Patient Stories: Sunanda Das S.

"It’s back to the good old’ days, thanks to Dr. Kirschenbaum!"
– Sunanda Das S.

My name is Sunanda Das S. I am a relatively new entrant to this country, and have only been living here for the past 3 years. I am originally from Singapore where I had a rather enjoyable life. As a house maker, apart from taking care of the family, I was busy with charity work as well as a rigorous exercise routine. I had been physically very active and healthy and rarely saw any doctors.

However, about 4 years back, I suddenly developed a pain in my right knee. I continued to ignore my knee while many other things were happening around me. My daughters got married, I had my first grandchild and my husband left an established job in Singapore and joined a company here in White Plains. With all these happening around me, my own problem got shelved.

We arrived in NY just before Christmas and the harsh winter took a heavy toll on my suffering knee. We changed apartments after a year and went to a house with many stairs where my knee worsened. Finally, my PCP referred me to Dr. Ira Kirschenbaum. He told me that my knee was in a bad shape and that he realized the excruciating pain I was enduring. He was initially keen on a knee replacement surgery, but agreed to do an orthoscopy to try and relieve me of the pain. However, this did not really help since by then I had serious misalignment of my leg and I went back to him for a partial knee replacement surgery.

Now, 6 months after the surgery, my life is back in order. Recently, I went on vacations to Iceland and England and then to India and Singapore. Friends and family in the Far East could not detect that I had such a serious surgery for I was walking fit and ahead of my husband as before. It’s back to the good old’ days, thanks to Dr. Kirschenbaum! I now go on long walks, do Pilates and take care of my newborn granddaughter every day.

Apart from the expertise that Dr. Kirschenbaum has, what strikes me as most comforting, is his caring and humorous demeanor. He visited me at the hospital late at night after the surgery and replaced a bandage on his own. I have seldom seen such humility and deep sense of commitment from any doctor. He is so charming that he can bring a smile to a face in severe pain. Dr. Kirschenbaum jests that he has to accompany me back to Singapore someday. Well – that will certainly be a gain for Singapore and a loss for NY!

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