Lulu Murphy

We had recently moved and I was walking from one room to the next. I was looking up at the ceiling talking to the painter while walking toward the room he was in. What I didn't realize was that the room I was headed toward was "sunken" - you needed to step down two steps to enter the room. Instead, I just walked into thin air while talking and, the next thing I knew, I was airborne heading for the floor. I landed my full body weight on my right wrist, shattering more than 9 bones and fracturing my fifth metatarsal (on my foot) while falling.

My wrist was deformed. My hand was over there and the rest of my arm was over here, like the letter S (see image). It was like something out of a horror movie - but it was attached to me! The local ER drugged me then moved my hand back into place and told me to see a wrist surgeon in case I needed surgery. I visited two local surgeons in Bucks County, PA, and then went down to a facility in Philadelphia for a third opinion. The first doctor wanted to put me under general anesthesia, which I didn't want. The other two said they would do a local block with twilight anesthesia, which was fine; however, they all told me I needed metal hardware with multiple screws, and that scared the living daylights out of me. I had never had surgery before and, especially, not had any metal implants.

The Philadelphia surgeon seemed more confident than the local doctors who said the hardware could come out once the bones had healed; however, the Philadelphia surgeon insisted that he would not ever remove the hardware. "It's not meant to be removed," he told me. This was a deal-breaker for me.

I knew I would find the best doctors in New York City. So, I started Googling wrist surgeons and spent multiple hours reading reviews and doing research. When I landed upon Dr. Scott Wolfe at HSS, I knew I hit the jackpot. This was late July, however, and I feared he might be unavailable or out of town. Luckily, the wonderful staff at HSS squeezed me in, and I literally saw Dr. Wolfe the next day.

I cannot say enough about Dr. Wolfe. Plenty of doctors are smart and competent, but Dr. Wolfe is a cut above. He has a wonderful, caring disposition, and sat there patiently listening as I cried and said I didn't want surgery. He said he could go the non-surgical route but showed on an x-ray all of the fractures in my wrist, methodically explaining that without surgery, my wrist could collapse later on and wouldn't be stable. He also assured me that the hardware could be removed once the bones were totally healed and he felt it was not a risk removing them.

I was in good hands - literally. Dr. Wolfe has so many impressive credentials; I knew that this was the best doctor I could see for my wrist fracture. The surgery happened a few days later, and everything went smoothly. I returned for the scheduled follow-ups, and at one point, Dr. Wolfe discussed the option of removing the hardware, to which I happily agreed.

It has been over three months since the hardware was removed (12/19/23), and I am actually doing push-ups (something I never did before the fall). Every day that passes, I thank God that Dr. Wolfe was my surgeon. If you have any type of wrist issue - stop your search. You won't find a better doctor than Dr. Wolfe and the crew at HSS. They are all really and truly wonderful!