Dr Ashish Arbat, joint replacement surgeon - Miracle surgery has woman back on feet after eight years

Miracle surgery has woman back on feet after eight years

 

 

MUMBAI: For about eight years, Sadhana Sahastrabuddhe had not been in sunlight. She had not stepped out of her house at all due to a severe attack of rheumatoid arthritis which had locked her knees in the sitting position since 2005. It was only last month, that the 45-year-old Kalyan resident got back her ability to walk.
Sadhana had only been married for a year when she started experiencing pain in her heels in 1993.
"When doctors advised me against pregnancy, relatives and friends started telling my husband to divorce me. I too urged my husband to leave me. He had not signed up for a marriage with a disabled partner," said Sadhana. Her husband however, refused to leave her.

 

Sadhana had stiff joints but her mobility had still not b een affected. The couple took a risk and Sadhana gave birth to a son. But she then suffered from tuberculosis, which worsened her condition.
"I had gone to visit our native village in Satara in 2005. While climbing the stairs one morning, I got such a severe attack of arthritis, that I went stiff as a board and fell forward. That was the last time I walked," said Sadhana, who was then brought back to her Kalyan home which she did not leave eight years since.
It was only last year, that a relative who had undergone knee replacement surgery, suggested the same to Sadhana. Dr Ashish Arbat, joint replacement surgeon at Kalyan's Fortis Hospital, who treated Sadhana, said that her knees were fixed at a 90-degree flexion when she was brought to him. "The complications were severe. Firstly, the immunity system starts acting against the body in case of rheumatoid arthritis. Moreover, the quality of her bone was bad because she had not walked for so many years. Her nerves, too, were extremely tight," he said.
The doctor went ahead and conducted the first a knee replacement on the left leg on November 30 and then on the right limb on December 4.
It was a moment of uncontrollable emotion for Sadhana and her husband, when she stood up and walked on her own on January 4 after four weeks of intense physiotherapy. "I could not believe I could walk again. It was like getting another life," said Sadhana. But it will takemany physiotherapy sessions for Sadhana to gain full mobility. "She has problems balancing her gait. With more practice, she will be able to walk perfectly without support," said Dr Arbat.