From the moment I entered the hospital for the first time I knew I was in the right place. The person at the information desk smiled a cheerful "hello" and immediately directed me to the elevators. Dr. Alexiades' staff was welcoming, professional and extremely accommodating, and handled my arrival and subsequent scheduling with competence and efficiency. When Dr. Alexiades entered the examination room he extended his hand and as we greeted one-another I knew I had chosen the right person to do my surgery. (I had researched HSS and Dr. Alexiades extensively and I even arrived with an illustration of the kind of movement I wanted to be able to do - a flip turn - after the surgery.) Dr. Alexiades actually laughed when he saw my flip turn illustration and assured me that I would be happy with my post-surgical range-of-motion. On the day of my surgery the arrival and check-in procedures were smooth and uncomplicated. I was particularly impressed with the professionalism of the staff - including the cleaning people, aides, nurses, cafeteria folks, surgical team and everyone else I encountered - and the events of the day took place with the accuracy of a Swiss watch.
The surgery went off precisely on-time and I awoke as I was being wheeled to the recovery room 2 1/2 hours later, at ~3:00 in the afternoon. The next morning, at 7:30 AM, I was shocked when the nurse told me that it was time for me to take a walk. I was able to walk down the hallway for a good distance, climb three steps unassisted, turn around, climb down the stairs and walk back to my bed! Amazing but true.
Two weeks after my discharge I was back in the pool and after six weeks I did my first flip turn! Since then I have returned to a regime of swimming workouts of ~10,000 yards per week, dry land exercises and regular Master's swimming competitions. I highly recommend HSS to anyone seeking best-in-class orthopedic surgery. - Tom Koellhoffer
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