photo by: Contributed

Pictures are Randy and Marsi Cox and dog Zeus.

Working with drywall is physically demanding, whether you’re installing it or finishing it. Just ask Randy Cox. He’s been the owner of Randy Cox Drywall Interiors in Topeka for the past 48 years.

“While sheetrock is heavy, working with it is a true art, much like being a great trim carpenter,” he said. “If you walk into someone’s house and don’t notice the work, we did our job. It can make or break the whole house.”

Having a physical occupation means dealing with occasional aches and pains, but Cox began to notice that he was having increasing pain in his right leg. It eventually began to feel like a high groin pull, and then when he’d walk, pain shot down his thigh and over his knee.

“I played football at the University of Kansas under (head coach) Bud Moore. I’ve had so many different injuries and surgeries that I knew there was something wrong,” he said. “One of the guys I’d played with told me it was my hip.”

Cox turned to someone he trusted to learn what was causing his pain — Dr. James Huston at OrthoKansas. He’d been treated by Huston before when he needed his left knee replaced, so seeking help from Huston again made sense.

“Randy is an active, motivated guy,” Huston said. “He presented with pain and had limited range of motion, and those were affecting his daily activities.”

Based on his symptoms and imaging results, Cox was a candidate for total hip replacement. He underwent surgery at the Lawrence Surgery Center at the LMH Health West Campus in May 2023.

After a total hip replacement, Huston recommends that his patients get up and walk the day of surgery, initially using a walker for assistance. Depending on their strength, activity level and pain tolerance, patients advance to walking with a cane and then without an assistive device.

“Typically, patients don’t need an assistive device within a month or so, but it’s normal to take a few weeks for strength and endurance to recover,” he said. “Randy was definitely an exception to the rule.”

Cox returned home from the surgery center the same day and never reported any post-operative pain. He was quite active early on in his recovery, beginning with mowing his yard four days after surgery and returning to CrossFit workouts in short order.

“I was just carrying the cane when I came back for my post-op check,” he said. “I could’ve walked down to the end of hall and back because I’d done it at home. Dr. Huston told me he has to worry about me because I get moving so quickly.”

The team at LMH Health OrthoKansas provides collaborative and innovative care under one roof, allowing patients to get treatment close to where they work, live and play.

“Our total joint program is one of two programs in Kansas to have earned advanced certification for total hip and knee replacement from The Joint Commission, the regulatory body that accredits health care organizations in the United States,” Huston said.

Today, Cox continues his workouts and has also returned to bike riding, which he hadn’t been able to do because of the pain in his hip. He’d been logging about 100 miles each week prior to surgery and is happy to be riding again.

“I’ve given Dr. Huston’s name to at least four or five friends with knee or hip issues,” he said. “The folks at the coffee shop I go to every day all saw me when I came back from surgery, and they took his name too. I can’t recommend OrthoKansas enough. It’s been a wonderful experience.”

— Autumn Bishop is the marketing manager and content strategist at LMH Health, which is a major sponsor of the Journal-World’s Health section.