Knee Replacement (Total)

I am in my early 80's and have played competitive (i.e., tournament) tennis since I was twelve years old.  I began to experience knee pain sometime during 2018 due to deterioration in my left knee, which was probably caused by a combination of the many years of playing competitive tennis and an old high school football injury.  After having a couple of shots in the knee during that year to provide temporary relief, the pain increased to the extent that it became necessary to stop playing completely early in 2019.

July 8, 2019

Dr. Moore,  I am writing this note to you to thank you for extending my quality of life and I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate you.

Firstly, two years ago you replaced my right knee, which had been very painful for several years; shortly after surgery I was able to not only walk up Uluru and snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, as well as hike where Sir Edmund Hillary hiked in New Zealand, with my precious daughter, Heather, who passed away shortly after that trip. What a blessing that was for me.

My husband, Leland Millsaps, worked for Jim Walter Mines in Brookwood, AL for more than 30 years. After leaving the mine industry, Leland has spent the last 15 years owning and managing a garage door installation business.

I’m almost 72 now, and very modestly state that younger men can not believe my physical condition and abilities. Most men at my age would have taken pain medication, changed careers, started taking it easy, so forth and so on.

When you talk about your kids and mention that things run in the family, you might think good grades, sports excellence  or even good looks. For me and my daughter, Danielle, it seems that joint problems run in our family! 

I suffered for years with a worn out knee. I finally decided to see a doctor about my options. I heard about Dr. Benton Emblom from a friend. That was the best advice I could have gotten.

Where were you during the summer of 1992? For me, I was in space serving as a payload specialist aboard the Columbia Space Shuttle. Following the space expedition, I spent time as the chief scientist at the International Space Station and later came to work as a professor at UAB. However, I’m not here to brag about myself. I’m here to brag on the doctors at Andrews Sports Medicine.

People that know me would laugh if I tried to pull myself off as an athlete. Actually, I did play volleyball and did some bowling in my youth that got me some trophies, and even a little rugby.

But in my 30's, my knees started hurting and an orthopedic specialist told me that I would have to have a knee replacement when I was in my 60's.

So here I am, post TKR, with a better knee than I was born with. I am an artist and three weeks after my surgery, I had an outdoor all-day art show! And haven't stopped since.

On February 21, 2018, Dr. Jeffrey Davis and his team performed my total knee replacement using the Mako Robotic-Arm Assisted System. The surgery was a total success!

I worked at St. Vincent's Birmingham for 18 years and saw Andrews Sports Medicine being built. I was having trouble with my knee and received a strong recommendation to see Dr. David Moore, one of Andrews Sports Medicine's joint replacement specialists. Looking back, from the beginning of my experience to the end, I know I couldn’t have chosen a better surgeon.