Carney knee-deep in feeling better

Former BJ reporter and sometimes Akron talk-show host Jim Carney is a happier man today. 

Not knee-slapping happy, but pretty close.

Jim had knee replacement surgery nine weeks ago.

Jim Carney

Let Jim explain:

“Turned a corner at 6.5 weeks when nothing hurt or ached. Couldn’t be happier.”

Jim had his left knee replaced with the man-made version in the Crystal Clinic area of St. Thomas in Akron.

He is married to Katie Byard, still a BJ reporter.

Although the first knee arthroplasty wasn’t performed till 1968, there are 719,000 knee replacements in America every year.

I had mine done a half-dozen years ago. 

For the first two weeks at Edwin Shaw rehab (before they closed that building down), they had me on happy pills & drips so I don’t remember much.

But I’ll never forget the next two weeks – the pain. After all, they cut into your knee bones to insert the scientific stuff.

Then I spent 2 months in therapy at Akron General’s Sports & Fitness Center in Tallmadge, which has a fantastic staff.

If therapist Laura, who later moved to the Carolinas to do the same work, told me I could do a specific exercise machine 20 or 30 times, depending on how it felt, I always did 30. It worked like a charm.

No more pain. Before the surgery, my knee hurt as if someone was taking a chainsaw to it.

It’s tricky getting in and out of cars and into those cramped concert and theater seats and it gets stiff if you don’t flex it every 10 or 15 minutes, but it sure beats the pain of the human knee gone wrong.

It only gets better from here, Jim, as long as you maintain it through exercise.

When Paula and I are not traveling, I go to the Falls Natatorium 3 days a week, and end my hour with a 1-mile walk at a speed of 14 minutes or so.

 When Paula and I are traveling, we’ll walk 1 to 3 miles a day (it helps Paula’s back and lowers my blood pressure and keeps my knee in shape).