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Anne Arundel Medical Center

AAMC Magazine

Winter 2010

6 New Knees

Three of AAMC’s Own Find Relief with Bilateral Knee Replacement Surgery

Nurses Vicki Milewski and Dianne Humphries, and Patient Care Tech Lynn Storm have more than 45 years of combined experience at Anne Arundel Medical Center. Collectively they also endured more than 30 years of knee pain before deciding to undergo bilateral, or “double knee,” replacement surgery. The three employees echo the same sentiment about their recent knee surgery at AAMC: they waited far too long and lived with terrible pain prior to surgery, and their postoperation results simply have been life changing.

Vicki Milewski

An employee health nurse at AAMC, Vicki Milewski was 56 at the time of her double knee surgery in February 2007 and knew the procedure was inevitable. The former runner, waitress and decade-long operatinf room nurse realized that years of constant physical activity had taken their toll.
      “I was walking with a cane,” Ms. Milewski said. “I let it go way too long. Between my two knees I had already had five arthroscopic procedures.”
       She didn’t give a second thought about where she would have the surgery. “The AAMC Joint Center is phenomenal and the Joint Camp is wonderful,” she said. “This is the only place I would go.”
       “I am so glad I did this,” Ms. Milewski added. “The day after the surgery I thought, ’I can walk without bone pain.’ I’m actually sorry I waited so long.”
Dianne Humphries

IV therapy nurse Dianne Humphries, 62, didn’t want to go anywhere prior to her May 2008 knee replacement surgery. “The pain was so bad,” she said. “I would work 12-hour shifts, then get home and sit in my car and cry.”
       “Both knees were in horrible condition, and I knew it was coming,” she said, referring to the operation. “But I was afraid to have the surgery. Finally, I got to the point that I was so in need that I was no longer afraid.
       “I’m so glad I had both done at once,” she said. “And I wouldn’t go anywhere else to have the operation. The staff of the orthopedic floor is on top of everything. I felt very confident having this done here.”
       “I couldn’t be more pleased with my new knees,” the 28-year AAMC employee said. “They are better than the rest of my body.”
Lynn Storm

Part-time patient care technician Lynn Storm, 50, was in the middle of nursing school when her knee pain got so bad that she couldn’t concentrate.
       “I was on a lot of pain medications,” the seven-year employee said. “I was using a cane. I knew I needed to get it done.”
       “They let me know it was going to be hard,” she said about the October 2008 surgery. “And it was hard. But it was so worth it.”
       Ms. Storm recalled the care: “People were super helpful and super concerned. They treated me like family. I was so impressed with the Joint Camp and the caregivers that I transferred to work on that unit.
       “My advice is to just get it done,” she said. “It is scary, but it is so well worth it. It is like day and night. Now I have my life back.”

– Jenny Steffens

Motivated Patients

It takes a motivated, healthy and physically fit patient to take on a double knee replacement and have the best possible outcome, say AAMC Joint Center Medical Director Paul King, M.D., and orthopedic surgeon James MacDonald, M.D. The vast majority of knee replacement patients —whether they have single or double replacements —are pleased with the level of function and pain relief that surgery brings, they said.

“I find it humbling, but also a great privilege, when asked to participate in the care of nurses, doctors and other hospital staff members and their families,” said Dr. King, who performed the bilateral knee replacements on Ms. Humphries and Ms. Storm. “These patients truly are the most informed consumers, and it is a tribute to the excellent staff that these patients/health care providers place their trust in the AAMC Joint Center.”

Dr. MacDonald, who operated on Ms. Milewski, said, “As a doctor, I am confident that patients are getting excellent care at AAMC.”

The AAMC Joint Center – #1 in the State

AAMC continues to lead the state in joint replacement volume, performing nearly 1,300 joint replacements each year.

The AAMC Joint Center is a designated unit, with professional staff dedicated only to joint replacement surgery and a joint coordinator who oversees patient progress from pre-op class to post-op care.

AAMC’s “Joint Camp” is a unique part of the healing environment and gets its name from the sense of shared experiences, camaraderie and companionship many patients feel toward one another. The philosophy of Joint Camp is that you and your family are not bystanders, but active participants with a common goal.

More than 50 volunteers donate their time in the AAMC Joint Center, many of them joint replacement veterans themselves. Volunteers are trained by physical therapists, act as coaches, and help with daily activities on the unit.

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