Yvonne Rosario

I've been a member of the HSS family since the 1980's and my life has been enriched because of it. I have been blessed to have been the recipient of excellent skills from our surgeons, a pain management physician and a rheumatologist. Having inherited bilateral joint disease in both knees from my mother and grandfather, my journey started with Dr. Thomas Wickiewicz. He performed a number of knee arthroscopies and I recovered 100% from each procedure. I had successful trigger finger surgery with Dr. Andrew Weiland. Dr. Seth Waldman administered injections for my shoulder arthritis which relieved my pain completely. I think I was in disbelief when I ruptured a lumbar disc traumatically in 2007, developed a dropfoot and underwent an urgent microdecompression by Dr. Federico Girardi. I had immediate relief of my pain post-op, regained the strength in my left lower extremity and was back to work in 2 weeks. As clinical nurse this experience truly helped me to have more compassion and understanding with the hundreds of patients that have crossed the threshold of the spinal surgical practice I work in. But by far my greatest challenge was facing the need for bilateral total knee replacements. Over the years, I had been under the care of Dr. Chitranjan S. Ranawat, the Big Kahuna, as he is fondly referred to. The SynVisc injections he administered helped 100% for a while. Since I was not ready for joint replacements, I was directed to one of the loveliest, most professional, kindest rheumatologist, Dr. Lisa Vasanth. She kept the knee replacements at bay for about a year with conservative management of my severe arthritis. Once the treatments failed to provide sustained relief of my pain, she directly me back to Dr. Ranawat. I underwent bilateral total knee replacements on April 9, 2013 and never looked back. I was able to return to work part-time at the 3 week post-op mark and full-time once I completed my out-patient physical therapy program. I continue under the care of Dr. Vasanth for arthritis in my hand. For me, HSS not only helped me get back in the game, it kept me there 100%.