WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and SportsWoman undergoes hip replacement live online
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Arlene Wiessinger, 48, of Columbus, said she decided to undergo the procedure live to help people learn about hip replacement. Her advocacy began three years ago, when she started to feel the pain.
"I didn't realize it was a hip problem," she said. "I thought I was getting a little bit older. I was an avid walker and bike rider. My gait was just different. It was slower and it just hurt."
Simple tasks like going to mailbox became excruciating; family visits emotionally painful.
"I can't baby-sit my granddaughter," Arlene said. "She's nine months old. Physically I can't lift her, I can't pick her up because of the pain of the hip."
An MRI revealed bone on bone contact, her joints deteriorated -- she needed a total hip replacement. Doctors performed surgery on her right hip in April, and scheduled her left side for Wednesday.
"It's wonderful. It's super," she said. "I'm half-bionic right now. I can't wait to be fully bionic."
Arlene decided to broadcast her surgery live from an operating room in St. Mary's Hospital, so that anyone with an internet connection anywhere in the world could view it.
"It is scary -- any kind of surgery is scary," she said. "I want be an advocate for people who are going through what I went through."
Surgeons replaced her hip joints with chrome and titanium ones, pure alloys. Online viewers got to e-mail questions to the doctors, who answered them while they operated. The procedure, doctors say, is getting less and less invasive. Arlene's surgery took only forty minutes.
"I thought it went extraordinarily smooth," said Richard Glad, M.D. "I thought they did a good job with really no roadblocks. Everything went off without a hitch."
Doctors expect Arlene to be up and walking next day, as she begins her physical therapy.
Said Arlene, "I am going to be totally brand new. My quality of life is probably going to be better than it's been for a really long time."
Arlene is a teacher in Portage. Although she's 48 years old, she says, with her new hips, she feels like 25 again.
E-mail Jeff Angileri -- jangileri@wkowtv.com
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