Getting Back to Life, One Step at a Time
By John Hogg, MD, DABR, DABVLM, RPVI, RPhS, RVT, RVS Founder, Medical Vein Clinic
I want to tell you about a patient of mine, Rebecca.
A few years ago, she was the kind of person who said yes to life. She had climbed Machu Picchu, traveled the world, taught school in Havana, spent time in the islands of Mexico, and even lived abroad. She was active, adventurous, and eager to see the world.
And then, little by little, things started to slow down.
It began with knee pain. Meniscus tears in both knees, followed by osteoarthritis. Most days, her pain sat around a seven or eight. On some days, it spiked to a nine or ten, and that is what finally made her start looking for a solution.
She had tried everything. Medications. Physical therapy. Injections. Topicals. Braces. Even considered stem cell treatment. Then she read about Genicular Artery Embolization, or GAE, a procedure people had been using in Japan to relieve knee pain, and wondered if any doctors were doing it in San Antonio. That is how she found us.
Rebecca told me: “You look for anything with armrests so you can push yourself up and get off a chair. And then you start noticing ways to make movement easier without really thinking about it.”
I could see she had begun stepping back, little by little, without even noticing it. She avoided stairs, picked airplane seats based on how little she would have to scoot by someone, and even turned down outings before she understood why. And when you have lived as fully as Rebecca has, you feel that loss.
After evaluating her, we talked about GAE. It is a minimally invasive procedure that targets the small arteries feeding the inflamed knee lining. For the right patient, it can provide real relief without the need for joint replacement. At our clinic, this procedure is performed by Dr. Thomas Gianis, a board-certified vascular surgeon, who brings the same focus and precision he uses treating peripheral artery disease to patients dealing with knee pain. Rebecca later said it best: “I consider myself lucky to find Dr. Gianis; he was fabulous. I feel like I have a new friend.”
We moved quickly because she had a trip coming up. One knee was treated on a Wednesday, the other the following Tuesday, and she was traveling the next week. Turnaround like that matters when someone is ready to get back to life.
Now, just a few weeks out from both procedures, her daily pain, once at a constant seven or eight, is nearly gone. Zero in one knee, maybe a one in the other. “ “I refuse to let the old lady in.”
Getting in and out of the car is easy for her again. Walking feels natural. She is retraining her body, rebuilding strength, and enjoying movement without planning her day around pain. That is the real outcome, not just relief, but freedom.
Rebecca also noticed something that comes up a lot with our patients. She appreciated our clinic’s “no monkey business approach.” In her words: “There was no ‘we need to do this and then we need to do this and then we got to check that and then we’ll see you in six weeks’ and it wasn’t like that at all. When you’re ready to make the move, Medical Vein Clinic was ready to make the move with you. And I really appreciated and respected that.”
She even brought brownies and cookies for the staff before her second procedure, and it was clear how much she felt cared for walking back through those doors.
Stories like Rebecca’s are more common than people realize. Active, capable people often start stepping back, not because they want to, but because their body starts asking them to slow down.
The good news is, we see this all the time. And we can help.
If you notice little changes, hesitating on stairs, pausing before plans, thinking twice about moving, it can be a sign that something is starting to slow you down.
Rebecca did not just get her knees treated. She got her life moving again.
And that is always our goal with patients because “Healthy Legs Take You Further.”™
Dr. John Hogg, MD, DABR, DABVLM, RPVI, RPhS, RVT, RVS, is a board-certified radiologist specializing in Vascular & Interventional Radiology and the CEO/Founder of Medical Vein Clinic. With more than 30 years of experience, Dr. Hogg has established San Antonio’s leading vascular treatment clinic, helping thousands of patients since opening in 2017. To learn more, visit https://www.medicalveinclinic.com.
