Paul Divis and Steve Durham – Hip Replacement Success Story

Gents with new joints

When you have places to go, people to meet, and companies to run, the last thing you need is hip pain slowing you down.

That’s how local business leaders Paul Divis and Steve Durham felt. With commitments to their families, their companies, and their personal wellness, the hip pain had to go.

Fortunately, these men were referred to Phil Berry, MD, orthopedic surgeon at Methodist Dallas Medical Center, with more than two decades of experience performing the life-changing anterior approach hip replacement.

“With the anterior approach, you enter the hip from the front, going between muscles,” Dr. Berry says. “The recovery time is so much less than with the standard old way of doing hip replacements — only three weeks instead of three months.”

Here’s a brief look at how Paul and Steve have left hip pain behind them since receiving their new hips.

Dr. Berry’s No. 1 fan

Steve Durham has spent years building multiple banking and investment companies. He and his wife, Barbara, have raised three children and even founded their own philanthropic organization, the Durham Family Foundation.

Needless to say, Steve is a busy guy.

But in the midst of everything on his plate, he works out daily.

“When I was in my 30s, I started doing marathons,” Steve says, who now has 16 of them to his credit. “Even then, I noticed problems with my left hip. I went from orthopedic guy to orthopedic guy to get shots of cortisone and mitigate the pain.”

Steve realized he couldn’t avoid the pain anymore while vacationing with his wife in Santa Barbara in May 2014. The pain was so unbearable that he couldn’t walk. A good friend and orthopedic surgeon suggested a hip replacement immediately.

A fast and easy solution

“I wanted to find someone in Dallas who could do a procedure as quickly as possible and as minimally invasive as possible,” Steve says. “Only a few people in the Metroplex can do that, and one of them is Phil Berry.

“I called him up, and he said, ‘Let’s get together and have a cup of coffee.’ Most docs won’t do that. That’s how Phil is. The reason he is still practicing medicine is because he’s having so much fun using this technique and seeing the results it has for patients.”

Amazing care, amazing results

Steve’s first exam was June 4, 2014, and his surgery was scheduled only eight days later at Methodist Dallas.

“His hip was just completely destroyed,” Dr. Berry says. “He had an osteoarthritic hip from degenerative joint disease. It was bone-on-bone.”

Only a week after surgery, Steve was swimming and riding the recumbent bike. Five weeks after surgery, he was able to do a six-mile hike.

“Now I feel better than I did 30 years ago,” Steve says. “And at Methodist Dallas, I had the best hospital experience I’ve had in the United States.”

His first piece of advice to others with hip pain is to get to the root of the problem. “Get the X-ray and find out precisely what’s wrong,” he says.

His second piece of advice: Go to Dr. Berry and Methodist Dallas. “It was the best care you could imagine.”

‘The best hospital’ is Methodist Dallas

Since his hip replacement in November 2013, Paul Divis has been going strong and keeping up with a busy career.

Since his days back at West Point, Paul Divis, now 55, has been an active person. For example, his most recent fitness regimen is an intense combination of squats, pushups, pullups, burpees, and weights.

Back in 2013, however, Paul’s hip had completely worn out from years of wear and tear.

“I was attending a Chief Executive Roundtable retreat in La Jolla, and I was limping on the golf course pretty badly,” he says. “At dinner, John Ford, on the Methodist Health System Foundation board of trustees, said: ‘Man, you don’t look very good, and you’re a lot younger than I am. I think you need a hip replacement, and you need to see Phil Berry.”

After meeting with Dr. Berry, Paul and his wife were immediately impressed.

“Dr. Berry is a better person than he is a doctor, and he is one of the best doctors you will ever meet,” says Paul, who scheduled his hip replacement for Nov. 15, 2013.

Valuable lessons from the Joint Academy

Two weeks before the surgery, Paul attended Methodist Dallas’ Joint Academy, which prepares joint replacement patients for their upcoming procedures.

“I thought this was going to be a horrible waste of time, but it turned out to be a really good experience,” Paul says. “You learn about the hospital, get all of your paperwork and billing organized, do preliminary blood tests, and have classes on what to expect before surgery, the day of surgery, right after surgery, during your hospital stay, and once you return home.

“The information was invaluable, and the class totally exceeded my expectations.”

Paul was also impressed by the Methodist Dallas culture he encountered throughout his hospital stay.

“The entire staff — doctors, nurses, food services, cleaning personnel — was efficient and hardworking, but more importantly, they all seemed happy to be there, and that made the whole experience so much better,” he says.

When Paul returned home, he was surprised at the level of independence he had as well as his quick recovery.

“Three weeks to the day after my surgery, I was walking the golf course and carrying my own bag,” he says. “You can’t do that with a regular hip replacement surgery.”

Spreading the word

This past summer, Paul was at a party with Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and learned that the mayor was in need of a hip replacement. He was considering specialists at other facilities, none of whom did the anterior approach.

“I told Mike he would be doing himself a disservice if he didn’t go see Dr. Berry about the anterior approach,” Paul says. “I even called Steve and told him to call the mayor.”

Mike followed Paul and Steve’s recommendation and had his right hip replaced at Methodist Dallas on Aug. 14, 2014.

“What Steve and I have been trying to tell people is that the best hospital isn’t on this side of the river, it’s across the river at Methodist Dallas,” Paul says. “You get the best treatment, the best experience. We wanted to tell the story that your hospital is phenomenal.”