With Grateful Patient, Cheryl Bruce

I can walk. I take care of my 3 grandchildren. I can do housework. My knees and hips don’t hurt, Oh my gosh, it was just life changing! I could not take care of these kids or even myself if I hadn’t had these operations.

All my life I had careers that were tough on my body, I began working as a cook at a young age and spent many hours on my feet running around a kitchen.  Later, I drove a dump truck, was a house painter, and a caregiver.  These roles all put a lot of wear on my body. There were a few incidents that exacerbated my issues, including when I worked on a truck with faulty brakes.  I was on the dump truck’s catwalk and the brakes gave out.  The truck started rolling and I had to jump out of the way. I painfully landed on my knee, but I needed to catch the moving vehicle still and jumped in to hit the emergency brake. In general, my careers had me lifting heavy equipment, running back and forth, climbing in and out of trucks, and on my feet a lot. 

The breaking point was when I fell in flip flops and went flat on my face. I went to the doctor, and they told me I needed total hip and knee replacement. My left side was especially bad including my hip disintegrating and my knee was the size of a basketball. I limped in barely walking, moving an inch at a time on my walker.

Dr. William Mihalko performed all four surgeries. I felt so welcome at the Campbell Clinic. It felt like a big change after being with so many prior doctors.  Every step of the way, the x-ray technicians, the assistants, the nurses walking by, they all acknowledged me with a smile. It was a friendly, well-oiled machine. I felt extremely cared for and when there was a problem with my care, Dr. Mihalko went out of his way to advocate for me.

Now I can walk. I take care of my 3 grandchildren. I can do housework. My knees and hips don’t hurt, oh my gosh it was just life changing. I could not take care of these kids or even myself if I hadn’t had these operations.  I was so grateful for the entire team that I brought everyone a homemade pineapple cheesecake to show my gratitude. Campbell Clinic and their program are awesome, and the people are superb.