Dr. Peter Bonutti

If you live anywhere close to Effingham, IL, you are certain to have heard of Dr. Peter Bonutti. He is an orthopedic doctor and has a thriving clinic in Effingham. I met him several years ago after having two knees replacements put in at the Vincennes Hospital, and one of them didn't work right after it was done. The doctor who did the surgery knew something was terribly wrong, and reacted in a rather unusual way--he was very rude to me. I ended up at Dr. Bonutti's office and he did another knee replacement. I always like to see the looks on people's faces when I tell them I have had 3 knee replacements--and two shoulder replacements, too. I hadn't seen Dr. Bonutti in several years, but began to have difficulty in walking and went to see if everything was o.k. with the knee replacements. X-rays showed them to be pretty much intact with the exception of some plastic shredding (whatever that means)! The doctor decided my walking problem was probably caused by an arthritic back. When I was in Bonutti's office, I asked him if he remembered his comment to me about my nose. He didn't. One time I said to the doctor, "You know you have replaced nearly everything in my body that can be replaced. There is surely nothing left to change." Without missing a beat, he got right up in my face and said, "Well, I can always work on that nose of yours!" For the people who don't know me, I inherited the LEE nose! The LEE nose looks like a clown's nose, except it isn't bright red--well, maybe it is on occasion! Dr. Bonutti's nurse couldn't believe he had said that to me, but I reminded him he was much younger then and sillier. We all had a good laugh. Rumor has it that this silly doctor has invented several orthopedic devices and methods to install them. I don't know if this is true, but he is one heck of a good doctor--even if he did make fun of my nose!