After 14 years of suffering, 40-year-old Change Director, Anita Parbhakar had a total knee replacement which transformed her life.
At the age of 26, Anita had taken a jump off a wall which was almost 12-15ft tall. Although she landed on both feet initially, she couldn’t carry her weight fully and landed on her bottom where her right leg was curved out. She got up with no pain and carried on with her day.
Anita’s job took her abroad regularly and she was working across Europe at the time. After 18 months, Anita started feeling pain. Putting it down to the intense travelling, she didn’t think too much about it. She started getting pain in her hands and feet, shoulders and more so in the knee. It got so severe, Anita couldn’t move her joints as well anymore and the pain was excruciating. Her GP referred her to a Rheumatologist who diagnosed her with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). She was put on RA drugs initially, which had many side effects and no real impact. She felt she was getting worse and at this point she stopped work - unable to walk, lift her fingers or move. Her joints were inflamed, and she lost the will to carry on.
After three months, Anita started to move around a bit and move her fingers, but she knew something was terribly wrong and taking the drugs were not her way forward. Anita decided to make some positive changes - she stopped drinking alcohol, became a vegetarian and had intense yoga sessions for three months while she was off work – the impact was amazing – no pain. She lost weight, got stronger and the pain seemed to have disappeared. She stopped taking the medication after the initial four weeks of yoga and didn’t look back. Her knee however over the months did play up quite a bit, she took injections in the knee to enable her to walk with no pain.
She married in the April, fell pregnant with her first and during her pregnancy she was advised her RA was in remission. After her son was born, she continued with steroid injections in the knee – as every other joint was pain-free. She even had a keyhole surgery in 2009. During the years she continued to have steroid injections in her knee and buttocks to help relieve the pain.
After three years, Anita fell pregnant with her second son. Within a few months, the pain in the knee returned with a vengeance and pain also appeared in her back. She went back to her GP who referred her to another Rheumatologist. As she was pregnant, she could not take specific medication.
In July 2018, during a soft personal training session she somehow must have twisted her knee joint. The day after she was in a lot of pain. She went to see her Rheumatologist who advised she should trial increasing her steroid dosage, but the pain didn’t leave her. When she was in the office, she was limping and eventually started to use a stick for support. Every step she took was painful, the intensity was severe. In November 2018, she had to completely give up work. She could no longer walk; she was in severe pain across her body and was unable to look after herself.
She comments: ‘My Rheumatologist suggested I start biologic treatment as the other drugs were not having an impact at all. The pen injection was painless and after 48 hours I woke up in the early morning, with a severe reaction around my face - my husband rushed me to hospital. In my heart I always believed this wasn’t RA.”
She continues: “I decided to find out myself what was going on in the knee and went to search for an orthopaedic surgeon. I looked through many profiles, I visited five different orthopaedic consultants, which I paid for personally. Their initial view was the same, after the X-rays and a further MRI - I had completely lost my cartilage and was bone on bone. My damage was so severe they didn’t realise why anyone hadn’t referred me earlier. I had severe damage in all four parts of the knee. I was so relieved; I finally knew why my knee was in so much pain and why no drugs were working.”
After much research combining reviews on online portals and looking at the national joint registry, Anita had researched three orthopaedic surgeons and visited them all. She still hadn’t found the right one and then she looked back into the NJR and found Mr Vedi. Mr Vedi had a good profile, she found his website and read all his patient reviews which looked very positive - so she booked an appointment with his secretary.
Anita says “I chose Mr Vedi because of his confidence and his knowledge. All the other surgeons focused on the good news and elaborated on how good I would feel. Mr Vedi was able to recognise I was nervous and was so reassuring. He shared the risks openly and was very honest, clear on the process but also sympathetic. He knew my knee was severely damaged and I had to make a choice to go through with the surgery. He was very experienced in his profession and he made me feel at ease. So, I booked with him the following day.”
Anita had surgery at the end of April and was in hospital for four nights. She was visited by Mr Vedi daily while in hospital providing her with clear guidance on what she was going to experience. She was on crutches for two weeks at home, by the third week she could walk again without the support of crutches. With extra Physio sessions and hard work at home with all the exercises, regularly taking medication by June and only six weeks after her surgery, Anita was able to stand up, go for short dog walks, bathing her-self with no support, and even able to sleep better.
After four months post-surgery, Anita is loving life again. She started work in August with full movement in her knee, she has been on holidays and is able to walk long distances with her children. She can sit on the floor, sleep all night with no pain and live a normal life again. Something she hasn’t been able to do in the last eight years or so.
Anita concludes “I finally feel I have my life back. I was constantly upset with not understanding why I was in so much pain - I had lost my confidence and my independence. I was being looked after at the age of 40. I was dependant on my husband and my two young children. I lost myself. But now I am over the moon and back to being ME again. I am an active mother again, I can drive and do all of my favourite activities such as yoga, long walks, shopping, cooking, painting, everything a normal person can do. Running is a little further away, but that’s OK, it is work in progress. I can’t thank Mr Vedi enough – you are a true professional who has passion in what you do. You have the patient’s needs at heart and you truly care. Thanks to you and your team, you have given me the chance to live my life again, happily with no pain. Mr Vedi – wishing you continued success in your career. I hope you continue to help people like me.”