FELICIA: A lot of people describe my voice as having
a sadness in it (FELICIA SINGS).
The pain that I’m going through is in my music, for sure.
MIKE: Her knees are screwed up.
It’s been forever.
She was born that way.
FELICIA: Oh, my right leg is killing me.
I got to stretch it a little bit.
I just have suffered pretty much and made my way pretty much the way I was put together.
I can’t get up this, it hurts too bad.
It’s excruciating, to the ground painful.
Takes the breath out of you painful.
DR.
SECHRIEST: I’m going to do something a little unusual,
don’t be alarmed.
Okay?
I’m actually going to put my ear on your knee.
I know, it’s crazy, right?
But I’m going to listen.
It sounds like snap, crackle, pop in there.
FELICIA: Some percussion going on?
DR.
SECHRIEST: Oh, yeah.
FELICIA: First thing he said when he walked in the
door was, where have you been, Felicia?
(LAUGH) What do you mean?
He said you should have come see me twenty years ago!
DR.
SECHRIEST: She has the knees of someone twice her age.
FELICIA: Those are not my knees.
Are they?
DR.
SECHRIEST: Oh, yeah.
The bones are essentially touching on the inside.
And this is really advanced arthritis.
This is way more than you deserve.
But it’s what you’ve got.
The best solution we have to offer is a full knee replacement.
And we’re going to use some state of the art technology to try to get you a prosthesis
that will actually bond and grow into your bone.
FELICIA: That’s pretty fascinating.
DR.
SECHRIEST: It will literally become a part of her body.
And once it becomes part of her body, it can’t fail.
Once you get a metallic lattice adjacent to bone, the blood from the bone adheres to it
and you have a piece of metal that is bonded biologically to the bone.
FELICIA: Thank you guys.
Appreciate it.
I can’t carry my own amp which is really annoying, because I want to be like that tough
girl that plays in a band that carries around her own stuff…
EMILY: People always joke around that she’s never
written a happy song, and so (LAUGH) a lot of her stuff is sad and in minor key, and
things like that.
She’s actually in two bands, so sometimes we do a double set, and that’s a good three
hours on stage.
FELICIA: I look at pictures of me as a kid, and my
knees look, they look strange.
Like they’re indented.
I try to tough through it, because that’s kind of like the culture of my family.
IRENE: Now that this has come up, maybe I wasn’t
as sympathetic as I should have been, you know.
I mean I was raised in Scotland…you just pick up lassie, you don’t complain.
And it’s just part of life.
DR.
SECHRIEST: You’re my only mission today.
I’m going to do a great job.
I’m going to sign your leg.
I think this case presents enormous technical challenges.
This procedure has to be done technically perfectly.
And so there really is no room for error.
There is no room for error.
Everything matters.
Knife please.
When Felicia was a little girl, her kneecaps dislocated hundreds of times.
Oh boy, this is just incredible.
What’s
fascinating is that a very large piece of bone that shouldn’t be here is sitting right
in her joint.
This is very pathologic.
We’re going to carefully excise this.
Wow.
So this was just something that was a little bonus.
That’s crazy.
So far there’s not a good thing to say about Felicia’s knee.
(UNDER BREATH) Just like that.
Excellent, excellent, excellent.
So the whole major distal weightbearing surface of her knee is completely diseased.
Everything here is just gone.
Absolutely just devastating.
This is the tibial cut.
And this is the platform of the prosthesis.
Okay.
This is the moment when the implants are going in.
All right guys, stay with me.
I’m happy where I am.
Now this is going into Felicia’s bone.
And there it is.
It’s absolutely wonderful.
I am thrilled.
And this is a big moment.
Tracking is really good.
I think we’ve achieved perfection.
I’m actually pleasantly surprised how awful her knee was.
Okay?
(LAUGH) Because it means we were doing the right thing.
Instead of cartilage on cartilage, you have highly polished chrome attached to titanium
alloy.
MIKE: She’s got a hot rod.
DR.
SECHRIEST: That’s what she’s got.
PHYSICAL THERAPIST: You’re walking.
First walk.
Congratulations!
DR.
SECHRIEST: Felicia has a life that matters.
And she doesn’t need to be on the sidelines.
And that’s kind of where she is right now.
We need to get her back in the game.
VANESSA: You need a workout today.
It’s great to watch someone progress, And that’s why all the physical therapists here,
we love our job.
We love watching that process…of people changing and growing.
And bringing them back the things they want to do.
FELICIA: I just started practicing again with both
my bands.
VANESSA: Oh, really!
FELICIA: Yeah.
VANESSA: Do you have a performance coming up?
She’s getting back to what she loves.
I can’t wait to see her next show.
FELICIA: Having my new knee has like taken the pressure
off the left side, because I have a solid foundation on my right knee.
(MUSIC PLAYS) I’m so much happier.
I mean I do things…and I’m like, wow…I just, I’ll get excited, I put a little jog
in my step, reborn, you know, with a brand-new knee.
(APPLAUSE) Thank you.