Describing themselves as avid golfers and tennis players, Barb and Jerry Devisser settled into an active retirement on Dataw Island in a tastefully appointed home overlooking one of the neighborhood’s two golf courses.
The New Jersey natives moved to the area nearly a decade ago. Before then, Barb taught high school math, and with only a glance at Jerry, it’s clear he was a football coach. What’s less obvious is that he was also an art teacher specializing in ceramics. He has displayed much of his work in and outside their home. He admits that the art teacher/football coach combination was unique.
“It was a bit unusual, but always kind of a positive thing,” he says. “I got an opportunity to meet a lot of different kinds of kids, not only the athletes. It was interesting.”
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Journey to Joint Replacement
As the pair considered relocating to a warmer climate to enjoy year-round outdoor activities, fate struck when Jerry won a golf trip to the Bluffton area. Barb joined Jerry on the trip, and they were immediately attracted to Lowcountry life. They started looking for a home in Bluffton when they discovered Dataw Island.
“As soon as we rode across the causeway, we loved it,” Jerry says. “That was nine years ago. We just did it. We went back, sold our home and came down.”
In addition to sharing careers in education and a love of sports, the Devissers also shared the experience of recently having had joint replacement surgery. Jerry had a hip replacement in November 2021, and Barb followed with a total knee replacement in May 2022.
Jerry explains that he had been dealing with knee pain for about a year. While he could still play golf and tennis, albeit with some minor discomfort, everyday motion became problematic. He began to have trouble bending forward to do things like tie his shoes or get up from a chair.
While playing tennis, Jerry suffered what he thought was a muscle pull. During an appointment with board-certified orthopedic specialist Dr. H. Kevin Jones at Beaufort Memorial Orthopaedic Specialists, Jerry mentioned the muscle pain. Dr. Jones suspected it might actually indicate a hip problem.
“He took X-rays, and it looked like it was arthritic,” Jerry says. “He said that once it got started, it would go pretty quickly.”
Despite Dr. Jones’ warning about the expected progression, Jerry was initially reluctant to accept the diagnosis.
“He tried to exercise his way out of it,” Barb says. “It was not successful. He was in denial for a while.”
Two months later, Jerry had the surgery.
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An Unexpectedly Smooth Experience
Every patient’s experience with surgery is different, to be sure. But it’s fair to say that Jerry’s experience was easier than some, maybe easier than most. He was in surgery at 8:30 a.m. and into recovery in about 90 minutes. By 3 p.m., he was walking out of the hospital.
His recovery was notable for his lack of pain and relatively little physical therapy.
Jerry says he was told he wouldn’t feel much pain during the first two days.
“They said the second or third day, once it all wears off, you’re going to have a significant amount of pain,” Jerry says. “I didn’t experience that. Some people do.”
Fortunately for Jerry, the hip replacement has had the added benefit of relieving stress on his troublesome knee.
“The pain from the hip was radiating down into my knee,” he says. “It was the knee that was hurting more than the hip initially. But since I had the hip done, the knee has been much better.”
Within six weeks, Jerry was chipping and putting on the golf course. Eight weeks after surgery, he was playing 18 holes again. However, he notes, returning to tennis was a little slower.
“(Recovery) is not totally predictable,” Dr. Jones says. “A lot depends on the individual. You will find that patients who are already active, have been on an exercise program and have a good range of motion will recover faster.”
Robotic Tools Ease Surgery and Recovery
In Barb’s case, she had been dealing with a knee she describes as “cranky” for some time. She wore a knee brace when she played tennis, but the pain was usually a minor distraction. She treated it with occasional over-the-counter medication. Dr. Jones told Barb that her knee was bone on bone and that replacement would be necessary at some point.
“What that means is that the patient loses their articular cartilage, which is the cushion in the joint between the bone surfaces,” Dr. Jones says. “When you look at an X-ray, you see space between the bones. That space is actually cartilage, which doesn’t show up on an X-ray. When you see the bones getting closer together, you know you’re losing cartilage. In the worst case, there’s really no space, and it’s bone against bone.”
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When Barb’s knee took a turn for the worse, she went from playing several hours of tennis to being unable to take a step in just a few days. It improved with rest, but she said it wasn’t the same. After a consultation with Dr. Jones, she opted for the surgery.
Jones used the Mako Robotic Arm-Assisted Surgery System for both Jerry’s hip replacement and Barb’s knee replacement.
“The Mako allows us to create a surgical plan unique to a patient’s anatomy, and then use the robotic arm to implant the components with greater precision, leading to better function and more natural movement,” Dr. Jones says. “In addition, the precision of the robotic arm allows cuts to occur in a way that they do not impact the tissue surrounding the bone.”
Barb’s total knee replacement and recovery went as well as she could have hoped. She attributes her success, at least in part, to the Mako surgical process.
“I had the robotic surgery the same as Jerry,” she says. “It’s custom made. It’s less trauma. It was a little more than an hour in surgery.”
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On the Mend — and the Court and Course
Although she and Jerry experienced some discomfort, the length and pain associated with recovery were minimal.
“I don’t know that it could have been much better for us,” she says. “You definitely know you had surgery. You definitely have discomfort at times. It’ll wake you up sometime at night. But I kept saying that nothing was ever terrible.”
Ten weeks after her surgery, after physical therapy, Barb was back to what she loves. She started slow, hitting tennis balls launched from a machine on the court and practicing her short game on the golf course. Now almost nine months later, she’s back to playing golf and tennis several times a week.
“It’s hard to believe that we don’t even think about the replacements anymore,” Barb says, adding that she and Jerry are happy to be able to comfortably play their favorite sports again.
“A lot of people say it’s the best thing they ever did,” she says. “I don’t know if I’d say that because I didn’t struggle with years of pain beforehand the way some patients have. But I’m glad I did it. It’s gone very well for both of us.”
If concerns about pain and recovery time have been keeping you from considering joint replacement surgery, it’s time to reconsider. Learn how a Mako knee or hip replacement surgery can address joint pain and get you back to enjoying the activities you love. Attend our Solving Hip and Knee Pain seminar or request an appointment with an orthopedic specialist.
