Mike Sirek
Mike Sirek got back to work pretty quick.
Mike is a construction contractor. That hard physical work has taken its toll on his knees.
“They’ve been going bad for 12 years – bone-on-bone all that time,” Mike says. He needed both knees replaced, but kept putting it off. “I didn’t want to take time away from work to get it done. But the last two, three years they hurt so ungodly I finally did it.”
Mike wanted a winter surgery so that by Spring he’d be able to work, “at least mow my own lawn,” he says.
He wanted both knees replaced . . . at the same time.
Mike chose orthopedic surgeon Greg Erickson, MD. “I liked his attitude,” Mike says. “When I said I want to replace both at the same time, he said, ‘Are you sure?’”
The standard waiting period between surgeries is about 3 months, to let the first knee heal so it’s strong and mobile enough to support body weight during the second recovery.
Mike was sure. “I wanted to keep my recovery time as short as possible.”
So Mike got to work prepping for surgery. He did some “pre-hab” exercises and stationary cycling to strengthen his quadriceps.
Pain management expert Dean Anderson, APRN, CRNA gave Mike iovera injections, which use extreme cold to temporarily stop nerves from sending pain signals. Mike says the injections decreased his pain 50% to 60% and helped his post-operative recovery.
Surgery went great. “The staff was second to none,” Mike says. He stayed in the hospital one night, focused on pain management and physical therapy. Once home, Mike used ice packs and medication to manage pain that was “pretty intense” for two days. On day three, Mike pushed himself to give his walker a workout. “The more I got moving around, the better it got,” he recalls.
“The first two weeks were pretty rough, but mental preparedness and attitude is about 75% of the recovery,” Mike says.
Physical therapy was crucial to his recovery. Therapist Joel Beithon, PT “was amazing,” Mike says. “His attitude and demeanor were great. Joel told me that when he first saw my age and bilateral knee surgery, he thought it would be challenging.” Mike proved otherwise by pushing past each exercise: “He’d tell me do 15 reps and I’d do 20. Finally Joel said, ‘I’ll just wait until you’re done and put the number of reps in the file.’”
After two weeks of PT, Mike ditched his walker. “I was going to use a cane but both legs were bad, so which side would I use a cane on? I just ditched the cane and kept walking.”
After seven weeks of PT with Joel, Mike had surpassed his goal for range of motion in both knees: “I was straightening my legs a lot more than I could before surgery.” He can get up and down ladders much better now, too.
Mike’s hard work paid off. “It was miraculous recovery. I was nervous, but it ended up being a piece of cake,” he says. “My only regret is that I didn’t do it 12 years ago.”
Mike’s advice for others with ongoing joint pain: “Don’t be afraid of surgery, and don’t concentrate on the pain. They hurt like hell already; how bad can it be?”
Mike focused on the end result of recovery: “The harder I worked, the sooner I’d get there.” At his four-week post-surgical follow up with Dr. Erickson, “I asked him, ‘How will I know how much I can do while working?” Dr. Erickson said, ‘If it hurts, stop.’ That’s the guideline I’ve been using.”
Mike leans on NH+C for most of his medical care, from his primary care provider Dr. Greg Randall to pain management and spine care through NH+C and its partners.
“Anytime I’ve dealt with NH+C’s system, everything was like clockwork,” he says.
And Mike knows what it’s like being on the clock.