When Robert White talks about his chronic knee pain, he tells about the adventures that may have contributed to it – and he wouldn’t trade them.
He spent more than two decades active in martial arts, beginning when he was a teenager and picking up again “when my midlife crisis hit in my 40s,” he said. His time and discipline earned him a state black belt championship, he said.
And then there was the time he fell out of a deer stand high in a tree and managed, somehow, to land on his feet.
“Between martial arts and that deer stand, they probably both have something to do with my aches and pains,” he said. “I just try to keep going the best I can.”
Now 72, White is “semi-retired” from a career in purchasing. When he’s not working or tending to his wife’s “honey-do list,” as he puts it, he’s fishing on Lake Hartwell or Lake Russell, often trying to find striped bass.
But even the simplest activities were difficult when his knee pain was at its worst.
Gel injections he received for pain stopped giving him relief. He dreaded having to use the stairs or making a trip to the mailbox.
Then a family member told him he might find help from a low-dose radiation treatment available at AnMed.
Osteoarthritis Treatment Makes ‘Big Change’ in Pain
White finished his initial round of treatment just a few weeks ago – and he said his pain has decreased tremendously.
“You wouldn’t believe how many people I’ve told,” he said. “It’s a big change – a great change.”
Osteoarthritis treatment is the latest addition to applications of radiation therapy used by AnMed’s radiation oncologists. The therapy has been more often used to treat cancers of the brain, spine, head and neck, breast, lung, esophagus, stomach, prostate, bladder and bones.
Radiation treatment for osteoarthritis can work in conjunction with other treatments to provide valuable benefits, and it can make a difference when other treatments fail.
White has received six treatments – two per week for three weeks. He finished his last one about five weeks ago.
The low doses of radiation decrease discomfort and improve the quality of life for people who’ve struggled with pain.
AnMed Remains at Forefront of Advanced Medical Capabilities
“Oh Lord, yes, it has made a difference for me,” White said. “I can go to the mailbox without excruciating pain. I can go up the stairs without excruciating pain. I can walk up a driveway without excruciating pain.”
Installation of a new, additional linear accelerator at AnMed’s North Campus, home to AnMed Cancer Center, enabled AnMed to remain at the forefront of advanced technology and capabilities with its new osteoarthritis treatment.
Sometimes called a linac, the sophisticated machine uses electronically produced radiation in levels low enough to be safe and beneficial overall in appropriate applications.
“Radiation therapy is always changing, and we want to stay at the forefront,” said Dr. Leander Cannick III, a radiation oncologist at AnMed Cancer Center. “This Varian Edge machine is going to keep us there. It’s going to help us do more advanced treatments and faster treatments – and provide more access to care.”
White is thankful for it.
“I didn’t expect it to totally take my pain away; it didn’t give me a new set of knees,” White said. “But I’ll tell you, it’s a lot easier to live with a pain level of two or three every day instead of a pain level of seven or eight every day."
Residents throughout the region who are interested in exploring radiation therapy to treat osteoarthritis should consult their doctors.
