IN A LEAGUE OF MY OWN. Having bilateral total knee replacement on Jan 7th, 2019 puts you on a path few have ventured. But after years of injections and medication fails, it was time to make the decision to replace both knees. I’m turning 62 in a few weeks. I’m an active wife, mother and grammy, or I should say I was until the daily pain of bone-on-bone would send me to the recliner with my ice packs by the afternoon. The best part of the summer days were my husband and I’s early morning 20 mile bike rides around our area. Biking was the one thing I could do, yes bike 20 miles, but not walk 3 blocks! My appointment in Oct 2018 with Dr. Joe Nemanich started the discussion of what could be next and we picked the date for my bilateral TKR. On Nov 1st, I began my pre-hab at home with a daily routine to get in the best shape for Jan. I was confident going into surgery Jan 7th. It was a tough few weeks, but things seemed to be coming along according to my PT, Leah Toth, at Burnsville TCO. At 5 weeks post-op, it was apparent progress stopped and very active scar tissue took over and locked me at 90 degrees. The next step was the dreaded MUA on Feb 25th. Another blow to my recovery, but you have to keep fighting on! Leah and her team have been fantastic! They continue to encourage me every step of the way! Seeing your therapist everyday for 2 weeks at 80 minutes a session builds more than the usual relationship. Through tears of pain and frustration, there were also happy tears when a new ROM had been achieved! This has been one of the biggest events in my life. I’m still a comeback in progress, but I’m looking forward to each month that brings me closer to living pain free and chasing my grandkids this summer. I missed opening day at Target Field, but will look forward to attending some great summer evenings there.

I had had a foot surgery with another company, that went wrong at my post-op appointment. At that appointment a screw let loose unleashing a torrent of staph infection. That doctor screwed the screw back into my foot instead of taking it out and treating me for the infection. This led to three years of an undiagnosed staph infection, destroying my tibia and dissolving most of my midfoot.

Dr. Ebeling was the TCO surgeon referred to me to recognize the eminent need for amputation. Following the amputation of my right leg below the knee, I came under the care of David Giancola with the Twin Cities Orthopedics prosthetic team, along with Chris Boosalis. These two men masterfully crafted the products for my limb while working diligently on restoring my sense of hope and vision for a new life. David Giancola, my prosthetist for the past nearly 3 years, has worked tirelessly to improve my life with his words of encouragement, expertise in prosthetic development, and hours of work at making me walk well. We have had many appointments that took us from 5pm to 9pm at night to get my prosthetic legs right. Never once did he complain or not make himself available to me. Chris Boosalis has been an invaluable resource in my time with TCO. He has met with me, advised me, encouraged me, and help me see a vision for the support group. He has made himself available for anything that I needed for myself or for the good of my group.

Two years later the same staph infection (that had taken my right leg) lay dormant in my system and in a matter of hours put me into sepsis. Once again, TCO rose to the occasion and Dr. Nemanich saved my life by removing my left leg. Once again, Chris and David were by my side and encouraged me to launch the only support group for amputees registered in the state of Minnesota, with the Amputee Coalition. This fall I suffered a set back when the same infection inbeded in my tissues flared up. Again being septic and in the hospital, Dr. Ryan Horazdovsky was the TCO surgeon who performed two procedures that put me back on my feet. His efforts allowed me to return to teaching my second grade class without missing too much time from work.

Throughout all of this – and because of this I have been able to make myself available to more than 50 amputees and their families as leader of BALANCE – the amputee support group or none of this would’ve been possible without my champions from Twin Cities Orthopedics.

Dr. Joe Nemanich and his physician assistant, Ashley, have given me so much high quality advice and assistance with my various joint issues that it’s hard to do a simple story. Dr. Nemanich has replaced two knees and handled a follow-up repair surgery and Ashley does the best job on knee injections. They are an excellent, highly informative team and have kept me mobile through a long journey dealing with pain from many athletic injuries in my younger life. I can’t say enough good things about them. I consider them, and all of Dr. Nemanich and Ashley’s support staff at TCO, a true blessing in my life.