Three Weeks, Not Six Months: A Pilot's Knee Replacement With 365 Surgical
- Aug 6
- 3 min read
Howard flies two airplanes for a living, and for five years, a running injury slowly turned into something his knee couldn't work around anymore. By the time he decided to do something about it, he expected the whole process to be slow: a long wait for surgery, a longer wait to fly again. He told us he assumed he'd be grounded for a couple of months at minimum.
The wait was the first thing that changed. Howard's surgeon, Dr. Kavanaugh, offered him a spot through 365 Surgical's concierge program, and the timeline moved from six months out to three weeks. For a patient who had already lived with the pain for years, that alone was the difference between continuing to wait and finally getting relief.
What The Wait Was Really About
Most patients don't experience a long surgical wait as a scheduling inconvenience. They experience it as an open question they can't get answered: what happens between now and surgery, what happens after, and who do you call when something feels off. That last part is where Howard says the program mattered most.
A busy orthopedic practice is juggling a full schedule of patients and a surgeon whose hours are largely spent in surgery or with the patient in front of them. That's not a knock on the practice; it's the reality of the job, and it's exactly why practices like Dr. Kavanaugh's bring in a concierge liaison in the first place. For Howard, that liaison was Maddy. "Maddy was there in minutes, literally minutes," he said. Instead of waiting on a callback or working his way through the front desk, Howard had one dedicated person who already knew his case and could get him an answer fast.
What Came With The Program
Beyond faster scheduling and a direct line to his care team, Howard's concierge membership included a set of recovery tools built around one goal: get him moving again as fast as safely possible.
A dedicated liaison for questions and coordination throughout the process
An ice compression machine for pain and swelling management
Recovery shakes designed to support healing
Gourmet meals delivered for the stretch of recovery when cooking isn't realistic
None of these tools replaced his surgeon's clinical judgment. They filled the gap around it, the hours between appointments where most patients are left to manage on their own.
The Recovery
Howard expected to be out of commission for flying for a couple of months. Instead, he was back in the cockpit within three weeks of surgery. He's since talked to other patients who didn't have this kind of support and are six months to a year out with ongoing problems.
Individual recovery timelines vary by patient, procedure, and health history, and 365 Surgical doesn't promise a specific outcome or response time. What the program is built to do is remove the friction that slows recovery down: unanswered questions, delayed communication, and the sense of navigating surgery alone. For Howard, that translated into getting back to work weeks earlier than he'd planned for.
Why This Matters to a Practice, Not Just a Patient
The same structure that shortened Howard's recovery is the same structure that reduces the load on a surgical practice. When a liaison is fielding the "is this normal" calls and the "what do I do about this" questions, they aren't landing on the front desk. When a patient has one dedicated point of contact instead of a rotating set of staff, the practice isn't repeating the same explanation across three different phone calls. Surgeons who partner with 365 Surgical get a patient who feels genuinely supported, without adding headcount or new software to manage it.
Howard put it plainly: "There's real value here." For a program built around the space between visits, that's the outcome it's designed to produce.
If you're a patient,
considering orthopedic surgery, ask your surgeon whether they partner with a concierge program like this one.
If you're a surgeon,
Ready to see if 365 Surgical is a fit for your practice? The program is designed to be evaluated with minimal time investment on your part. Our team will come to you, walk your staff through how it works, and help you determine whether the fit makes sense for your patient population and practice model.
Comments