A patient story · told by the patient's own partners
The surgeon who had the surgery.
Dr. Bill Hayes co-founded Sterling Ridge in 2005 and spent two decades telling patients what a knee replacement would be like. Then his own knee gave out. He had the operation here — done by his partners, at our outpatient center, with the same rehab team — and let the cameras roll from prehab to four months out.
If you're deciding, this is the most honest preview you'll find.
Why he finally said yes — with Dr. Paul Chin and Dr. Brian Flowers.
Why a knee surgeon waited — and what changed his mind
He did what most patients do: he put it off. Injections, bracing, "slowing down." The moment that changed it wasn't pain in the clinic; it was the things he'd quietly stopped doing outside of it. That's the same line we hear from patients every week — and it's usually the real answer to "is it time?"
What follows is the entire journey in order. Pick the stage you're closest to from the list, or press play and let it run — each episode rolls into the next. Nothing here is scripted, and nothing is edited to look easier than it was.
Episode 1 of 17 · 1. Before surgery
Prehab: how to reduce pain and recover faster
The rehab team's pre-surgery playbook — the same one every SROSM joint patient gets.
1
Before surgery
He did the homework he asks his own patients to do.
2
Surgery day
His partners did the operation. He let the cameras in.
3
The first 72 hours
The part everyone is scared of, on camera.
4
Weeks 2–6
Where the work — and the momentum — happens.
5
Four months
Back to work — and back to the OR, on the other side of the table.
What his recovery tells you about yours
Prehab is not optional.The strongest predictor of an easy first month is the work done before surgery. Our rehab team starts you weeks ahead — no referral needed.
Home the same day is normal here.His operation was robotic-assisted at our Woodforest outpatient center. He slept in his own bed that night. Most qualified patients do.
Weeks 2–6 are where it turns.Day 1 is hard for everyone, surgeons included. By week four the momentum is real, and the pool makes weeks five and six easier than they'd be on land.
Every one of those steps happens inside one practice: the surgeon, the surgery center, and the therapists are one hallway apart and share one chart. That's the part no video can fully show — and the part patients tell us mattered most.
Where do you stand?
Not everyone who watches this needs a knee replacement. About a third of the people who take our self-assessment hear "not yet," and we count that as a win. Five minutes, seven questions, the same ones our surgeons ask in the exam room.
