"Restoring Hope"
Linda Roberts
Linda Roberts traversed Florida, seeking a solution for the debilitating pain in both her knees. And making the trek from her Hypoluxo home wasn’t easy, since then-62-year-old Roberts suffered excruciating pain 24/7 and was often confined to a wheelchair. But she refused to give up. “I had two dislocated knees and for an entire year, I saw doctor after doctor,” Roberts recalls. “There was no traumatic injury or disease and without a cause, the doctors didn’t know how to fix the problem. Everyone told me I would just have to live with it, and they sent me home.”
One solution did come up, Roberts says, but she found it unacceptable. “After the pain became unbearable, there was talk about amputating my leg. It was crazy … and getting crazier by the minute.”
Roberts’ quest for help eventually led her to Robert B. Zann, M.D., orthopaedic surgeon and Bethesda Orthopaedic Institute Medical Director. After close examination, Dr. Zann agreed that Roberts’ case was unusual, but instead of sending the patient home, he called in his colleague, Elvis Grandic, M.D., an orthopaedic surgeon with a specialty in complicated hip and knee joint replacement. “When Linda came to me, I told her I could replace the joint. It would be a complex procedure, but I could do it,” Dr. Grandic says.
Team Approach
While Roberts’ diagnosis was rare, her swift introduction to Dr. Grandic was business as usual at the Bethesda Orthopaedic Institute. The Institute is built on a dedicated team approach, which opens the door to productive physician consults and leads every patient to the right surgeon with the right skill set and experience. In the end, Dr. Zann adds, “It’s about ensuring that we’ve taken every step to see that our patients are able to get their lives back and have the best quality of life."
Solving the Impossible
Dr. Grandic was not surprised that Roberts’ case stymied so many physicians since it was an extremely rare condition that was exacerbated by the fact that Roberts’ knee ligaments were compromised. Dr. Grandic was concerned that a traditional knee prosthesis would dislocate as well. The solution was a special hinged knee system, implanted first in Roberts’ right knee and then, one year later, in her left knee.
“Both knees involved a very complicated and long surgery,” Dr. Grandic says. “Linda did great—better than great. Only one month after her second knee surgery, she took steps without assistance. There’s nothing better than seeing Linda be able to walk for the first time in many years.”
As for Roberts, she’s already set her mind on a new goal. “I want to visit my sister and brother in Lexington, Ky.,” she says. “That’s where I grew up, and it’s been too long since I could travel. Maybe I’ll take a bike ride when I get there. Wouldn’t that be wonderful!”