Gov. Joe Manchin will undergo knee-replacement surgery on July 8 at Cabell-Huntington Hospital.
Manchin, 58, will get a new left knee and doctors will clean out his right one.
“It’s pretty gruesome,” Manchin said. “They chip away and hammer out all of the old stuff and put in a whole new metal shank.”
Doctors will give the governor a spinal block and other sedatives before the procedure. He’s excited about having his knees fixed but isn’t too keen on the thought of the surgery itself.
“I hope I’m out,” he said.
Manchin doesn’t expect to miss much work, if any. He’ll head home the same day as the operation.
Complete recovery can take three months or longer.
“It’ll keep me from traveling a little bit, but I’ll still be working like the dickens,” Manchin said.
The governor attended West Virginia University on a football scholarship, but he suffered a knee injury during practice before his sophomore season in 1966 that ended his career.
Manchin said he’s been able to cope with the discomfort throughout his adulthood, even in the last few years as the pain has intensified.
But he’s more concerned about his mobility, and that’s the main reason he’s having replacement surgery.
“I can live with pain, but I don’t have the mobility,” he said. “I’m not able to do things I enjoy doing, like walking. Forget about jogging. I can ride a bike, a stationary bike, to get my cardiovascular. I can still get toned and shaped, but I want to get my knees back. I feel I have a lot of good years left.”
He would have had surgery years ago, but doctors recommended he wait until his condition worsened.
“I said to them, ‘When do you think I should get it done?’ ” Manchin said. “They said, ‘You’re too young. You’ll know when it’s time. You’ll know.’ And by golly, they’re right. It got to the point where I have no strength. You don’t have the quality of life you should have.”
He is the second consecutive governor to have knee surgery. Former Gov. Bob Wise had both knees repaired in October 2004. He was 56.
In April 2005, Manchin underwent minor surgery at Charleston Area Medical Center to repair a hernia problem.
Before he was elected governor in 2004, Manchin had arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder. He had that operation performed at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown.
Dr. Ali Oliashirazi will perform Manchin’s knee surgery.
He will attach pins to bones in the knee. The pins contain reflective spheres, which allow a computer to show him an image.
Technology also offers three-dimensional renderings of each step of the surgery for patients and doctors. The renderings help surgeons properly align the implants.
“I think I’ll push myself much harder than normal with rehabilitation and get back to doing things I enjoy, like flying or riding motorcycles,” he said. “The pain has gotten so severe over the last few years, I know it’s time to do it.”
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