"I'm just thrilled to death with my new knees," said Sherry Cox, talking about getting her second knee replacement in August of 2014.
Although the original injury to her right knee happened in the 1970s, she had a replacement knee in 2004. And that only after a physician pronounced it worn out.
According to Cox, her painful experience with knee problems started as a result of an angry milk cow. Sometime in the 1970s, one of the cows had a calf in the field when snow was on the ground. Discovering the calf lying in snow in a wet terrace ditch on a cold morning, Sherry's husband Paul thought it would be best to take it to a barn.
Later, checking on the cow and calf in the barn, Cox decided that instead of carrying water to the cow on one side of the barn, she would let the cow out of the stall to get a drink over by the water trough. All went well, until the cow realized the stall gate was shut and her calf wasn't out with her.
With an angry cow chasing you, it doesn't take long for things to get worse, and so they did. Cox ran for the fence or the feed bunk - at the time which one she reached first was not important - with the cow connecting every few steps and knocking her flying. She kept getting back to her feet and running, finally making a leap to safety. But the cow managed to make one final connect, twisting Cox's leg.
As Cox relates the following events, the bone and joint physicians did all they could, which was x-rays from every imaginable angle and pronouncing no broken bones. She knew the bones might have been fine, but there was some kind of serious soft tissue damage. There was nothing much which could be done for it at that time, so she went on with life, including some work requiring standing on an increasingly painful leg.
About 30 years later, in addition to being extremely painful, her leg was bent at a bad angle, causing some additional problems with her hip. A new trip to physicians with new equipment, methods and knowledge was followed by the recommendation to get a knee replacement since her real knee was worn out.
The date was set and she was prepped for surgery. However, it was delayed for two weeks. The reason? A cat scratch. The surgeon said he wouldn't perform the surgery until the scratch was healed because the risk of infection in the new knee joint was very high from scratches from a cats dirty claw.
Two weeks later, she had the surgery. "They had me on my feet walking the first day," she said.
"The therapy is the important part," she said. It is painful - in fact very painful at first - but it really helps the healing process go forward.
By 2014, her left knee had deteriorated to the point the medical recommendation was that the knee joint was just worn out and she should get that one replaced, too. It is possible that her left knee wore out just because it was doing the work of both knees for so many years.
In August of 2014, her left knee was replaced. She has since gone through the therapy and now can go out and do what she wants and needs too without major problems or pain. She had also had some hip problems. But that was taken care of when Cox went to the Weight Treatment Center at JCMG. After dropping more than 80 pounds, her hip isn't bothering her any more. In addition, she is no longer on medication for diabetes or cholesterol, and her blood pressure is good.
Cox commented she is back on relatively pain-free legs. And just in time. Much of the work with the cattle on the farm has been done by her son for many years. Since he recently started working off the farm during the day, she needs to be available to check the cattle, especially during calving season. And thanks to the new knees, she is is ready and able to do the work.
Cox celebrated a birthday on April 3. The new knees and other positive health changes have caused her to look forward to many more pleasant, healthy birthday celebrations.