Maria Kaczorowski

I came to Dr. Alejandro Gonzalez Della Valle at HSS in desperate need of help. For nearly a year, I suffered from severe pain in my hips. Walking was painful to the point I could no longer commute to work and lead a normal, active life.

My condition was initially diagnosed (at another medical facility) as hip osteoarthritis, so, hoping for the best, I tried every possible non-surgical treatment: rest, physical therapy, NSAIDs, intra-articular injections and acupuncture. None of these worked and, despite all the efforts, my condition was fast deteriorating.

Dr. Della Valle diagnosed me with avascular necrosis and recommended a total hip replacement surgery for both hips. He told me that my hip joints were completely destroyed. He also expressed disbelief at the fact that my non-surgical orthopedic doctor still insisted that injections would work.

After two total hip replacement surgeries performed by Dr. Della Valle, three months of recovery and physical therapy after each, I started feeling alive again! All along, Dr. Della Valle was trustworthy, compassionate and caring, and the results of both surgeries were phenomenal. I became a totally pain free, active individual again, able to go back to work, travel, hike and walk miles with my dog again!

Dr. Della Valle literally gave me my life back and I cannot thank him enough for that. I will be eternally grateful to him and I will never stop reflecting on how amazingly skilled a doctor must be to cure someone from a horrible disease like mine was. I would also like to express my gratitude to his staff, Hope DeVenuto and Rosemary Perallon for their professionalism, kindness and attention to my needs. Everyone at HSS, all doctors, nurses, physical therapists and assistants were superb. Thank you so much Dr. Della Valle for giving me my life back!