The scar on Vance Jirava’s right knee only tells part of the tale of his journey to Sanford Health.
The farmer from Ogema, Minnesota, had his knee replaced in January. But the other scars on his leg made this surgery a bit different.
“1993. I broke my femur just above the knee on a snowmobile and spent a couple weeks in the hospital,” Jirava said.
Thirty years later, the wear and tear of farm life had taken their toll.
“Some days were unbearable,” said Jirava. “I went and got a couple of them cortisone shots and then I thought I could maybe go play football again or something, like, there’s no pain. But yeah, those wore off real quick. I got two of those and made it through harvest and then I wasn’t going to go through another harvest like that.”
Total knee replacement
This winter, Jirava opted for a total knee replacement with Joseph Bruenjes, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at Sanford Health Fargo, about an hour away from the farm.
“With the knee replacement, we remove all the regions of the cartilage and we replaced it with metal and plastic. The metal and plastic then acts as the cartilage in the bearing surface to create a nice smooth gliding surface,” Dr. Bruenjes said. “In his case, with it being a post-traumatic scenario, he had a lot of extra bone spurs that were likely affecting a lot of his range of motion.”
Before the surgery, Jirava walked with a limp. He couldn’t fully straighten his leg, and he could only bend it back to 105 degrees. Today, he has full range of motion. From straight to 124 degrees.
“Night and day. In and out of machinery, up and down. It’s been six months now,” Jirava said. “I feel like 30 years younger.”
Back to farm work
Best of all, Jirava said he recovered in time for planting season. Which is something Dr. Bruenjes knows is important to many of his rural health patients.
“We do a lot of the work to give a patient a good knee, but it’s really important for the patient themselves to spend the time to strengthen and get back to where they need to go. In this case, his profession is working out in the fields. When we do surgery in January with expectation of planting in March, we know that we’re kind of pushing the timeframe a little bit,” said Dr. Bruenjes.
“Vance did a great job doing all the things that I ever asked of him, and he was able to get back to pretty intensive labor within three months of surgery.”
This year’s harvest should be a bit more comfortable for Jirava, at least physically. The scar on his knee now acts mostly as a reminder of past pain, while his new knee points to greener pastures ahead.
Learn more
- Total knee replacement with a new robot assistant
- Knee replacement options: Surgeons can help you decide
- Robotic-assisted knee replacement makes world of difference
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Posted In Fargo, Orthopedics, Rural Health
