UNC Ortho gave me a brand new customized knee.

The injury happened more than 40 years ago during a tag football game after I finished college. It was a typical torn up knee – ACL, MCL, tendons and cartilage, the works.

The orthopedist I consulted said it was major surgery to fix and my leg would be so atrophied coming out of the cast for three months that the physical therapy regimen was only for scholarship athletes with careers at stake.

So I lived with the knee, had several scope procedures to clean out the loose particles. No more tennis or sharp lateral movements for me on this knee. Ride your bike and lift some weights, said Tim Taft — the former ortho surgeon for Tar Heels athletes — and when the pain gets too great, you’ll be ready for a new knee.

That day came, and I went to see Dr. Dan Del Gaizo, a joint replacement specialist at UNC. We discussed the options, since these surgeries had improved significantly in recent years. I asked him about the new customized implants that were made from a three-dimensional x-ray of a knee. He said the data was limited but what they had was very positive.

I said I wanted one, and Dr. Dan sent me for a CT scan. The company built an implant to replace the upper and lower parts of my knee that were causing bone-on-bone pain. They also sent along instructions on where Dr. Del Gaizo would cut spaces so the new knee would fit exactly into those places.

A custom fit, he called it, like hand in glove. All the people I know who’ve had knee replacements said it was a grueling recovery but they wished they hadn’t waited so long to do it. I wasn’t waiting and scheduled the surgery for June 8.

The first week WAS grueling, the second week still very painful. But once the staples came out of the seven-inch scar where my leg was opened up, and serious PT began, the progress was steady and, frankly, pretty amazing.

The pain gradually went away, but the stiffness and swelling won’t be all gone for months. After nine weeks of PT, though, I am walking without a limp and feeling like I haven’t felt in 40 years.

Thanks, UNC and Dr. Del Gaizo, for giving me a customized knee I can truly say was made for me.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Related Stories
‹
Chansky's Notebook: Basketball Hopes
Closing the campus could be good news for the hoops season. While the national debate continues over halting in-person teaching on college campuses and if that should affect playing football, UNC’s latest move might help the prospects for beloved basketball. As of Wednesday, all undergraduate courses converted to on-line education. Students can stay in their […]
Chansky's Notebook: Mack's The Story
If God is a Tar Heel, he will let us play football in the fall. The news about Mack Brown won’t go away, or even subside. His current recruiting class has climbed to 14 in number and No. 3 in the country, and there are almost a dozen uncommitted prospects who are among the best […]
Chansky's Notebook: Still Seeing Red
The best 11-17 team in the country sent State packing again. Maybe Roy Williams ought to load up his schedule next season with schools that have “State” in their names – Arkansas State, Boise State, Cal State, well, you get the point. UNC bookended wins over the Wolfpack to break a near-historic losing streak, and […]
Chansky's Notebook: All-Around Sorry
What do I feel sorry about over that win that got away? I feel sorry for those fans, many of whom might have thought their team had no chance to beat Duke, but didn’t sell their tickets and yelled their guts out at the Dean Dome, trying to pull Carolina through. I feel sorry for […]
Chansky's Notebook: More and Better!
Some New Year’s resolution for Carolina teams and coaches. As we welcome the new year and new decade, here is what I wish for in the Carolina athletic orbit. A successful growth spurt for the struggling Tar Heel basketball team, which has been caught short with its usual array of talented players and been burdened […]
Chansky's Notebook: Ol' Roy's New Numbers
On average, Roy Williams is the best college coach ever. Without getting into the weeds of numbers and fractions, Williams has won more games per season than any other coach, including all-time leader Mike Krzyzewski (1142) and Roy’s mentor Dean Smith, whom he tied with 879 career victories by beating Yale. It had to be […]
Chansky's Notebook: Perfect Storm II?
We should rejoice that this happens just every so often. Roy Williams loves to say how lucky he is to be a college basketball coach — and you know he’s sincere. From a childhood when he was lucky to have a floor in every room of his house; to be the first in his family […]
Chansky's Notebook: An Attractive Pick
Is the Sam Howell news helping Carolina’s bowl prospects? This week, every year, it is always fun to read the bowl predictions by all the news outlets. Literally they change every day for various reasons. One of those reasons may be the continued ascension of Carolina freshman quarterback Sam Howell, who has received the following […]
Chansky's Notebook: The Time Is Right
It’s high time the Tar Heels took back the rivalry with N.C. State. Recently, Mack Brown recalled the first year his Carolina football team defeated N.C. State. It was 1993 after five straight losses to the Wolfpack of Dick Sheridan. After the game, Brown was informed that one of his assistants had body-slammed a Wolfpack […]
Chansky's Notebook: Keeps Getting Better
Once again, how lucky for Carolina that Mack Brown came back. Despite the tough luck and bad pub UNC has had over the last 20 years, three factors have kept Tar Heel athletics among the best in the nation. One is that this is such a great place to go to school that thousands of […]
›