MAKO® Patient Testimonials
Hear from real Cheyenne Regional patients about their experiences with MAKO® hip or knee surgery!
(If you’ve received a MAKO® surgery at Cheyenne Regional, we’d love to hear your story, too. Please contact Cheyenne Regional Medical Center at(307) 634-2273 and request to speak with a member of our marketing team.)
Double partial knee replacement
Doctor: Jean Basta, MD
Patient: Mike S. – Cheyenne, Wyoming
“One of my neighbors had the surgery and she was really happy. That’s how I found out about Dr. Basta and the Makoplasty procedure.
Jean (Dr. Basta) asked me if I minded the ‘robotics.’ I said, “The robotics?” I imagined a bunch of little robot guys coming in and operating on you. She said, “No, it’s a machine I use on your leg during surgery. It only goes as far as a I program it, to do what I tell it to do, and it won’t let me go any further.” I was really impressed with the healing time—for one, this is the only scar I have on each leg.
Other than taking pain medication a couple of times, I didn’t feel that much pain after surgery. I had a cryo-pack and I used that, as well as a special toilet seat lift, and had a walker that I used a few times. It went really well! The only thing that I experience now is when I sit for a long time, I get a little stiff. But that’s it! It’s really cool.
I’ve been impressed with the scars, because you can hardly see them. The whole thing turned out great—I was impressed.
My quality of life has improved 100%. Last week, I went golfing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Before, I would be in mortal pain—it was like bone on bone walking around.
I always joke with the guys that when I went to hunt with my nephew, I was like that little Pac-Man guy—cause I’d wobble from one bush to another, and then from one rock to another. I couldn’t hike very far. I drove my pickup up to where I was going to hunt, and I was stalking this herd of elk. It was just painful. And then of all things, last year at this time before I had the operation, we were in Europe. I was thinking to myself, “Why did they have to build all these streets out of cobblestone?” Trying to walk on bone-on-bone knees on cobblestone was excruciating. I’d walk a little bit and then sit, and then my wife would keep walking and come back to pick me up. That was before the operation. Now I can play golf again—my legs are great. I do well now, I can cruise around, you know? I’m not limited to anything that I do anymore. Before, it was excruciating to get up and even walk around the house—the whole thing was excruciating.
I don’t understand why people go down to Fort Collins. They say they need a knee replacement, and I say, “Go see Dr. Jean Basta here in Cheyenne. I had her, and she is just terrific.”
What I liked about her is that she was so confident. She was very competent. Sometimes you wonder about doctors if they really know what’s going on. But she always knew exactly what to do. She answered my questions and told me what to do and not to do.
It was great. The recovery time was minimal. I’d recommend this to anyone.
I’m not in pain anymore. A lot of people think the pain was just when you’d walk on it. But that’s not the case. It’s when you’re laying in bed too—it aches—when you’re sitting still. There was pain there. I’d recommend this for anybody.
Hear more about Mike’s experience in the video below!
Partial knee replacement
Doctor: Jean Basta, MD
Patient: Shirley H. – Cheyenne, Wyoming
Hear Shirley tell her story in the video below:
