Conditions + Treatments
Knee Replacement (Total)
I had suffered for years with arthritis in my knees which continually got worse as I got older. They were bad but not bad enough to do surgery, so I had years of injections. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006 and had to undergo radiation and chemotherapy. Little did I know that chemo accelerates arthritis and it really did. In 2008, I was once again diagnosed with breast cancer. Since it was a different type of cancer, I had to undergo chemo again with different drugs.
My knees continued to be a problem, but nothing could be done because the chemo had caused my platelets to become so low that I couldn't have surgery for fear of bleeding to death. I stayed on my course to build my body up so I could have surgery. Finally in 2014, I said "this is it, I can't stand it any longer." I had checked all about doctors and everything pointed to Andrews Sports Medicine, so I made an appointment.
My initial, scheduled visit was with Dr. Lyle Cain, which turned out to be the first of many visits. He immediately confirmed that each knee was equally as bad, so we picked the one to have replaced in July of 2014. It went so well that I could have the other one done in October. Great, I was on my way. Surgery went very well again, but 10 days after surgery, I fell and broke my femur right above my last knee surgery. The stitches were not even out. Dr. Cain had to do surgery putting a rod and several screws in my leg, but the replacement was not harmed.
I could do nothing for myself since I could not put any weight on my leg for a few weeks; therefore, my family decided, along with Dr. Cain, that I needed to go to a rehab center to heal and get physical therapy. What a blow! Here I am 66 years old and helpless but that wasn't the final blow. After being in rehab for about a week or so, I had to go back for my visit to Dr. Cain, wheelchair and all. The report was good except for one thing. I now had staph infection, which meant Dr. Cain would operate again for the third time on my left knee, opening all of the incisions which he had to make to repair my femur plus reopening my knee. It all had to be washed out with antibiotics and sewn back up again.
God is so good. Therapy was slow and painful, but I made it. After a few weeks I was able to return home to continue to heal. Even with everything that had been done, my knees were pain free and I could walk and stand without hurting! What a joy! I told Dr. Cain that he is my hero for "putting me back together again", just like Humpty Dumpty.
It has now been 2 full years and I feel better than I have in a decade. The first question Dr. Cain asked me during my first visit was why I wanted to get my knees fixed?
I expressed that I was a mother of three and had six grandchildren which I wanted to be able to pick up, run after and cook for them. Something I had not been able to do for a long time.
Here I am with my husband and my little ones - ages 16 to 3 - and I love it! I feel like my life is wonderful and I am so blessed and I give Dr. Cain lots of praise!
