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<\/a>I was not off to a fast start!<\/p><\/div>\n
The leg was bad from the start.\u00a0 Literally, from the start, when I was born, my right leg was broken<\/strong>.\u00a0 Not sure how it happened as I was busy trying to get through the birth canal at the time.\u00a0 My best guess is that when the doctor slapped my butt to start me breathing, I slapped him back and he dropped me.<\/p>\n It was fine through high school athletics, but in my first year of college football, I was playing cornerback (back in days when they let white guys play cornerback), and I was coming up to make a tackle, when I was not only faked out of my jock strap, but with cleats stuck firmly in the turf, my right knee went in a completely different direction than the rest of my body.\u00a0 I missed the tackle, and subsequently missed the rest of that football season.\u00a0 Miraculously, I went on to play 5 seasons of college football (counting my red shirt season) and two season of service football with the Navy in Japan and never missed another game because of injury.\u00a0 It got banged up pretty good sometimes, but never too bad that I couldn\u2019t play.\u00a0 Playing quarterback<\/strong> instead of cornerback<\/strong> helped significantly.\u00a0 Later in life, it did keep me from running a marathon, when I was on an 18-mile training run, just three weeks before the LA Marathon<\/strong>, and it decided that it had had enough.<\/p>\n In 2010, I had finally decided to have knee replacement surgery and the doctor agreed it was time, but then wife, Linda won a sales contest which was a trip to Wales<\/strong> to see the Ryder Cup<\/strong>.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t want to miss that or be hobbling around on one leg through the Welsh bog, so I cancelled the surgery.\u00a0 Upon returning from Wales, the knee felt fine, so I kicked knee-surgery down the road.<\/p>\n Dr. Jay Patel<\/p><\/div>\n After 60 years from the initial injury (not counting the break at birth), surgery was finally confirmed for June 21st<\/sup>\u00a0with Dr. Jay Patel<\/strong> of the Hoag Orthopedic Institute<\/strong> in Irvine, CA.\u00a0 A word about Dr. Patel; he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Biochemical Sciences<\/strong> from Harvard University<\/strong> where he graduated Summa Cum Laude<\/strong> and Phi Beta Kappa<\/strong>. He then went on to earn both a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering<\/strong> and his Medical Doctorate<\/strong> from Stanford University<\/strong>. He speaks three languages, English, Spanish and Chinese. \u00a0Intellectually, I thought we were a good match, as I had earned a BS degree<\/strong> (How appropriate!) from Westminster College<\/strong> and spoke one of the three languages that Dr. Patel knows.<\/p>\n Dr. Patel did my hip replacement surgery four years ago and not surprisingly, I haven\u2019t heard a word from that hip since.\u00a0 Dr. Patel continuously reminded me that \u201cKnees are harder\u201d.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t know, I slept through both surgeries, but I can attest to the real professionalism, competence, friendliness<\/strong> and overall caring attitude<\/strong> of the Hoag<\/strong> staff.\u00a0 They are truly the best.\u00a0 My surgery was on Monday afternoon and by Monday night they had me walking the halls of the hospital and on my way home on Tuesday before noon.\u00a0 Those who have had this surgery know that the rehab is the tough part, and I\u2019m told if you don\u2019t do the rehab, you shouldn\u2019t have done the surgery. \u00a0But I\u2019m confident in my willingness to work hard to do what\u2019s necessary and I have confidence in Dr. Patel\u2019s ability \u2013 for some reason he just doesn\u2019t seem to be a slacker to me.<\/p>\n Knee – before & after<\/p><\/div>\n It’s now been two weeks since the surgery and I\u2019m telling my physical therapist that I don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m progressing like I should.\u00a0 He looks at me, shakes his head, and says that I am ahead of schedule and that I should go to YouTube and watch a knee-replacement surgery and I’d see why it takes more than two weeks to heal.\u00a0 I watched the video.\u00a0 YIKES!!!\u00a0 Glad I didn\u2019t watch it before as I might not have gone through with it.\u00a0 Saws, hammers, drills<\/strong> \u2013 it looked like a major construction project – I guess it was.\u00a0 Watch it at your own risk!<\/p>\n The leg, broken at birth and woefully abused ever since, has now been fully repaired, or rather replaced, thanks to Dr. Jay Patel \u2013 and they said he\u2019d never amount to anything.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow The leg was bad from the start.\u00a0 Literally, from the start, when I was born, my right leg was broken.\u00a0 Not sure how it happened as I was busy trying to get through the birth canal at … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Jay-Patel.jpg\")
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