How can we help you?

New techniques in hip or knee replacement generally mean patients go home the same day, experience less pain and get back to normal activities sooner.

But total hip recipient Curt Kumpf, DDS, took those bonus points up several notches when barely a month after his hip surgery he was in Fort Myers, Florida, knee deep in recovery from Hurricane Ian.

“We had bought a retirement place in Florida and, unfortunately, in September of 2022 we were right in the middle of the world’s worst hurricane,” Curt said, noting he and his wife, Linda, rode out the storm in North Dakota. “Luckily, our house didn’t fall, but we had a lot of damage and lost all our belongings. I knew there was only one way we were going to get it fixed and that was if we went down there and did it ourselves.”

A retired Minot dentist and prominent trombonist with the Brass Band of Minot and several other concert, jazz and Dixieland groups, Curt had long struggled with hip pain and instability. Looking back, he guesses that an interesting mix of activities earlier in life may have set him up for joint issues. He ran hurdle events on his high school track team and took an interest in water safety and lifeguarding.

“Later on, I was in the Air Force after dental school and took part in a number of things. I was on the emergency/trauma team and other different teams that would go out to respond to mass casualty incidents. I joined the National Ski Patrol and did hundreds of rescues. I taught the winter EMT course for the National Ski Patrol for 35 years. That was a lot of fun but also very challenging because there was a lot of mountain and hill climbing and downhill skiing. That probably didn’t do my hips much good.”

It was when his hip issues began to impact his work and quality of life that he decided to seek definitive treatment. “From time to time I found that if I was sitting in my chair, I’d go to get up and my hip would just virtually give out on me. It got to the point where if I started moving laterally it really hurt.”

Curt was well on the way toward addressing these issues when the hurricane hit. He had met with Trinity Health orthopedic surgeon Cody Pehrson, MD, whose expertise includes both anterior and posterior approaches to hip replacement surgery, along with complex trauma and hip reconstruction. The two discussed alternative treatments, including a hip injection and hip replacement, as well as the different approaches to surgery. Curt opted for a hip replacement in his left hip utilizing an anterior approach.

Scheduling was a matter of importance, given the need to get down to Florida. A couple of surgical days had opened up in the hospital, and Dr. Pehrson asked if Curt would like to come in at the end of November. He said, “absolutely. I decided to go ahead and get it done, and I’m really glad I did because we spent the next six months in Florida working on our house 10 or 12 hours a day.”

The surgery went well. “It was amazing to just barely be able to walk into the hospital at 7:30 a.m. and walk out at 5 or 6 p.m. on my own power with no cane and no walker.”

He says Dr. Pehrson did an excellent job explaining the procedure and the different surgical approaches. “I’ve got to give kudos to the surgical team for everything they did,” he added. “They were very well organized. Everything came off right on time. They did exactly what they said they were going to do; I thought they did a very professional job.”

Eager to expedite his recovery, Curt dived into his post-surgical routine: icing, exercise and walking. Exercise is a critical part of recovery following joint replacement surgery. “Trinity has a pretty nice program pre-surgery,” he remarked. “They go over everything and give you a booklet that tells you what you should be doing and shouldn’t be doing to promote recovery.”

With his surgical recovery proceeding well, thoughts of hurricane recovery were top of mind. However, there was one more matter he had to tend to before leaving Minot – a trombone gig.

“I was one of the original members of the Brass Band of Minot and I had promised director Wayne Schempp that I’d play a solo at the next concert. Well then, suddenly this hip replacement came up and Wayne said, ‘I assume you won’t be able to play.’ I said I was sure I’d be able to play, and I did. I stood at my chair and played the solo. I think it was six days after surgery, which wasn’t that big of a deal, really.”

It being the Christmas season, Curt played a snappy rendition of “Frosty the Snowman” and hightailed it to Florida.

Hurricane Ian was a Category 5 storm and the third-costliest weather disaster on record worldwide. It devastated Fort Myers and many other coastal communities.

“We had wind gusts of between 160 and 200 knots,” Curt said. “The smallest storm surge that came in was 15-plus feet high. Anything made out of wood was gone. Many homes surrounding us just disappeared, and all of this stuff washed into our house. My son and I took a Sawzall and actually cut a roof apart that had washed up. We carried out water heaters, air conditioners, stoves and furniture.” He noted two of his neighbors died in the storm, one just two houses down from his.

Two years and a new hip later – and judging by a ton of photos on Curt’s phone, it’s clear that all the hard work on the part of his friends and family, not to mention his own persistence dealing with bureaucracies and red tape has paid off handsomely. His retirement home today shows no visible signs of Ian’s destruction.

Meanwhile, Curt looks forward to continuing his retirement, which undoubtedly will include many more trombone gigs. He adds that he likely will get his other hip done at some point. With any luck, a hurricane won’t get in the way.