Upon waking from having a total knee replacement in November of 2010, Rosie Thell, then age 47, had a smile on her face. “The deep aching pain of many years was gone,” Rosie said. Rosie, a dairy farmer from Freeport, thought that the chronic pain was something she just had to live with. After other methods failed to help ease the pain, Rosie turned to orthopedic surgeon Dr. Schaap. Not only is the nagging pain gone in her left knee, she now is able to spend time outdoors with her two teenage boys.

Rosie credits the great care of her surgeon, nurses and therapists at St. Cloud Hospital Bone & Joint Center for getting her back on her feet doing the things she loves — hunting and fishing.

I have always viewed pain as a challenge to conquer. After years of losing range of motion in my hips and knee and experiencing unmanageable pain, I had to accept what the doctors were telling me…I had bad hips and a worn out knee. I was afraid of the restrictions artificial joints might impose on me. Dr. Joe Nessler and his staff worked wonders replacing my hips and knee. To this day, I still find it hard to believe I walked into the hospital in the morning and then walked out the same afternoon with a new replacement hip and have regained full range of motion. We are blessed with today’s medical technology. As an avid barefoot waterskiier — not only was I back on the water barefoot skiing 4 weeks after surgery, but playing tennis and living life the only way I know how — actively. -- Cliff Teigen, patient

Being an obstetrician and gynecologist, Brett Pinkerton of Sartell, spends her days helping others. But after a bilateral hip replacement to replace worn out hips, she gained insight for others with physical ailments.

After surgery she was thrilled to be pain-free other than the discomfort from the incision. Within a month she was swimming and more than six months later had recovered almost 100 percent. “Not having the chronic ache in my hip joint is such a gift!” Dr. Pinkerton said.