Patient Stories

Ricky Cunningham

Ricky Cunningham, 37, of Vacaville, is walking pain free once again after having one knee replaced in the NorthBay Joint Replacement Program at VacaValley Hospital last year.

“I was in such pain, I didn’t know what to do,” Cunningham says. His knee, first damaged by a high school sports injury and then seriously injured at work in 2003, was little more than “bone-on-bone.” The painful joint dampened his spirits, as well, especially since it prevented him from coaching his daughter’s sports team.

“I had previously been told I couldn’t undergo joint replacement surgery until after age 40,” he says. “So I’m grateful for the good fortune that brought me to Orthopaedic Surgeon Timothy Luke, MD, and NorthBay’s Joint Replacement Program.”        

Cunningham is the youngest person to participate in NorthBay’s Joint Replacement Program, confirms Cynthia Giaquinto, RN, manager of the program which began in August 2007.

“There was a time when patients were advised to wait as long as possible before having a joint replaced,” she says. “That’s because joint prosthesis weren’t as durable as they are now. Thanks to technological advances, today’s prosthesis are lasting a very long time, so the decision about when to have the surgery is now a ‘quality of life’ decision, not a chronological one.”

Cunningham, an operating engineer who previously drove bulldozers for a living, says he’s thankful just to get back on his feet and walk again.

“I go all day without pain,” he says. “Before, I couldn’t stand up for too long and I couldn’t lift anything because my knee was too unstable.”

While he’s not dancing yet, he is looking forward to getting back to work and having the stamina to coach his daughter’s basketball team again.

Lillian Lambertson

Lillian Lambertson of Vacaville has always been on the go. So she took it seriously when her energetic lifestyle was threatened.

“We’re an active family, walking the dogs, traveling, taking care of the house and garden. I’m not a sit down and do nothing person,” she says while conceding, “Time is catching up to me.”

Arthritis and the wear-and-tear of everyday living brought Lambertson, 78, to NorthBay’s Joint Replacement Program in August 2007. She was among the first group of patients to go through the program, having her left hip replaced. She returned six months later to have her right knee replaced and in August 2008 had her left knee replaced.

Lambertson found group recovery to be very beneficial. “Recovering with others definitely helped. You have no better support than from those who are in the same boat. They know what you are going through.”

A life-long swimmer, Lambertson was pleased that her joint replacements allowed her the ability to get right back into her regular activities.  “I was walking and swimming. I also took a trip to Santa Maria two months after my first knee replacement, and that was a six-hour drive. NorthBay’s Joint Replacement Program is excellent. They treat you very well and everyone is very supportive,” she says.

Age is not a determining factor when it comes to having joints replaced, says Andrew Brooks, MD, program advisor, who says bilateral knee replacements on a 95-year-old patient would not be all that exceptional. “If an individual is active and healthy and they can stand to gain from it, it can be done,” he says. “Quality of life is the key.”