{"id":29461,"date":"2020-03-02T15:35:16","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T22:35:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=29461"},"modified":"2025-12-31T08:27:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T15:27:44","slug":"orthopedic-surgery-for-knee-arthritis-returns-grandma-to-active-self","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/orthopedic-surgery-for-knee-arthritis-returns-grandma-to-active-self\/","title":{"rendered":"Knee replacement has ‘with-it grandma’ back to her normal active life"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"grandparents,
While arthritis pain was a serious factor in her decision to undergo knee-replacement surgery, a prime motivator for Tess McDowell, second from right, was restoring her ability to be active with her family. With her from left are granddaughter Tess, daughter Michaela, son-in-law Mike, and grandsons Michael and Donnie Landwehr; and husband Don of 52 years. (Photo courtesy of Tess McDowell)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A knee replacement surgery is, technically speaking, elective. For the roughly 600,000 people who undergo one in the United States each year, it sure doesn\u2019t feel that way.<\/p>\n

In late 2019, Teresa \u201cTess\u201d McDowell counted herself among those suffering masses. She\u2019d been active all her life \u2013 playing sports as a kid, hiking and biking and generally being on her feet a lot as an adult \u2013 and there was wear-and-tear on her hinges.<\/p>\n

In 2004, she had had cartilage in both knees cleaned up arthroscopically. The left had long been a bit worse off: three decades back, a friend had suggested using toe clips on her bike for more powerful pedaling. It worked great until she stopped at one point and couldn\u2019t quite extract her foot before the bike toppled with her on it. Bam went her knee on the pavement.<\/p>\n

As the years ticked away, the pain in her left knee climbed the scale. Meanwhile, Tess and husband Don\u2019s three kids had kids of their own. A joint that had been an annoyance became a constant issue. Irritation blossomed into knifing pain. When she stood from a seated position, she had to take a moment to mentally account for both balance and pain level before setting off walking. A longtime climber of stairs, she became an elevator hunter. She could no longer hike with her daughter and grandkids. When she did take stairs, she took them one at a time. She did water aerobics in the deep end. She was feeling like, as she put it, \u201can old grandma.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to be an old grandma. I want to go to kids\u2019 soccer games \u2013 we\u2019ve got nine grandchildren, five in the state,\u201d Tess said. \u201cI want to be involved in stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was no last straw, but a Rockies game last September does stand out as a watershed moment. The family was there celebrating her grandson\u2019s 20th<\/sup> birthday. The family went down to the field to watch the postgame fireworks. She realized that, if she sat on the field, she wouldn\u2019t be able to get up again. Her grandson and others hoisted her after the smoke cleared.<\/p>\n

\"five
At an American Cancer Society event eight days before her Nov. 4 knee-replacement surgery, Tess McDowell, second from left, made her strides in pain. With her are husband Don, left, granddaughter Josie Lynch, daughter Kathleen Lynch, and granddaughter Riley Lynch. (Photo courtesy of Tess McDowell)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A referral: surgery for knee arthritis<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Tess\u2019s daughter, a former soccer player who had dealt with knee problems related to that avocation, told her, \u201cMom, you need a knee replacement.\u201d She recommended UCHealth Steadman Hawkins Clinic \u2013 Denver<\/a>, renowned for its sports medicine and knee-problem expertise. There she met with Dr. Martin Boublik, a Steadman Hawkins Clinic \u2013 Denver cofounder, orthopedic surgeon, and sports medicine specialist who is also the Denver Broncos\u2019 head team physician.<\/p>\n

Boublik ordered X-rays, considered the arthritis evident in that left knee, and told Tess, \u201cYou\u2019re going to need a knee replacement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI started to cry,\u201d Tess said. She knew people who had had bad experiences. \u201cIt\u2019s scary \u2013 just the fear that I wasn\u2019t going to be able to walk again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tess is not generally a crier. The last time she had done so? Two years earlier, with the news of her breast cancer diagnosis. That would lead to a most nonelective surgery: her February 2018 double mastectomy.<\/p>\n

Boublik reassured her that the success rates were high, and that, while it\u2019s a serious surgery, experienced surgeons have made them routine. He added, though, that he wasn\u2019t such a surgeon.<\/p>\n

Boublik and colleagues at UCHealth Steadman Hawkins Clinic \u2013 Denver are sports-medicine specialists who, when it comes to knees, focus largely on repairing and rehabbing ligaments and cartilage damage. Joint replacement is a specialty unto itself. The UCHealth system, though, had a deep reservoir of joint-replacement expertise, and one orthopedic surgeon in particular, Dr. Ryan Koonce<\/a>, had established himself as a go-to UCHealth Steadman Hawkins Clinic \u2013 Denver partner for cases such as Tess\u2019s. She made an appointment with him.<\/p>\n