Kathleen Rodgers

How do I even begin to say thank you to Dr. Westrich at HSS for giving me back my life and most importantly my hope. After 13 yrs I had my initial hip revision redone and during the procedure my pelvic bone was broken. As a mid-30's woman with a small child at home, this was devastating to me. I ended up having to go through 4 additional hip revisions in 2 separate states - only to have my hip continually dislocate - even when just sitting down.

My hometown doctor was afraid to even try anything at this point so I went to see Dr Westrich at HSS and instantly felt that he was the right doctor for the job. His knowledge, his expertise in therapist, his high regard from other medical personnel gave me the confidence to try surgery once again. Living out of state made it difficult to work out appointments but his amazing staff always worked well to accommodate me - especially for the pre-admission testing.

Unfortunately on the day I arrived in NY for my pre-admission testing, I fell and broke my femur bone in my good leg and ended up at a hospital in LI. Immediately upon receiving a phone call from my brother about what happened, Dr. Westrich arranged for me to be transported to HSS for immediate femur surgery. Knowing I could not bear to be away from my family in VA, he arranged to do the hip surgery only 2 weeks later. The surgery went off fantastic and he placed a specially made plate down the length of my leg to keep the hip from popping out the back where all of the muscles had been shredded from being dislocated so many times in the past 3 years (over 5 times).

It has now been over a year since my hip has dislocated and with each passing day, my confidence grows stronger. I can't imagine how life would be today if I had not met Dr. Westrich and allowed him to perform the surgery that he did. He did such an amazing job (and has such a great bedside personality to boot) that when my mother recently needed her knees replaced for the 2nd time, she went to Dr. Westrich as well. As for me, my hips are in his hands for any future surgery that I may need - no matter how far I have to travel to have it done. Thanks to him I am now back driving (after 2 years without being able to) and getting out to enjoy life with my husband and son. Thank you HSS and Dr. Westrich. You all are the best!!!!