Regina Gentile

Dr. Steven Haas performed my bilateral knee surgery on October 30, 2017. Dr. Haas is a gifted and talented surgeon who I will be forever grateful to for improving my life and definitely putting me "Back in the Game".

As a retiree, I started my second career as the owner and operator of a certified organic farm and greenhouse. I reached a turning point in my life as I was unable to keep up with the physical demands of the business due to pain and physical limitations of both knees. I started to limit the number of shopping trips unless it was absolutely necessary, and remember when grocery shopping the first thing I would look for was a shopping cart to hold on to for support. I was seriously thinking that I would have to give up my business, something I enjoyed doing, not to mention all the time and labor that went into building a successful business.

I contacted Dr. Haas's office and after sending him my records I was able to schedule an appointment. I knew that I wanted bilateral knee surgery as I saw too many friends go to local physicians who would only do 1 knee at a time. They then had to repeat the operation 6 months to a year later which is something I did not want to have to do. When I met Dr. Haas I knew I was going to have a very good outcome as he has performed thousands of these surgeries and is an expert in his field. He is also a very caring doctor, easy to speak to and he answered all my questions.

My surgery went extremely well and I was in HSS for 5 days and then spent another 5 days in a rehabilitation facility. I would have gone home except that I have stairs in my home with the full bathroom on the second floor. After rehab I started outpatient physical therapy 3 times a week for 8 weeks. The first six weeks are the hardest as your knees are swollen and achy you are not sleeping well. By the sixth week I started to drive and that gave me a little more freedom to drive myself to physical therapy, go to the bank, post office and even a short trip to Wegmans to pick up a few things. I just used a cane for support and had a temporary handicapped placement card for parking which helped greatly. Driving also helped improve my outlook as I knew I was getting better and that I no longer needed a walker. I used the walker for the first 3-4 weeks until my physical therapist switched me over to a cane. Short term milestones! It's very important to choose an excellent physical therapy facility and do all the exercises your PT tells you to do especially at home. I also did presurgical exercises to strengthen my quads and my physical therapist said that helped me with a faster recovery.

At 12 weeks I was back to work with very few limitations. I still had some pain going down stairs but that resolved itself completely by the 19th week, which is where I'm at now. If you need a knee replacement HSS is the place to go. The entire medical staff is cutting edge, nursing care is superior, and their physical therapy department is excellent. The hospital is immaculate and they put the patient's safety and well-being first on the list. Don't be afraid to get your knees replaced. A little bit of discomfort for a few months for 20-30 years of pain free mobility. Thank you Dr. Haas and your entire staff!