Success Stories

Robert Pesti is almost fully recovered from his second total knee replacement and ready to take on the world. “Look for me in the Senior Olympics. I’m going to set the new record in the Senior High Jump. It’s currently 1 ft. 2 inches.”

All joking aside, Robert is thrilled to be back to his active lifestyle, which is not actually as an Olympian, but an avid golfer. Golf was what brought him to Dr. William Stanfield. A tee-time friend had also had knee replacement done and recommended Center for Orthopedics and Dr. Stanfield, specifically, three years ago.

“The first knee I had done was bone-on-bone and just walking and bending were painful,” says Pesti. “I went through a phase of getting injections, but it just didn’t help me, and I was already 70, so I wanted to get new knees while I could still recoup.”

His recovery on the first knee surgery went well, but the second knee replacement three years later went even more smoothly, despite being three years older. “Dr. Stanfield’s assistant, Eric, said this second knee was worse than the first. But I did lots of exercises as instructed before surgery, and then also in post op, and I was out of the hospital within two days.”

Robert opted to do post op recovery at home, even though he owns a tri-level, and CFO sent physical therapists to his home that first week to aid recovery.

“That worked out really well for me. Within two days I was going up and down steps with effort, and within 2 weeks, I was doing stairs normally. I have been in sports all my life, which may have helped. But I think the main contributor to my recovery was doing the exercises that the physical therapists prescribed. Everyone who helped me work on the therapy was very knowledgeable and understanding.”

And the pain? Robert says he was nearly pain free post op, which is good since he also had a poor reaction to pain medication. In fact, for surgery itself, anesthesiologists had to perform a nerve block versus a spinal epidural since arthritis in his spine prevented an epidural from working. All in a day’s work for Dr. Stanfield and his team at Center for Orthopedics and University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center.

Robert was impressed by the professionalism of CFO’s staff — from office personnel to nurses, therapists and doctors. “Dr. Stanfield was a great communicator. I would ask questions and I knew he was answering them honestly. Communicating with him was comfortable. And the rest of the staff was also very good. Everyone at CFO knows what they’re doing, they pay attention to you and they answer your questions. You can tell they enjoy what they’re doing and communicate well. I especially appreciated their ability to see what a patient can and cannot do in regards to recovery.”

And Robert is recovering well. He’s excited for his final appointment, coming soon, because it’s the moment he learns if he’s ready to get back on the golf course. And will he be recommending knee replacement with CFO to his other golf buddies?

“Yes. If you’re an active person, I would recommend seeing Dr. Stanfield about knee replacement. Don’t just start sitting around because it bothers you to move. Operations now are very different than they were 30 years ago. Recovery time is much shorter and that makes a big difference.”

Thanks for sharing your story, Robert, and we hope you experience an Olympic-worthy performance (even the senior version) out there on the golf course!