The Power of Cheetos

Saturday, November 3, Brooke headed to Park City for an evening out with eight girlfriends to celebrate her birthday. After a night on the town, she and her friends hailed a cab to head back to accommodations for the evening. Hungry after a night of cocktails and dancing, they asked their cab driver, Bill, if they could stop for pizza. He didn't know of anything open, but happily shared a bag of Cheetos he had with him.

A few minutes later, the group arrived at their destination. Bill got out of the cab and grabbed his cane so he could open the door for them. Brooke, a scrub tech at Salt Lake Regional Medical Center, who just returned from Operation Walk Utah in El Salvador, and Sam, an admin at Total Joint Orthopedics, were the last two out of the cab. They noticed that Bill had a cane and asked him why. He explained that he had no cartilage in his right hip but can't afford insurance to pay for surgery. Brooke and Sam immediately told him about Operation Walk USA and the national day of surgeries that was upcoming through Operation Walk Utah and Hofmann Arthritis Institute.

Sam followed up with Bill to make sure he had an appointment for the following Monday. Two days before his birthday, Bill received the call from Operation Walk Utah that his screening had gone well and he had been chosen to receive a new hip!

Bill, Brooke, and Sam in Pre-Op (bow-tie courtesy David, who made Co-ban bow-ties for the male patients and flowers for the female patients). 

This morning, Brooke (who is volunteering today for Operation Walk USA) and Sam came to Pre-op to visit with Bill before his surgery. Bill was relaxing with his girlfriend, Nancy. The two have been together since 1999, but apart for the last year and half while Nancy cares for her parents in Chicago. When she learned of the surgery, Nancy jumped on a train to be with Bill. 

"This is life-changing," Bill said. "This will bring me back to activities I have not been able to do."

"That was the best part of our evening, meeting you," said Sam. "You were the best fare I've had in a long time. I'm glad I had those Cheetos!" replied Bill.

Starting off right!

Volunteer Denise was at Salt Lake Regional Medical Center bright and early this morning to make breakfast for the team in the surgeon lounge. Apologies to the patients who were NPO and may have smelled the bacon cooking. What a wonderful treat to start off the day!

Eight surgeries are happening today. FOR FREE. Total Joint Orthopedics donated the hip implants, and Zimmer donated all the knee implants, and close to 60 people are donating their time for these Saturday surgeries.

Surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, PTs, aids, and many, many more have given up their time to make these eight surgeries happen today. And eight lucky patients will leave the hospital next week walking better. We can't wait to share their stories with you!

Patient Profile: Pedro

We wanted to include some before and after shots of one of our patients. Pedro lived in Utah for about 10 years, so he is near and dear to Operation Walk Utah!

Here is a video of him during screening:

As you can see, Pedro propels himself along using crutches, then drags his legs behind. He has no flexion or rotation in his hips, and came to the Operation Walk Utah screening to see if he was a candidate for total hip replacement. 

Thanks to Drs. Ponder, Jones, and Cook, and a generous implant donation from Total Joint Orthopedics, Pedro received bilateral hip replacements. 

Here's the video of him 36 hours post-op:

Pretty impressive!

Pedro with Maggie (UT) and Serena (UT) and his family just before discharge.

More pics!

A few pics from around the hospital and San Salvador:

We loved these ladies! 

Erin (UT): Are you sisters?

Purple Haired Ladies: No, we just met. Why?

Jordan (UT): Do you have the same hairdresser?

Safe travel on the highways of San Salvador

The Fanny Pack Brigade: Jason (UT), Paul (OH), Emma Angelia (UT). Don't mess with them!

Dr. Matejka (UT), Erin (UT), Becky (FL) at our final dinner.

Surgery kits. Each tote contains the items needed to set up an OR for one surgery.

Lucky enough to return home to this every night! Tip for future travelers: hotel management does not appreciate people jumping off the waterfall into the pool. 

 Sylvia (UT) and Darnell (MS)

 Angelia (UT), Darnell (MS), Brooke (UT)

 An OR Suite. 

Dr .Kennedy (MS), a patient, Darnell (MS)

 San Salvador

 Maggie (UT) with the infamous avocado tree. 

 Darby (UT) with a patient.

A Note From Serena

A note from Serena (UT), one of the floor nurses:

To work amongst a group of individuals who strive to achieve a set goal with skill, compassion, humor and teamwork is rare. To achieve this in a place which one is not use to working in is a huge accomplishment. Thank you to my team mates at Operation Walk Utah. You are all truly amazing and gifted people and I am honored to have shared this experience with you all.

Tuesday: Hitting Our Stride

We were on a roll today! With our daily ration of plantains in our belly, we headed off to the hospital. No traffic today! The bus takes us in two rounds; the surgeons, anesthesiologists, and pre-op and circulation nurses take off, and the bus comes back for the recovery nurses, physical therapists, and other volunteers, who get to sleep in an extra half an hour.

We managed to do 21 surgeries in three OR rooms with ONE autoclave. Cat and Angelia were fast and furious in their instrument turnover, and we began anesthesia in Pre-Op instead of waiting until the patient was in the room. That means the patient hits the ground running (or sleeping, as it were) the second the room is clean. Speaking of cleaning rooms:

Dr. Kennedy (MS) and Dr. Magee (UT) mop and scrub tables, causing the Salvadorian orderlies to fear for their job. Everyone on the trip works hard, and everyone wears multiple hats!

There has been an important development in the cafeteria contest. Cafeteria 2 (also known as The One On The Right) upped the ante with a smoothie bar. This consists of a table and a lady with two and a half blenders. We will let you know tomorrow if they are still in the lead when we see how Mandi is doing after drinking hers with a raw egg. Another develop is the addition of the Banana Leaf Lady. She is making a delightful tortilla type deliciousness with cornmeal, cheese, butter, salt, and sugar. She then grills the dough pressed inside two banana leaves. A re-creation will be happening SOON at Hofmann Arthritis, so stop by for a taste! 

Surgery count to date: 45

A Few (Belated) Pics From Sunday

Maggie (PT and Translator Extraordinaire, UT), Dr. Matejka (Anesthesia, UT), and Dr. Jimenez (Orthopedic Resident, University Of Utah) during the screening conference. 

Examining a patient pre-operatively

Joanne (OK) prepping a patient

Keithe (UT) putting bone cement on a femoral component during surgery with Dr. Kennedy (MS), Jordan (UT), and Dr. Magee (UT)

Overflow waiting room for patients and their family.

Dr. Hofmann (UT) and Dr. Plaster (OK) examine a potential patient's radiographs

Pedro, a candidate for bilateral hip replacement surgery (check back for his results!)

Dr. Lavernia (FL), Dr. Shawna (OK), Dr. Cook (OH), Dr. Ponder (OK), Patrice (UT), Dr. Hofmann (UT), Jason (UT) during the screening conference

Dino (UT) and Robert (OK) look on during screening conference