Christy K., BMAC & PRP

Would you mind? If you're comfortable, would you give us your age, please?

Well, now I'm 76.

That's incredible. She doesn't look it. She does not look it, and she certainly doesn't act like it. Although when we met you, you came to the office here at Pinnacle on a cane. You were using a cane to get around. So we treated Christy in her right hip, so she's got fairly significant hip arthritis. She did one of our gold packages, which involves bone marrow aspirin, and prp, as well as laser therapies. She is a very strong believer in laser therapy. Actually bought her own unit to use at home and still uses our unit. So she's done really amazing. So just tell us, what was life like before your procedure?

Actually, my quality of life was not good at all. I could barely get around and had to depend on my cane a lot. And let's see, I started coming here in May of 23. Of 23. So in the last several months, that cane has been in the closet. I have not had to use the cane. I can get around pretty well, and some days I have no pain at all.

And she has a beautiful cane. I do.

I'm proud of my cane. I'm proud of my cane, but I'm glad I don't have to use it right now.

We're glad it's collecting dust right now. Right. Okay. So what were you unable to do that really made you upset? You know, those things?

Well, just being able to walk any distance and getting up and down the stairs was. Was really hard. And I had to rely on that cane a lot to. Because, you know, I couldn't put much weight over here, so.

But all of that has greatly improved.

Fantastic. So what finally triggered you to come in and meet our staff here at Penn State?

Well, I talked with my primary care doctor, and he was aware of the trouble I was having. And of course, I had X rays done, and he saw them, and according to what the reading was, plus his opinion, he said, you're a candidate for hip replacement surgery. And I said, well, I don't know that I want that. And I said, but if I do, I said, who do you recommend? And he said, Dr. Schachter, because you had done his father's knees and referred me here. And I said, okay, well, I'll go see Dr. Schachter.

And her goal was to talk you out of surgery.

Right? Right. Because I didn't know about all these other options. And so that's been really a pleasant surprise. Fantastic. And has worked really well so far for me.

So what kind of concerns did you have prior to the procedure? We did three separate procedures on her. We did prp, and then we also did bone marrow aspirate, and we've done laser therapies. Laser therapy is not invasive. But what were your concerns prior to our procedures?

Well, we also did hormone therapy. We did the hormone therapy as well. The pellet insertion. Well, anything inserted, I have a little, you know, reluctance about that. But I did it, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The bone marrow did that.

And surprisingly, it didn't hurt. It was a little uncomfortable, but I wouldn't say it was painful, just uncomfortable. It's a weird sensation.

It is kind of a strange one.

Yeah. But I'm glad I did it. And then the PCP injections, they've been five. Had two of those and they were better than I thought. You know, sometimes we build things up in our head and kind of.

Especially when we talk about, like, bone marrow.

Sounds serious, you know. Well, I mean, it is serious, but it's scarier sounding than it really is. So anyway, I'm glad I've had. Had that experience and all of it, I think, has helped. But again, I want to say that I'm a big believer in the laser. Yeah, the laser therapist. I am.

Okay.

I love light. What can I say?

So what kind of downtime did you have after our procedures? Did you have to spend much time down? Did you. Did you miss out on anything?

No, not really. I mean.

The insertion, the pellet insertion and the bone marrow, because they were more invasive. I was kind of sore for a day or two, just a little bit, you know, but didn't stop me really, from doing anything.

And. Well, no, none of them, really.

When did you return to your normal activities after these procedures?

Probably a couple of days later.

Yeah, absolutely. So it goes quick.

It goes quick.

So what's life like now? We don't have a cane. Cane's cholestine canes.

Yeah, it's going to be a collectible, I guess, one of these days.

But no, I'm able to do just about everything every now and then if, you know, if I'm a little achy, I hold on to something. If I'm gonna be going up or down stairs just for the extra stability, my balance is not as good as it used to be anyway, you know, and that has nothing to do with the hip, really. It's just my age and everything.

We could certainly talk about how we can Improve that too. Right. Like, so there's a lot of. There's a lot of strengthening and structural stuff that we can do there. So maybe we discuss that in the. In the future a little bit. And what can you do now that you weren't able to do in the past, other than just get around without discomfort?

Well, you know, I'm retired, so I'm not hugely active anyway.

You know. Oh, well, like going to Walmart, I could barely. I'd have to hold onto the buggy and kind of creep along before I started doing all this. And. And that has improved. I can kind of go rubbing through. I can shop. I can get around the bigger stores pretty well.

We want you to be active. We want you to be as active as you want to be. That's the goal of the whole program. So what would you tell somebody who's considering Pinnacle Integrative Orthopedics and Sports Medicine one of our biologics programs?

Oh, I would say give it a try. Absolutely. I mean, more new advances are coming out all the time, and.

I'm just not a fan of surgery. That's kind of a last resort, in my opinion.

Why not try other things first and see what works?

Do you have anything else that you'd like to add? Anything you'd like to add about the experience or staff?

Well, the staff has just been great. You know, from day one, everybody was so friendly and, you know, made me feel at ease and very thorough. You know, I've been very happy. Very happy.

Well, thank you, Christy. She's done really well. This is. She's just another one of our successes, and she's so amazing. I love the fact that she's. That her. She does really have a cool cane, and it is collecting dust.

We won't.

I don't want to see that thing in here ever again if we can't help it. So thank you so much.

Thank you.