Knee replacement surgery gave me back my health and life

I had needed knee replacements for at least 10 years, but I had put them off because of fear and anxiety, and my doctor at the time said I was too young. I figured by waiting they would come up with a better knee replacement that would last longer, so I put up with the pain and used dozens of knee products and a lot of pain medicine, both prescribed and over-the-counter.

Eventually, I decided to see a new doctor. I had been to at least three others, and then someone told me to see Jeana J. Lee, MD, with Tri-State Oprthopaedics Surgeons. So I made an appointment, but after waiting about two months , I had doubts about her because she is a woman, foreign, and young. In my mind, that was three strikes against her, so I canceled my appointment. Then, after mulling it over for at least another month, I decided I should give her the benefit of the doubt and see what she had to say. I later would come to feel ashamed for doubting her.

Dr. Lee turned out to be one of the nicest doctors I have ever met. Now mind you I have been putting off getting these knees worked on for a decade, so I was ready to get this over with — I mean like now, tomorrow, or at least during that week. After talking to her for a while, I was ready to go.

However, Dr.Lee had an ultimatum for me -- she told me she can do the job, but she wouldn’t do it unless I was willing to lose 50 to 75 pounds. Turns out I’m too heavy, and she said the new knees wouldn’t last nearly as long as my worn out, real knees because I weighed 300 pounds. She then slapped me in the face with reality — she told me I wasn’t just over weight, I was obese.

I was shocked; I never had anyone put it quite like that. There have been times in the past that this would have

made me mad, but, I was ready to make the pain stop. She asked me if I would be willing to go see a nutritionist, and I said I’ll do what ever it takes. Dr. Lee sent me to Dr. Joe. He told me I had been eating wrong all my life and it was time to learn how to do it right. I was raised on grease. Actually, my mom kept a jar of lard on the stove. After using the lard to fix food on the stove, she would pour off the excess so it could be used again. Let me tell you that this is the way to make some of the best fried chicken in the world… and bacon and eggs, and anything else you can fix on the stove. But, it turns out it’s not good for your arteries. Dr. Joe got me counting protein, carbs, and fat. I learned quickly that if you eat the right kinds of food and be particular about how it is prepared, you can still eat well. I stopped eating grease and fried foods, and I stopped eating sugar mostly and started using sweeteners. I began to eat healthy foods.

I began to eat a lot of fish, shrimp, white meat, and ham. I found I could pretty much eat anything I wanted, as long as I was sensible about it and controlled the amounts. I tried to cut out caffeine and anything else I thought was not going to be good for my weight-loss efforts. Almost a year later, I had lost more than 100 pounds. Dr. Lee than gave me the good news that I now was a perfect candidate for surgery. Originally, she said she would not do both knees at the same time, because it’s harder to do the therapy. But after I had lost the weight, she agreed to do it. After the surgery, everyone told me I was brave to have both knees done at the same time. I told them that bravery didn’t have anything to do with it — I was scared that if I only had one knee done and I had any setbacks, I would never have the other one done. That wasn’t good enough.

Turns out the knee replacements were the best thing I’ve ever done to improve my health. I got my life back, too. Now, I can do anything I want to, within reason. Before my operation, I could hardly ride a bike. But the first summer since the surgery, I rode more than 1,500 miles on my bike and have gotten into good shape and health. I decided that fat and old just doesn’t go so well together. As a matter of fact, fat and nothing go well with each other. Three years later, and I still have kept the weight off.

I was wrong about not trusting at first a young, female, foreign doctor. I still feel ashamed when I think about it. Turns out she is my favorite doctor. She changed my life and my outlook on doctors; I try to tell someoneabout her every day.

By the way, I injured my shoulder and asked Dr. Lee to recommend someone to fix it for me. She said she could fix that for me, too. I didn’t know she did shoulders. So I said sign me up, and now my shoulder is good as new. See what I mean when I told you how wrong I was about her and my ideas about joint replacement surgery?