacement surgery, told Dave that 85 percent of the cartilage was gone in one knee, and there was none at all in the other.

Although diagnosed with and treated for eosiniphilic fasciitis, a rare form of arthritis, since 1985, Dr. Fauré attributed Dave’s condition to osteoarthritis, the most common form of the disease. It may begin to develop when a person is in his or her 50s, and usually is associated with “wear and tear.”

“He basically recommended when I just couldn’t stand the pain any more, that I should have both knees replaced,” Dave said.

The pain was considerable. But Dave’s apprehension at undergoing major surgery on both his knees, combined with his concern about complications due to his pre-existing condition, was greater.

“I kept telling my wife I’d have it done in spring, and when spring came I said I’d have it done in fall, and when fall came I said I’d have it done in spring,” he said.

The turning point came in June, 2004, on a business trip to Minnesota. En route, his right knee began to hurt so badly that walking became impossible. While he was driving home, his wife, Von, was calling his doctor, who authorized them to go straight to Columbia Hospital. Dave was admitted and put on morphine.

Dr. Fauré diagnosed gout in the knee, and by the time Dave was released from the hospital three days later, he’d made arrangements to have bilateral knee replacement surgery in August.

“I wanted it sooner, but Dr. Fauré said I wasn’t ready, that I’d lost all my strength and had to go through an exercise program,” he said. “He figured it would take about two months, so he scheduled the surgery for August 4th.”

Preparing for the surgery
Dave’s strengthening regimen consisted of two hours worth of exercises each day, an hour in the morning and again in the evening. Because he wasn’t able to begin the exercises until the gout calmed down, he began exercising four weeks prior to the surgery.

During that time, he attended Joint Camp at Columbia Hospital. The half-day seminar details exactly what will happen during the procedure, what is expected after surgery, and what you can and can’t do with an artificial joint.

Both he and Von described the experience as very helpful. “When Dave went to Joint Camp, I was expected to be there because everyone had to have a coach,” Von said, adding that it’s crucial that anyone considering having knee replacement surgery arrange to have a support person in-house during the recovery period.

“When he came home I had to help him lift his legs into bed, put on his socks and shoes, his support hose, help him with personal care and make sure his walker was in the right position for him to grab onto,” she said.

They also talked to people who’d had the surgery, which proved invaluable.

“A friend of his said, ‘I don’t know what it is about it, but the second week you get home, your emotions go way down, and you feel flat,’” Von said. “And it was good that we knew that, because it happened.”

As for the surgery itself, Dave used the words “amazing” and “shocking” to describe his reaction to what had just been done and all the medical hardware to which he was attached.

“They put the (Continuous Passive) motion machine on, and the pain comes in when they get you up that day and then you have to go sit back down to stretch those knees,” he said. “It is painful.”

Life after surgery
Dave described his post-operative rehab experience as intense. But, he added, he had been forewarned.

“Dr. Fauré said it’s like getting a car started on a cold winter morning. It just doesn’t want to go,” he said. “So he told me to expect pain, that there will be pain with the therapies.”

Because of his condition, Dr. Fauré told him that it could take up to a year for him to feel fully adjusted to the new knees.

“They still feel what I would term a little bit funny, because they are still healing. There’s a tingling at times in there, almost like the numbness you feel when the dentist works on your teeth and your mouth wakes up from the Novocain. It’s like they’re waking up a little bit.”

Still, eight months post-op, Dave’s response is unequivocal when asked whether it was worth it.

“Oh, absolutely,” he said. “Most of the swelling has finally left the knees now and basically I’m walking without pain for the first time in 21 years.”

Dr. Bruce Fauré
Good Hope Clinic
3003 W. Good Hope Rd.
Milwaukee, WI 53209
414-352-3100

Cedar Creek Clinic
215 W. Washington St.
Grafton, WI 53024
262-375-3700

East Mequon Clinic
12203 N. Corporate Pkwy.
Mequon WI 53092
262-387-8300

For more information related to knee replacement surgery, visit ortho.ah.com.

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