John Phillips climbs ladder one day after knee surgery

John Phillips’ co-workers who had had the same knee surgery were amazed to see him back on the job in just four days.

Phillips, 58, who works in maintenance at a Calvert City plant, had meniscus repair at Baptist Health Paducah on a Thursday and was back at work the next Monday. Actually, he was back to work – around the house – on Friday.

“Some of my co-workers had the surgery years ago and said it took a month to get over it,” Phillips said. “The next day I was washing my camper and climbing a ladder. I took no pain medicine at all after the surgery.”

A torn meniscus is a painful knee injury that can happen to anyone, so Baptist offers a specialist who can repair the damage close to home.

Spencer Romine, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine, performed a partial medial meniscectomy, removing as little of the meniscus as possible. He removed unstable fragments and smoothed remaining edges to alleviate mechanical symptoms, such as clicking, locking and catching.

Phillips isn’t sure how his injury happened, but the pain kept getting worse, especially when driving.

“No matter what I did, it wouldn’t go away,” he said. “I understand trying to get over an injury (before resorting to surgery); but this time it didn’t work, and I had to seek professional help. This is the first time I’ve had surgery, but Dr. Romine was very personable. I would recommend Dr. Romine and Western Baptist to anyone needing any kind of knee surgery.”

Dr. Romine said he tries to treat each patient as a priority, before and after surgery.

“I think Mr. Phillips’s surgery is a testament to the advancements in orthopedic surgery in general, specifically to arthroscopic knee surgery,” Dr. Romine said. “Given the right patient, surgery is able to relieve symptoms with minimal loss of time off from work and away from activities that people enjoy.”