Pam's Story

"No more canes.”

Pamela Jump relied on canes for mobility for three years before her hip joints deteriorated to a degree that warranted surgery.

Pamela’s life was normally a very busy, active one. Her job in retail merchandising required much lifting and bending. And on her own time, Pamela’s favorite pastime was gardening, planting flower beds on all four sides of her house, keeping her trees trimmed. “Gardening is my mental therapy,” she says.

“Not a lot of people understand that your trees have to be groomed to keep them pretty,” Pamela advises. “But prior to my surgeries, there was little I could do around the house, inside or out.”

Living with hip pain.

“You’re in a lot of pain,” Pamela explains. Because hip replacement surgery is considered roughly a 25-year fix, Pamela’s orthopedic surgeon, Dr. William Bohn of Johnson County Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, wanted to wait as long as possible before performing her surgery since Pamela was only in her 40s.

But when the ball joint of her left hip collapsed in early 2008, Dr. Bohn scheduled her replacement surgery immediately at Olathe Medical Center.

“They took wonderful care of me.”

“My experience from start to finish at that hospital was outstanding,” Pamela relates. “The staff was incredible. The physical therapy team was fabulous. The occupational therapists were great. The nursing staff was phenomenal.”

Dr. Bohn wanted the left side to be fully healed and in good working order before scheduling her right hip replacement. Pamela’s second surgery was performed about six months later, again at Olathe Medical Center.

“This surgery was identical to the first,” Pamela says, “however it was easier because I knew what to expect.”

Again, Pamela had a very positive experience at Olathe Medical Center. “After my second surgery, I wrote a letter to the director of the hospital, telling him what a great staff he has on the fourth floor.”

“The hip pain was gone. 100 percent gone.”

Post-surgical recuperation and physical therapy helped Pamela get back to a more normal, active life.

“After I healed, I could do all of it again. I went back to work after eight weeks and went on with my life. I could work without pain at my job. I could mow my lawn. I could walk my dog,” Pamela says.

She continues, “I can use the pool and go off the diving board. I can do the gardens. So I can do all the fun things that I could not do.”

Pamela adds, “I am happy with that.”

Many advanced orthopedic procedures such as anterior hip replacements, minimally invasive joint replacement and reverse shoulder replacement enable patients like Pamela to return to a pain-free, active life.  Use the Physician Locator tool in the upper left corner of this screen to find an orthopedist near you. Informational joint pain seminars are offered several times each year at no charge. For a current schedule, see the Classes & Events link in this website.

Olathe Health System brings together a network of surgical expertise, advanced technologies, dedicated caregivers, and state-of-the-art facilities to serve a single orthopedic specialty: you.