HEALTH
Extraordinary Care with a patient-centered approach
HEALTH
A New Hip Has This Doylestown Dentist and Backyard Farmer Smiling Again “I think I’m going to be working until they sweep me off the floor,” he said. It almost came to that five years ago – before he discovered St. Luke’s extraordinary orthopedic care.
Dr. Bash, a Vietnam veteran who has been a dentist since 1983, met with one renowned Philadelphia area orthopedic group which turned him down for hip replacement surgery because they thought his case, with the complication of lung problems, might negatively affect their success rate.
Dr. Bash specializes in emergency dentistry and is on call 24/7 every other weekend. He works six to seven days a week at his practice in Doylestown, for which he has been named Best Dentist multiple times in the Doylestown Intelligencer’s Best of BucksMont Reader’s Poll.
He ended up getting a third cortisone injection, which didn’t work at all. The continuing pain was so severe that he started using a wheel chair in his office to go from patient to patient. And then he developed an elbow problem, which completely exasperated him.
But a deteriorating hip condition and enduring its pain for three years, along with a lung issue treated with prednisone completely took over his quality of life.
“There was a St. Luke’s office right around the corner from where my wife and I live in Quakertown,” Dr. Bash said, “so I went over there and met Dr. Wei-Shen Lin, an orthopedic surgeon with St. Luke’s Orthopedic Care, to take care of my elbow.”
At 71 years old, Richard Bash, DDS, refuses to quit.
“I was in so much pain…,” Dr. Bash said. “My right leg would drag behind me when I walked.” He turned to a Doylestown orthopedic group, which offered cortisone injections. The first two provided temporary relief, but then he looked at his X-ray and saw there was no cartilage in his right hip, basically putting him bone-on-bone.
Dr. Lin drained Dr. Bash’s elbow, and then a lightbulb went off for Dr. Bash. He asked Dr. Lin if he operated on hips. Three weeks later, after X-rays confirmed that Dr. Bash experienced avascular necrosis – AVN, the death of bone due to interruption of blood supply – and clearances from a pulmonologist and cardiologist, Dr. Lin performed a right hip replacement.
“I had my surgery on a Tuesday and was back to work that Friday,” Dr. Bash said. When Physical Therapy from St. Luke’s made a house visit that Saturday, Dr. Bash was out working on his 10-acre property, tending to the more than 120 chickens, ducks, pigeons and dogs he and his wife keep. “Recovery times vary,” Dr. Lin said. “Everyone is different, but Dr. Bash had immediate pain relief from the pain he had prior to surgery, so the post-surgical pain was more tolerable for him and he was able to walk on it right away.” Dr. Lin gives patients a list of precautions and movements to avoid while the surgical repair heals, but he agreed that the improvement Dr. Bash exhibited was remarkable.
DOCTOR PROFILE
Meet orthopedic surgeon Dr. Wei-Shen Lin of St. Luke’s Orthopedic Care in Quakertown
“When he first came to see me, he was very disheveled and didn’t look like he was taking care of himself because he was in so much pain from his hip,” Dr. Lin said. “When he came back for the follow-ups, he seemed to be happier, a huge personality change, and if you look at him today, he’s well groomed, almost like a totally different person because the chronic pain is no longer there.”
A joint replacement specialist with St. Luke’s Orthopedic Care, Dr. Wei-Shen Lin has been with St. Luke’s University Health Network since 2002, practicing at the St. Luke’s Quakertown Campus since 2008. Dr. Lin focuses on the treatment of sports injuries, fractures and arthritis in the knees and hips, and performs both general orthopedic procedures and joint replacement surgeries.
It’s an all too familiar story that Dr. Bash had seen in his own patients with gum and tooth issues.
Dr. Lin’s goal is to get patients back to enjoying their daily activities with the most appropriate and least invasive treatments and procedures. He believes that offering every patient an individualized care plan is essential for success. Dr. Lin provides patients with various treatment options and works closely with them to select the best plan based on their needs and goals.
“When people come in all debilitated and not smiling because their teeth are so bad, they still think they’re fine even though every time they talk their hand is covering their mouth, or they have a mustache covering their mouth,” Dr. Bash said. “The next time I see them after they’ve been taken care of properly, the mustache is gone, the shabby clothes are gone. They’re different people. “It’s nice to help people. I thought I did miracles for people. The surgery Dr. Lin did was certainly a miracle for me. When Dr. Lin did that for me, it was life-changing.” St. Luke’s Orthopedic Care provides extraordinary care with a patient-centered approach. Call 484-526-1735 to request an appointment at any of our convenient locations throughout the region, including St. Luke’s Bone & Joint Institute in Quakertown and St. Luke’s Upper Perkiomen Outpatient Center in Pennsburg.
Dr. Lin received his medical degree from State University of New York, Syracuse College of Medicine and completed his orthopedic surgery residency at Geisinger Medical Center. When he is not caring for patients, Dr. Lin enjoys camping, hiking, bike riding on trails, playing volleyball, and tinkering with computer systems.
Dr. Wei-Shen Lin St. Luke’s Orthopedic Care 1534 Park Ave Ste 210 Quakertown, PA 18951
(484) 526-1735
St. Luke’s Upper Bucks Campus Coming Soon! Location: Route 663 & Portzer Road Easy, Fast Access to Full-Service ER Close to Routes 309, 313 and Interstate 476 The Best Amenities Beautifully appointed private patient rooms Patient-Centered Health Care Driven by a commitment to customer service The Emergency Room at the Quakertown Campus will relocate to the Upper Bucks Campus upon its opening in Fall 2019.
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