Knee Replacement Surgery - A Patient’s Story

Knee Replacement Surgery — A Patient's Story

John Alt: We're very active. Gardening, we love to camp and of course ride our motorcycle. I think those are the things that keep you active, and as far as work, I mean, I've been working a long, long time. In my role, it's an active role, things like interviewing, meeting and greeting people, showing them around the campus, different functions, dinners, you know, all the sort of things you go to. That's important, and you have to be mobile.

When you get in our circle of friends, there's a lot of knee replacements and hip replacements, and shoulders. That seems to be part of the conversation these days, and so I always ask, "Well, where'd you have that done?" Sauk Prairie comes up again and again and again, so that was a good indication of a good place to go. The second thing is my wife had her left knee replaced. The experience she had was just phenomenal, but after I saw what Jeanie went through, and how quickly she recovered was amazing. We live in an old house — lots of steps and stuff — and those aren't barriers at all, and you'd think they would be, but not so. So, we're able to return to an active life, return to work very quickly.

When I walked in, I had three people giving me a hug, and that's like, "Whoa, this is pretty cool," walking into surgery. That's amazing, and just from there on out I knew so many people, and the care was just phenomenal, I think; just phenomenal. Always so friendly, so very professional, I just really appreciated it. There wasn't anything that was a surprise. That's what I liked, because... I think the other key to it is the pre-programming, so you come in for that day and we spent, maybe, four hours here. So I went through so diabetic education, which was some of the best I've ever had. I knew exactly what was going to happen, there was no gray area. The follow-up with the PT, and that was important, so very professional staff. Knowledgeable, kept me comfortable, any questions I ever had, they were just right there.

Medical technology is just amazing in how fast in moves. This one is built for me, and that's what was so important. I mean, when they send it away to Belgium, I believe, have it built and come... and that just so impressed me. You really have to be a participant in the process as much as the doctor, as much as the PT people, because there are specific exercises they send you home with, and they ask you to do exercises prior to, you do that and you'll be fine. You can't have unreal expectations. You can't have the surgery and say, "Gee, I don't feel like going to PT today," because that isn't it, or, "I'm going to sit and I'm going to watch the ballgame," or, "I'm just going to sit because it hurts." Yeah, it hurts, but you'll get there, but you have to be diligent.

So, there are limitations; nothing's perfect, but it is a whole lot better than it was, I'll tell you, a whole lot better, and it will allow you to do and continue to be active a long time from now.

Mr. Alt is now able to get back to his normal life, enjoying the activities that he was no longer able to do prior to his surgery thanks to his knee replacement surgery at Sauk Prairie Healthcare.