Cindy Jasper tried just about everything to ease her chronic, arthritic knee pain – cortisone injections, topical gels, you name it. None of it brought her the long-lasting relief she desperately sought.
Adding to her woes: Both her knees were arthritic and virtually bone on bone, the cushioning cartilage having worn out long ago. The result was constant, excruciating pain.
“I couldn’t even put pressure down on my leg,” says Jasper, who is in her 60s. “I had two Baker’s cysts on the back of my leg. One was the size of a golf ball and one was just a little bit smaller.”
A Baker's cyst is a fluid-filled cyst that develops at the back of the knee. It’s often the result of a problem within the knee joint such as osteoarthritis.
“The pain is like a stabbing, someone taking a knife and just stabbing it in your knee and twisting it,” Jasper says. “You can’t straighten your leg out. … it’s just that type of pain that just hurts a lot.”
Jasper turned to Dr. Carl A. DiRaimondo, an orthopedic surgeon with Orthopedics & Sports Medicine BayCare Clinic in Manitowoc, in search of treatment that would provide long-term relief from her knee pain. Double knee replacement surgery was the solution.
A typical knee joint has a layer of cartilage that breaks down over time, causing osteoarthritis. That, in turn, results in less joint space, resulting in pain, swelling and dysfunction.
Total knee replacement surgery, also known as total knee arthroplasty, removes all parts of the knee affected by osteoarthritis and replaces it with durable prosthetic components made of metal and plastic. The surgery helps restore desired quality of life as safely and quickly as possible.
DiRaimondo performed Jasper’s knee surgeries in December 2020. His bedside manner eased any concerns Jasper might have had about double knee replacement surgery.
“He’s personable,” Jasper says. “He gave me all the points of what was going to happen, he let me know that these are the things that they’re doing … and he’s very complimentary, you know, ‘You’re doing great. This is fantastic from where you came from to where you are now. This is fantastic, it’s phenomenal.’”
The surgery was a success.
“I was walking the very next day,” Jasper says. “I actually was up and moving within a day.”
After a brief hospital stay, Jasper used a walker for about two weeks, a cane for three days “and after that, I walked” unaided, she says.
Today, she’s looking forward to retirement and living without pain.
“Getting back to my fitness routine. … Just back to my everyday life of being in no pain and just being able to play with my grandchildren … on the floor … to their level,” Jasper says, laughing.
“I am very happy with the results I got from Dr. DiRaimondo and the fact that I’m able to get around,” she says.
In the photo: Double knee replacement surgery helped alleviate Cindy Jasper’s long-time knee pain. She poses with husband, Wayne Jasper.