Day of surgery:
I was told that my appointment was at 12:15. I didn't go back until about 6:00. Mind you no food or drink during that time. As an "expert" about hip surgeries, one would certainly think that he would know how to plan his scheduled to not get 6 hours behind. That was the least of my problem. I never saw Dr. Domb the day of surgery, did her perform my procedure that I had to pay all that money for, I have no concrete proof to this day. The anesthesiologist came to give me the Versed, and I stopped him and said nobody has signed off on my hip yet and I know that is protocol for any surgery. The anesthesiologist said "Okay, here is the versed, have the nurse give it to you once you see someone." Seriously? The PA came rushing in and was clearly flustered. I began stating that I did not feel comfortable moving forward with the procedure as everyone seemed very rushed and hurried. Nobody acknowledged my concerns, and I sent my family member away as it was not fair to make them sit and wait with me. The PA signed, while moving me to the OR, the nurse pushed the Versed as we got to the OR. They had me transfer myself to the table and were getting me in place. Again, I was stating my discomfort with how things were going. The anesthesiologist said "do you feel anything yet?" To which I replied, no, I was just given the drugs a minute ago. He then said "okay, I will give you an extra punch to knock you out!"
Recovery:
I adhered to the crutches with no weight bearing for 6 full weeks. I did the CPM machine as instructed everyday (another added cost). 1.5 weeks after I was allowed to walk, August 4, 2023, I had an excruciating pop in my hip and said something is not right. I saw several PA's in the upcoming weeks and expressed that I would be starting a new job in a week or two and would like to do any testing possible to use the insurance that was maxed out before starting over with new insurance in September. I finally was allowed to see Dr. Domb in September 28, 2023, after my new insurance started. He ordered an MRI, not an MRA with the contrast to confirm the femur wasn't fractured. I asked why not do the MRA, he said they would rule out the fracture first, and if no fracture would do the MRA. So basically, pay for an unnecessary MRI that would be $500-$800 depending on where I went. Then pay for the MRA which cost me about $1,000. Shortly after this visit I realized that I needed another opinion. Neither of my additional opinions understood the MRI/MRA justification, but anyway I had to wait for any additional testing until January 2024 as I could not afford to hit my insurance maximums twice in a year. After I requested my medical records, I didn't hear ONE WORD from Dr. Domb's office. I believe they even removed me from their email list as the success stories about the famous athletes across the world stopped coming my way.
Update:
I proceeded with the MRA 1/2/2024. The results were inconclusive. I had surgery Tuesday, 4/16/24 and it turned out one of my stitches had broken that was holding a portion of my labrum in place which had caused the labrum to sag and was ultimately pinching in my joint with every step I took. My condition deteriorated so quickly between 8/4/23 to 4/16/24. I went from running 6 miles per day prior to my surgery 6/12 to not even being able to make it to the end of my driveway to get the mail leading up to my next surgery. I couldn't make it to my office at work without taking multiple breaks due to intense pain. I must ask, had I had Dr. Domb do a third surgery on me, would he have told me what the actual issue was? Would he have charged me another $10,000+ to have the procedures/tests required. I'm sure he would! I followed up with many, many people at AHI and I was told "this is a great learning experience". I am disheartened to know that my hard-earned money, my pain, my poor quality of life was a learning lesson for them. To this day, I don't know if Dr. Domb even saw me the day of my surgery, my guess is no. read more