Back to Skiing on a Total Knee Replacement

It was like on cloud nine. It was get this, it was a bluebird day. It's snowed two to three feet overnight. Bluebird sky, so no clouds. It was 19 degrees outside, never got above 26 at the base. The top of the mountain was colder, zero to two miles an hour wind. I mean it was a total epic blue birthday. Never skied a groom run except for getting to a untracked run. It was incredible. So it was like levitating down there at the hill. My name is Steve House and I had a total knee replacement done by Dr. Stone. I was experiencing a lot of pain and it kept me from doing my passion, which was skiing or not was is skiing cuz I just put in three days. So it's been excellent. Six months post-op, yay <laugh>, not even six months post-op.

I've had three knee surgeries already on the right knee three on the left. The left is bone on bone but I'm no, I have no pain. My right after the three surgeries skiing I went off on a cliff that I didn't know was there to the last moment and I, when I some assaulted, I stuck it in the snow and the impact, like whatever cartilage or meniscus was there, kind of squeezed it out. So now I was bone on bone and it pretty much ended my skiing ability cuz it was just so much pain. And I made it out of the resort. It was at Palisades and called my doc and said I hurt myself. And they said a total knee replacement. I didn't believe him. I talked to Dr. Stone, I did some research first and his name popped up, talked to him and I liked what he offered.

Almost six months post-op and I'm able to do normal activities. My passion is back. Just had three days of awesome skiing and it was incredible. So I'm really excited for it. And yeah, so it's worth it looking into the total re knee replacement to find out what my insurance would cover and what the reviews were and different doctors, their history and stuff like that. What was eligible under my plan. So I just have my deductible. And I was talking to my neighbor about what I was looking to do and she says, well, my daughter told me about this podcast. I think he ought to listen to it cuz I think this guy knows what he is talking about. There may be alternatives to the knee replacement. So I did some research and it turned out to be Dr. Stone and the Stone Clinic.

And they had a lot of information out there, checked out a lot of reviews, did some research, and decided okay, it was worth to drive down here to at least get a second opinion and evaluate what my options were. One of the things that was nice too was in the reviews, I was told even with a total knee replacement, you could ski up, you know, within three months. Some people can't. And I felt, well that's not gonna happen because key season's not gonna be in three months. So, but anyway, had it done, recovery time was way quicker than an ACL injury surgery. For me, it was way quicker, like half the time. Cuz I'm skiing normally I would not be skiing right now, I don't think with the acl. But the rehab, what you put in, it's what you get out of it, right?

And so I'm one of those that no one's gonna do it for me. So, you know, I want to lose weight. I lost my weight. I wanted to be in shape. I'm stronger now post-op than I was pre-op, you know, especially with this right leg not hurting. So it's, it's a lot of benefits which you put in, which you get out of it. So it was like on cloud nine, it was get this, it was a bluebird day. It's mo snowed two to three feet overnight bluebird sky, so no clouds. It was 19 degrees outside, never got above 26 at the base. The top of the mountain was colder, zero to two miles an hour wind. I mean, it was a total epic bluebird day. Never skied a groom run except for getting to a untracked run. It was incredible. So it was like levitating down there at the hill.

I never stopped and I loved going advanced expert runs. So it was crowded that day. There's a lot of people. But Tuesday was the same thing, only cuz it didn't snow two feet overnight or six inches or more. I don't consider a total due blooper day, but it was identical to the day before. They opened up new terrain, so you got a little fresh in. And then I skied two days after that and incredible. It was just like, again, le levitating and knew that I believed deep inside that having this done after doing the research and reviews and you know, everything you have to do, you should do. I felt that was worth it and I knew it was gonna be painful. I knew I was in pain every day, just sleeping, doing walking. It'd stopped me from my passion skiing. So if I wanted to get that back at all, I needed to do that. It kept me from doing hiking. I loved to hike. It kept a lot of things out. So I felt that the reward risk 30 years versus 20 years versus pain every day and not doing everything.

The scale tip to having it done and knowing, knowing that six months of going through rehab or whatever it takes you to do it. Some people faster, some people longer, it's all on you. Just get out there and have it done. Eliminate the pain and just push through it. The type of people you see down here typically are people who want to take care of their bodies, want to still go out and do things versus going into other places where you see people want to pot pills all the time and or need other services. They're, they're taking care of the problem instead of solving the problem. And this place solves the problem. Let's correct it before it happens. So why make it worse? The longer you prolong it, the longer it, the worse it is. It gets, it doesn't get any better than what it is today. And the sooner you get it done, the the better you'll be with it.