Back to An Even Keel

Aptos pharmacist Barry Keeler, 74, has led an active life. He grew up in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, but was California dreaming long before he arrived in the Golden State. After graduating from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in 1978, he flew to California to sit for the rigorous California boards. When he got the news he passed, he told his wife to start packing.

While he had surfing on his mind, St. Helena Hospital made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, so he settled in Napa County, making weekend jaunts to surf and explore the Central Coast. In 1984, Keeler decided to follow his coastal dreams. He spent three months surfing in Mexico, then moved to Santa Cruz. A friend told him there might be a job at a pharmacy in Aptos, so he went in and talked with the store owner.

“Timing is everything,” Keeler said with a smile. “I sat down with the store owner at a table in the middle of the store for 20 minutes, and he asked me if I could start the next day. I worked there until he closed the store in 1995. It was the beginning of my love affair with the Central Coast.”

Keeler thought his surfing dreams had come true when he moved, but the summer of 1984 was the summer of no waves in Santa Cruz. Keeler needed to keep busy. “I had to do something else, so I bought myself a Hobie Cat and taught myself to sail,” he recalled. “After that, it was sailing and racing in the summer and surfing in the winter.”

Keeler was a “goofy foot” surfer, riding the waves with his right foot forward and left foot in the back, the opposite of a regular stance. Surfers put a lot of pressure on the leg that’s in the back, using it to make a quick “pop up” movement to transition from lying on their stomachs on the board to standing on their feet to get on the wave. That continuous jerking movement plus being on his feet working as a pharmacist for 47 years added up to a lot of wear and tear on Keeler’s left knee. He quit surfing and got a larger boat, joining the Santa Cruz Yacht Club in 2009. Unfortunately, his knee kept getting worse. It was even making it hard to get on his boat.

“My knee hurt so much and my leg was so bent that I had trouble getting onto my boat,” Keeler shared. “This made my hip off-kilter, too, and gave me sciatica. It got in the way of having fun and enjoying my life. I was retired, but limited.

“I was getting more bow-legged from trying to keep my weight on my right leg – my left leg was half an inch shorter as a result,” he continued. “People in the club kept telling me to get it fixed and finally my primary care provider, Dr. Chandra, told me I had to get it replaced.

Dr. Alexander Sah had replaced both of Dr. Chandra’s knees, so he sent me to him knowing Dr. Sah is the best in the business. I didn’t realize all my problems were related to my knee until Dr. Sah explained it. It changed my life.”

Alexander Sah, MD, FAAOS, is the medical co-director of Washington Health’s Institute for Joint Restoration and Research in Fremont. For Keeler, the distance from Aptos to Fremont initially seemed like a long way to go. But as he asked around at the yacht club, he found many other members had gone to Dr. Sah for his expertise in robotic-assisted knee replacement surgery. After preparatory office visits and a pre-op CT scan, Keeler had his left knee replaced in September 2024.

“From the first office visit to the last, Dr. Sah and his team were amazing,” Keeler shared. “Dr. Sah called me himself to check on me several times. The hospital OR staff were also fantastic. It was the best possible situation with the best possible outcome.”

Two weeks after surgery, Keeler had a run-in with a sharp shovel in his shed that peeled about three inches of skin off his left shin. The accident slowed him down, but it was the only thing that limited his activity.

“From the surgery in September, I was only away from my ‘normal’ activities about seven weeks,” Keeler said. “I had stopped racing at the club before the surgery, and I went back in November. I think I could have gone back sooner, but we were out of the area, visiting family.”

Now, six months after surgery, Keeler is grateful to Dr. Sah and his team for giving him his “sea legs” back.

“After getting off my crutches a few weeks after surgery, I was amazed to find my sciatica was gone and my legs were both the same length,” he said. “When I finally went back to my boat, the Pair-A-Dice, I was able to hop right on without even thinking about it. No pain, no hesitation. I am back doing what I love and that’s thanks to Dr. Sah and Washington Health. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.”

For more information on Washington Health’s Joint Replacement Program and the Institute for Joint Restoration and Research, please visit WashingtonHealth.com/IJRR