Patient Stories

Debbie Pellett

A year ago, Debbie Pellett thought she was coming down with another wicked case of bursitis in her hip.

“I had been seeing an arthritis doctor, and I talked to him about it at my quarterly check-up,” said Debbie. The doctor gave her a cortisone shot with hopes it would help, but Debbie felt no relief at all. At her next quarterly visit, they repeated the procedure – and the outcome.

“I didn’t get any pain relief, and that’s when he said I really needed to see an orthopedic doctor,” said Debbie.

Debbie had always heard positive things about Dr. Matthew Weresh, so she scheduled an appointment to see him at AMC Surgery Clinic.

“He looked at the x-rays and said it was pretty black-and-white. There was bone on bone, and the best thing to do was a hip replacement. But he told me to take some time to think about it – and that when it got to the point where it’s so painful that it is infringing on your lifestyle, then that’s the time to do it. But he really stressed that it was up to me. He put no pressure on me, but made it clear – ‘this is what you need to do, let’s get it done when you’re ready.’ And I appreciated that,” said Debbie.

Debbie took time to think about it, do research, and talk to her family. She considered how hard it was to play on the floor with her grandkids. Or how difficult it was to get onto their boat, and how she couldn’t swim well because kicking her feet would cause too much pain.

Debbie also thought about her brother-in-law, who had waited for a joint replacement up to the point where he was miserable and could barely walk. Knowing that she didn’t want to go through that – her mind was made up; Debbie was ready for hip replacement surgery.

“Jo (Worth) was wonderful about setting up the appointments, coordinating the times for joint camp class, the preliminary physical with Dr. Weppler,” said Debbie. Once all of her pre-surgery steps were complete, it was time for surgery.

“When they go into surgery, people are nervous! Dr. Weresh and his staff were excellent. If there was a word better than excellent, I would give them that. They helped me relax, and they spoke to both my husband (Mark) and me. They were gentle, calm—they told me everything they were doing.”

The surgery was a great success—Dr. Weresh reported to Mark that it was one of the easier joint surgeries he had performed, and that he didn’t expect any complications.

“After surgery, when I got up to my room, from then until the time I left, the nursing staff, the CNAs, housekeeping – everybody was so friendly and caring. They stopped to say hi. I don’t think you can get that in a city hospital. Atlantic – the staff that they have, and the way they are totally in tune with the patient is just unbelievable.”

The next morning, Dr. Weresh and Zach Hollingsworth, Surgical PA-C, came to check on Debbie.

“Dr. Weresh sat down on my bed to talk. It was the personal touch that you hope to get from your doctor – it was wonderful. He made me feel like this was fine and I was going to do great,” said Debbie.

Today, Debbie is back to work, feeling great, and looking forward to summer at the cabin.

“I am walking really pretty darn good! I can stand on my legs, I can sit, I can sleep, and I have no sharp pain. It’s tender, but I can deal with tender. That sharp pain I used to have – I don’t have that at all. It’s 100% better than what I felt like before.”