Greg Nelson 2/26/14 Dr. Scott Cook

I have always been active. From the time I was a kid, I played baseball, tennis, swam, etc., but my real love was always running.  I started jogging on a two lane country road outside of Olathe, Kansas when I was 16, and gradually worked up to where I was running 4 to 5 miles, about 4 or 5 days a week, through high school, college, and most of my adult life.

I’m 61 now so that’s 45+ years of enjoying the runner’s high! I began to have pain in my right hip early in 2013 and went in to see an orthopedic surgeon in the Wichita, Kansas area in April of 2013. The doctor took some x-rays and showed them to me, citing “considerable narrowing in my right hip where the cartilage should have been”. He also told me that it would “continue to deteriorate”, and suggested that I make an appointment for a total hip replacement as soon as possible.

I asked about continuing to run after the procedure, and he told me my “running days were over”, and that I “should take up swimming or bike riding instead”. Wow, I thought maybe he was just going to tell me I had a tendon problem and that, with rest and rehab, I would be just fine. I noticed that he seemed extremely fit and asked if he was a runner. He said that he had been for quite some time. I guess coming from another runner I was expecting him to not be so blunt, maybe to give me some flowers before asking me to dance; I guess I just needed a chance to process what he had told me. In fairness to him he was about my age and, in his experience, this was the only option he had been trained to do. He did give me a shot in my hip which relieved the pain for a few months. I then proceeded to spend several weeks being depressed and decided to call my brother Dr. Kirk Nelson, who is a Pulmonary Intensivist in the St Louis area(also an avid runner) to see if he had any suggestions. He put me in contact with Dr. Dennis Disch, a Cardiologist who had a “resurfacing” procedure done on his left hip, by a Surgeon in the Kansas City Missouri Area, named Dr. Scott M. Cook.

I can’t stress enough about having a mentor who’s been through the procedure. They can help give you advice about each aspect of the procedure that you will be facing. Dr. Disch was invaluable for helping me make the decision to do the resurfacing instead of the replacement. Being in my early sixties, with not much degeneration on the head of my tibia was a plus, along with good bone density for the prosthetic attachments. I met with Dr. Cook and his office assistant Kathy Hogan in October of 2013. They laid out what I should expect in terms of physical challenges, how much the insurance would pay for, how much I would have to come up with out of pocket. Their explanation was very thorough and easy to understand. I set the date to have the surgery six months from our office visit on February 26th of 2014.

During the final 6 months before the surgery I had become unable to run or walk any distance. I could not climb stairs, and was contemplating getting a cane to help me get around my office job. I started doing research during this time and came upon a fascinating new bicycle called the Elliptigo. You can read about it on the website www.elliptigo.com. Simply, it is an upright elliptical bicycle that has a flywheel mechanism attached to the back tire. It’s similar in appearance to a kid’s scooter bike, but instead of pushing it with your foot, it has a gliding mechanism that works like cross country skis. You place your feet on two parallel tracks about a foot off the ground and that propels the bike forward. The 8C Model that I ride has a Shimano 8 speed enclosed shifter mechanism that can change into lower or higher gears on the fly, or even when you’re standing still at a stop sign. It’s a very user friendly technology. The bike has a top speed of 20-23 miles per hour on the flat. What makes it really great for Baby Boomer users who have worn out feet, knees, legs, and or hips, in that there’s no pounding on your body. I used the Elliptigo outside during the warm months and put it up on a trainer during the winter. I found that I could keep exercising until the time I had to go into surgery. When I told Dr. Cook about the bike he half-jokingly asked if he could buy stock in the company. He thought it was a great idea that could help me in my rehab after the surgery.

The surgery went off without a hitch. I had the procedure done at Shawnee Mission Hospital on the Kansas side of state line. It was a great experience. Everyone was top of the line professional from Dr. Cook, the surgical nurses, night nurses, and physical therapists. It was the best hospital environment I’d ever experienced! I also was given the go ahead by Dr. Cook to begin riding the Elliptigo just 3 weeks after my surgery, with the icing on the cake being, I’ll be able to begin running again 1 year after the surgery in February of 2015. Life is good….