Nancy Rowland

From prepping, cooking and serving food, to the operating room, my career choices have been those where my back took a beating. Then there were life changes, Hurricane Sandy, where I slept on a blow-up mattress for months, to the weight gain from age, all added to the pain. Being quite active my whole life, to having limited physical activity because of my back, my quality of life to say the least, was not good. Living with the pain was a norm. Pain medications were part of my daily routine that caused havoc on my stomach. However, when I started to lose feeling in my foot/leg, it was time for a different approach. Finding out that there was a true medical issue and that surgery was the next thing truly scared me. From the beginning to end, the whole experience with HSS was more than I thought it would be. Every staff member, were empathetic, professional, and quite knowledgeable with the services they provided, especially my surgeon, Dr. R. Huang. When waking from the surgery, or being coherent enough to realize, that the pain was gone, it was a true revelation!! I cannot thank Hospital of Special Surgery enough, for giving me my life back. Now, my days consist of walking, core strengthening, besides my activities of daily living, all without pain. THANK YOU.