Carol Baker – Mako SmartRobotics Knee Replacement

Carol was referred to Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Mr Chan Jeer, after living with knee pain that became so severe her activity was restricted and walking a long distance was increasingly more painful.

“I had a long-term injury being a PE teacher for many, many years. I think probably about 40 years ago I had a ski accident. And in those days, you didn’t have an MRI or anything, so I didn’t quite know what I’d done, but it was obvious that I had a knee injury and then had various problems after that.”

“So, I was lucky enough to get referred to (Mr) Chan Jeer and he had a good look at my knee and said, “Hmm not good, you’re doing okay on it, but you’re going to eventually need a knee replacement.”

“And then eventually it got to a point where I couldn’t do what I wanted to do. Just walking a long distance was becoming very painful.”

“So, I went back to see Mr Jeer and he said, “I think the time has probably come. We’re actually just in a position where we can do robotic assisted surgery”. That was fascinating for me. And then my question was to him, are you excited by doing a robotic assisted surgery? Because for me, he was my chosen specialist, and if he found it interesting and exciting, then I thought it was something that I should try as well.”

“The input of the Mako robot, the assisting robotic surgery I think is amazing. The robot can make it so precise. I had no bruising, I don’t know how that happens. How can you have such a traumatic surgery and there be no bruising? I can only put that down to lack of soft tissue injury.”

“As soon as I was able to get up, they got the physio in and got me walking, got me on the stairs and said, Right, you’re ready, you’re ready to go home. I think my recovery was as good as it possibly could be. It’s very difficult because you’re working in isolation. You don’t know what other people are doing, but you hear all the horror stories and I certainly didn’t have that.”

“After a fortnight, I was cutting back on the painkillers. So, where I am now, three months on, I can ride on an exercise bike, I can swim. I’ve walked about three miles in one go, which was without pain at all.”

“If you’ve got really bad knee pain, then definitely go ahead, have the surgery. Your knee will be better. It might not be perfect after three months, but in six months it will be a lot better. In a year it will be. You’ll be beginning to forget about it.”

The hospital is the only healthcare provider in Kent to offer Mako robotic-arm assisted technology and joins only a handful of hospitals across the UK using the innovative Mako system.

If you’re considering knee replacement surgery, Carol’s story is a must-watch as she discusses the remarkable impact of the Mako SmartRobotics system and how it’s helped her get back to doing what she loves without pain.