Editor In Chief
Gary
Barg sat down with Jane to talk about
how facing her need for surgery got her
back on her feet.
Gary Barg:
I so appreciate you spending time
talking with us about
osteoarthritis, this is such a big
issue for family caregivers. And I
have to say, as someone watching you
for years on some of my favorite
television shows, it’s almost
implausible to believe you were
dealing with this while you were
doing those shows. How did you
find out that’s what you had and
what did you do about it?
Jane Kaczmarek:
First of all, my father had both of
his hips replaced and so, when I
started having pain, I suspected
that I might be a chip off the old
block. I’d limp, and I became
very, very dependent on ibuprofen,
which is a tremendous
anti-inflammatory. And for a
while there, I know I was taking at
least 20 a day.
Gary Barg:
Wow.
Jane Kaczmarek:
So I would make it through the day
and since it was an over-the-counter
painkiller, I just assumed it was
fine to be taking that much. When I
was pregnant with my third child and
working full time on Malcolm in the
Middle, I had to stop taking
ibuprofen through the pregnancy. I
realized then how bad my hip was
because I wasn’t numbing the pain
anymore. I was 46, almost
47-years-old, and gaining 70 pounds
with this baby on a bad hip. My
daughter Mary Louisa was born, I
nursed her and I finished up that
season of Malcolm in the Middle, and
literally the day after we finished
filming for that season, I l checked
in the hospital and had that hip
replaced. That is part of the
reason I was very glad the people
from DePuy asked me to join this
campaign to talk about this because
I waited far too long. I was
in pain far too long. I just
wish I had done it years earlier.
Gary Barg:
You mentioned the campaign—it’s the
Anatomy of Movement Experience. I
love the name; what does it mean?
Jane Kaczmarek is
best known for her role on the
television series