Friendships are invaluable. I am certainly grateful to my two close friends who recognized something was wrong one day in the summer of 2020. They observed me walking and told me that "my walk was off." My friends, along with my rowing coach, encouraged me to get it checked out.
I grew up on a farm and have been working on it my whole life. We have cattle, chicken houses and row crop operations where we grow cotton and peanuts. From an early age, I enjoyed the work and knew I wanted to carry it over into my professional career. So, I studied to become a large animal veterinarian.
Dr. Jeff Dugas performed my left ACL repair when I was 49 years-old. I felt great after the surgery, followed physical therapy recommendations and now at 61 years young, I just Summited up AND down my first 14er (Pikes Peak 14,110 feet) - a little sore but my knee did great. In addition, I summited Mount Fuji several years ago with no problems! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Dr. Dugas!!!
I started seeing Dr. Cain more than 13 years ago. He treated me with injections and physical therapy for arthritis in both knees and worn cartilage. During the course of these years, my knees became bone on bone. Dr. Cain told me I needed to have knee replacement surgery; however, I kept prolonging the surgery because of the amount of time I would need for rehab. I could not take that much time off from work.