A Joint Effort to Recovery

After a long career in con­struc­tion, nav­i­gat­ing ditch­es and endur­ing long days on his feet, Ter­ry Schieferdecker’s knees had paid the price. After retir­ing in 2009, the dis­com­fort con­tin­ued, pro­gres­sive­ly wors­en­ing, tak­ing him away from his hob­bies includ­ing his love for motorcycles.

Scheifer­deck­er decid­ed to take action and con­sult­ed his pri­ma­ry care doc­tor, Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG) Fam­i­ly Prac­tice Physi­cian Nathan Sea­man, D.O. That vis­it ini­ti­at­ed a refer­ral to QMG Ortho­pe­dic Sur­geon George Crickard, III, M.D. who sought to get to the root of his pain.

“I’ve been putting up with the pain for so long and just get­ting by, but it kept get­ting worse,” Scheifer­deck­er said. ​“I knew when I saw the x‑ray, it wasn’t going to get any bet­ter until I did something.”

On April 6, he under­went total knee joint replace­ment surgery on his left knee, becom­ing the first patient to have the pro­ce­dure at the QMG Surgery Cen­ter. It marked a turn­ing point in his life, he said, and put him on the road to recov­ery and to reclaim­ing his lifestyle.

His recov­ery was swift, with his mobil­i­ty return­ing soon­er than he expect­ed. The post-oper­a­tive peri­od was smooth, which Ter­ry attrib­ut­es to the exper­tise of Dr. Crickard, along with the sur­gi­cal and phys­i­cal ther­a­py teams.

The deci­sion to move for­ward with a treat­ment plan that involved surgery was a joint one, said Scheifer­deck­er. He appre­ci­ates that Dr. Crickard empow­ers him to be part of the plan for his health.

“Every­body I talk to speaks very high­ly of Dr. Crickard. He has a good rep­u­ta­tion of get­ting you tak­en care of, and back on your feet,” he said. ​“He has helped me a lot.”

Scheiferdecker’s com­mit­ment to reha­bil­i­ta­tion with the QMG Phys­i­cal Ther­a­py team was also key in his recov­ery, help­ing him regain the strength he need­ed to resume the activ­i­ties that bring him joy — cut­ting wood and rid­ing motorcycles.

“I was back to dri­ving to and from ther­a­py in about two weeks. I didn’t have to use a lot of pain med­ica­tion. The heal­ing was quick and I have good mobil­i­ty. I’m back to walk­ing at the Kroc Cen­ter. I am real­ly pleased with how my recov­ery has been,” he shared.

For over five decades, motor­cy­cles have been a big part of Scheiferdecker’s life. It was pas­sion that was often hin­dered by knee pain and he was ready to enjoy them once again.

“My mom always told us boys that we couldn’t get a motor­cy­cle while we lived at home. I got mar­ried at 19 and by 20 I had a motor­cy­cle,” he said with a laugh. ​“I got rid of the bikes because I was gone a lot with con­struc­tion jobs, but got back into it when I retired. I just enjoy the free­dom of it.”

Scheiferdecker’s jour­ney is not over. With renewed hope, he antic­i­pates the next chap­ter — the right total knee joint replace­ment surgery. The prospect of regain­ing com­plete mobil­i­ty is some­thing he knows is in reach and he’ll trust Dr. Crickard with his next surgery as well.

“The right knee both­ers me because I’m doing so much more since I got my left knee tak­en care, but I’ll get the right one done and I think I’ll be in real­ly good shape,” he shared.

He’s look­ing ahead to his next adven­ture on his motor­cy­cle and said the care he’s received has him feel­ing hope­ful for the days ahead.

“I rec­om­mend Quin­cy Med­ical Group to any­one I talk to about it. I’ve got no com­plaints. My expe­ri­ence couldn’t have been any bet­ter,” he said.

To learn more about joint replace­ment care at QMG, click here.