Larry Penkava HR Dr. Jinnah 2009 – 2012
I was referred to this site by a fellow hippy,
Max Garner of Troy,NC. We talked today on the phone for about an hour. I’d
heard that he had the resurfacing done and decided to call him.
He said it was interesting that I called today because it
was his first anniversary of the surgery. We both had the same surgeon,
Riyaz Jinnah at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. My surgery
was on Sept. 29. I’m 62 years old and have been running for 29 years. I’ll
reach my 30th anniversary of running in March, so I’m hoping to start back
by the end of March.
I had my right hip resurfaced. It’s coming along well,
I’m just itching to get back on the roads.
My pain started in my groin while running the week of
Labor Day, 2008. When it got worse, I went to see an orthopedic surgeon. He
never figured out that the pain was coming from arthritis, thinking instead
that it was tendonosis. I struggled for a while before seeing a
chiropractor. He said it was in my hip joint and lined me up with another
ortho in Greensboro, just north of my hometown of Asheboro.
The second surgeon told me I couldn’t run again. It
floored me, not just what he said but the way he showed no sympathy. Later,
I asked him about resurfacing. He said that was up to me. When I mentioned
running after resurfacing, he almost blew a gasket, saying people who think
you can run afterward must be living in another universe (his words).
That’s when I decided to call Wake Forest and get an
appointment. Am I glad I did! Dr. Jinnah has been everything the other two
weren’t, competent and personable.
My talk with Max just gave me more hope of running again.
He was so helpful and even said to call him anytime. And, of course, he told
me about this website.
By the way, I’m a writer for The Randolph Guide, a weekly
community newspaper. After my surgery, I started a blog on our website,
www.randolphguide.com.
It’s under Larry’s Blog. It’s like a journal telling about my post-surgery
experiences.
Ultimately, I want to write a book about my life of
running with this hip thing being the focus. The tentative title is “A
Personal Record: The Roller-Coaster Ride of a Runner,” something like that.
Well, that’s my intro. I hope to be using this site often, and you can use
my information for your charts and stuff.
Larry Penkava
March 12, 2012
On March 12 of this year Dr. Jinnah of Wake Forest
Baptist Health in Winston-Salem, NC, resurfaced my left hip.
I really believe I’m improving a bit ahead of schedule of
the first surgery. During the first week I began walking in my neighborhood.
Now I’m doing about an hour a day. This afternoon I pushed my mother (age
94) in her wheelchair up and down hills for nearly 30 minutes with
absolutely no pain.
At 65 years of age I’m hoping to be able to run again
sometime in September. I’ve been a runner for 32 years and hate to think
that I’d ever have to give it up.
Thanks so much for your Web site. It means a lot to us
surface hippies.
Larry Penkava