Climb Every Mountain after Mako Joint Surgery

Retired teacher gives UH an A+ for restoring her fast-paced life following two hip and two knee replacements in two years

Scaling a mountain in Greece near her second home, Alice Goumas takes her steps confidently, with new joints personalized for her own anatomy through robotic-assisted surgery at University Hospitals.

The vibrant 75-year-old had both hips and both knees replaced over the past two years, with the last surgery on Jan. 2. Arthritis had made it increasingly difficult for this first-grade teacher at Old Trail School in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to crouch next to students in her Edible Education class, tapping maple trees for sap and showing them how to prepare the seasonal foods they helped grow.

“My passion is getting children to be part of their environment,” said Alice, who continued to substitute teach after her 2020 retirement and offers a popular outdoor summer class building tunnels and forts outdoors. “I am with children outside, taking hikes, building forts, finding toads and insects. I thought it was really important that I had full mobility.”

The Kent woman is also on the go even when she isn’t at school – riding bicycles with her husband on Portage County paths, swimming in the Aegean Sea or climbing wooded and wild Mount Pelion, the mythical home of the Centaurs and her second home in Greece.

She had been putting off joint replacement surgery. Then she learned that UH offered an option that would restore the quality of life she expected.

“Not being able to have a pain-free life was discouraging,” said Alice. “Whatever your ideas are on quality of life, once it becomes less available to you with pain and stiffness, it then becomes debilitating.”

Meet the Mako

Alice started contemplating joint replacements in her 50s, when her arthritis was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. But the elementary school teacher wasn’t quite ready for what she imagined would be an invasive surgery with too much time off her feet.

UH’s robotic-arm assisted technology for joint replacement surgery changed that. The interactive Mako robotic arm provides the orthopedic surgeon with real-time visual, tactile and auditory feedback during the joint replacement procedure, ensuring optimal implant placement to restore biomechanical alignment and range of motion. It also leads to a speedier recovery.

The Mako robot is available at several UH locations. Alice traveled to UH Beachwood Medical Center four times over the past two years, getting both hips and knees replaced in separate surgeries. Now this option is even closer to home at UH Portage Medical Center.

“What’s exciting about offering this procedure in Portage County is how personalized it is for each patient,” said Rikesh Patel, DO, Director of Robotics Surgery for Total Joint Replacement at University Hospitals. “Using advanced 3-D imaging, we’re able to create a model of a patient’s unique joint anatomy before surgery and create a plan tailored specifically to them. During the procedure, the robotic technology allows us to make real-time adjustments with incredible precision.”

With this advanced surgical technology, many joint replacement patients can walk on the same day as their procedure and may even be discharged home on the day of surgery. Smaller incisions result in reduced scarring, accelerated recovery with reduced post-operative pain, and greater preservation of healthy bone tissue.

An A+ from the teacher

This longtime teacher was also a good student, which lent itself to being a good patient. She paid close attention to the guidance given at pre-surgery educational sessions, accompanied by her husband. She followed through after each procedure with physical and occupational therapy at UH Streetsboro Health Center.

Within a month after surgery, she was walking without a cane and supplementing her twice-weekly therapy sessions with several hours a day on stationary bikes and elliptical machines at nearby Kent State University.

“My regular speed is fast,” said Alice. “Everything University Hospitals did – the pre-surgery class, the materials they gave me, the physiotherapy – I give them full points for that. They get an A+ for the prep and the surgery, and such a helpful staff.”

Related Links

Learn more about robotic-assisted joint replacement surgery at University Hospitals.