Hello to everyone. My name is Vincent and I have just completed my 1st year follow up examination after receiving my Biomet Femoral Cement-less Resurfacing procedure performed by Dr. Gross.

My check up was excellent and is just further evidence of how great I feel. With great appreciation I want to share my experience with Dr. Gross and staff and to everyone considering hip replacement/resurfacing surgery.

Background: I was a 45-year-old 7 year retired natural professional bodybuilder at the time of my surgery (April 8, 2009). I worked full time in a computer chip manufacturing line and also won the WNBF Pro Mr. Universe in my spare time. 

At the top of my career, I developed severe osteoarthritis in my right hip. I decided that competitive sports at that level were over but with 30 years experience in health and fitness I was determined to manage my condition as long as I could. My wife owns a large gymnastics school and we have two young sons so staying fit and mobile was important. 

I had a very active lifestyle but as the condition progressed so did my enjoyment for activity. I am not one to take any pain medication so it began to impact my life and my family greatly.

I am big on research and was always looking for alternatives to total hip replacement. As hip resurfacing began to come into the media spotlight I had scheduled a Birmingham resurfacing procedure at a prominent joint institution here in Pennsylvania where we live. I canceled a week before the surgery because I just was not satisfied with the whole experience. 

I began to research more and came across Dr. Gross. I can honestly say that I was totally impressed at the level of patient information, care, and skill level that was apparent from viewing his website. 

Both the website and communication with Ms. Webb and Ms. Smith totally informed me of the whole process. They were excellent. I scheduled the surgery after being evaluated by Dr. Gross and my family and I drove down to Columbia, SC from PA.

Surgery: The entire surgical experience for my family and I was tremendous. All of Dr. Gross’s staff, Ms. Webb, Ms. Smith, Midlands Orthopedics, Providence Hospital, and many others were just beautiful people to work with. I cannot express enough about the care that was given to me and my family prior, during, and after the surgery. 

Most of my pre-op tests were done in PA so we had extra time to spend with our children. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott which is next to the hospital and a short drive from Midlands Orthopedics in Irmo. 

Excellent none-stressful arrangements are the result and an asset greatly appreciated by out of state patients. The surgery came and went and I lay in the hospital bed totally amazed that I had no pain or sickness of any kind. I was released on Friday after a Wednesday surgery. 

Everyone in Providence Hospital was great and I was extremely happy with my decision to come to South Carolina. We drove back to PA in a two-day stretch making it easy for everyone. I felt no pain at all and took only 3 Vicodin while traveling per Dr. Gross’s recommendation. 

I never took any other pain meds to date. Dr. Gross’s surgical talent is unbelievable, small four-inch incision, superior pain management, super fast recovery, what else can I say.

Recovery: My recovery went really well. I will say that I did train for months prior to my surgery and got in the best possible shape I could. I knew that this would aid in a fast recovery. That being said Dr. Gross put me on a slow down recovery program because I had osteopenia in my right femoral head with a T-score of -2.0 on my Dexa scan. 

He also prescribed calcitonin nasal spray for a year. All of this was done to minimize any chance for femoral neck fractures. I will admit that I did listen to all of his advice even though I felt like I could do a lot more. Six weeks on crutches and four with a cane. 

Again I will say that I had no pain at all. The very first day I was home I was walking 1.5 miles on crutches. In nine days, I was driving to our gym and working out for my upper body. I did all of my PT exercises that were given to me at the hospital at least twice a day. 

I never missed any PT training. I did have swelling in my lower leg that would occur from being up all day, but icing and elevating at night would make it disappear. After three and a half weeks I had no more swelling at all. My wife and children were great helping me when needed but after a few days I was doing everything on my crutches.

At six weeks, I was off crutches and walking 3 miles a day with a cane. My wife had a hard time keeping up with me. At 10 weeks, I was off of my cane and walking as normal with only a very slight limp. At four months, I felt totally normal to do anything. I was cautious because I did not want to stress my femoral neck while healing. 

Dr. Gross informed me that the bone will heal up to one year and then stop. Therefore, I was keeping high impact activities such as sprinting or jumping to a minimum. At five months, I was very strong and completely returned to any activity I felt like doing. I have enclosed some pictures hiking the PA Appalachian Mountains and bodybuilding at about five months post op.

Conclusion: My decision to go to South Carolina and have a hip resurfacing procedure done by Dr. Gross has been very rewarding. It has given back to me the ability to do everything I enjoyed doing prior to my osteoarthritis. 

With two young boys and a wife who will enjoy hiking, biking, hunting, fishing, weightlifting, running, and just about anything else with their dad, who can put a value on that. 

Dr. Gross is simply a brilliant surgeon that is consistently expanding his skills with new state of the art procedures and technologies. He surrounds himself with an extremely knowledgeable compassionate support team that makes his entire life changing service unsurpassed in the medical industry.

Dr. Gross, Ms. Webb, Ms. Smith, and team thank you for everything.

May God Bless You All.

- Vince M.
Biomet Femoral Cement-less Resurfacing
4/8/2009