Pat Dane tells licensed physical therapist assistant Mark H. that cycling has been the most helpful exercise to recover from three joint replacement surgeries.

Dosher's most popular patient?

Pat Dane of Southport may very well be the hospital's most popular patient of the past few years. For various medical reasons, Dosher has been seeing a lot of Pat, so much so the staff sent him a card on his birthday.

"Imagine 42 days in a row of, 'What's your birthday Mr. Dane?' I go in there now and the whole hospital knows me," Pat says.

Pat's unusual number of consecutive visits to Dosher has given him the rare opportunity to experience most every department of the hospital, including the kitchen.

"There's a positive atmosphere when you walk in the front door. You're welcomed like you're a VIP and that's the way it is in every part of the hospital," Pat says.

Pat would know. His left hip, right hip and left knee were all replaced at Dosher. He enjoyed the Physical Therapy department at Dosher before and after each surgery, he spent time at Dosher's award-winning Wound Care Center for a toe injury, twice, and then back again for an infection. More recently-to save his toe from amputation-Pat went to Dosher every morning and night to get an infusion of antibiotics for 42 consecutive days.

"For 42 days, I got to see every working unit of the hospital. Twice a day I would check in, 'Mr. Dane, how are you, you're going to the surgical unit today, there's an empty bed back there'. Another day, 'Mr. Dane, you're going to the E.R. today'," Pat says.

Meanwhile, Pat has been a patient at some other hospitals as well over the years. He had an emergency appendectomy during a business trip to Las Vegas. Pat spent eight days in a hospital in Missouri for a bleeding ulcer while on business. And then there were various trips to hospitals that come along with having three active kids.

He says Dosher rates an A+.

"I haven't been to a better hospital for the treatment, the doctors, the nurses, the staff, the care. On a scale from one to 10, it's an 11," Pat says.

Pat credits Dosher for him getting back on his bike within a week of having the hip and knee replacements. He now bicycles to his appointments. Pat credits Dosher with saving his toe from amputation and says the food at Dosher is absolutely fabulous.

Last month, Pat donated a 50-inch flat screen TV to the Physical Therapy department and he is returning to the hospital for a while to get treatment for spinal stenosis. He says he's in good hands.

"They're like friends. I go in there, it's like a fraternity," Pat says.