Hip surgery

Narrator: This portion of New Day Northwest is sponsored by The Polyclinic

[Introductory music plays]

Margaret Larson: Welcome back to New Day, Wellness Wednesday. Finding one good doctor you can rely on is a key step to personal healthcare but when you have a group of doctors who coordinate with one another as a team, it’s the patient who definitely comes out on top. Please welcome from The Polyclinic, rheumatologist Dr. Jennifer Gorman and orthopedic surgeon Dr. Christopher Cannon. Welcome to both of you. Thanks for being here. Um, Jennifer- Dr. Gorman- Dr. Jennifer I think I’ll call you, uh we’re going to meet with one of your patients in just a minute but tell me a bit about this well-coordinated, integrated care approach and why this is so beneficial for outcomes. 

Dr. Jennifer Gorman: Well I think at The Polyclinic, the patient comes first. So it’s all about the patient and the rest of us, um, are working together to get the best outcome. We’re physician-owned, which I- we have more ownership, more stake, we don’t feel like salaried-salaried physicians, we feel like we’re the ones that are making the decisions and doing what’s right for the patient.

Margaret Larson: So it’s a bit of one stop shopping, right? Because if you need to coordinate with some other doctor, they’re THERE. We don’t have to send the records, start over again, that kind of thing.

Dr. Jennifer Gorman: No, 30 different specialties, um, we have our computer systems shared with others so we can see when things are done at other places so they don’t have to be duplicated so it’s comprehensive. 

Margaret Larson: I like that idea. Now we’re going to talk to your patient Andre in a bit, and you helped manage some severe arthritis with him. Tell me a bit about his case. 

Dr. Jennifer Gorman: So when I first met him it was early February of this year and I was actually seeing him for different medical condition but he’s very precise and thoughtful and what he was describing to me was very different than the reason he had been uh referred to us and so we sort of delved into that area and realized um his left hip was the major problem in his life- or quality of life. So we got an x-ray that day and a week later got a steroid injection. He was already doing all the right things, physical therapy, and I think he wanted to give it a little more time to see, but the injection helped and then um 2 months later we um brought him over to Dr. Cannon and the rest-

Margaret Larson: That’s when things get serious because he’s the surgeon and Andre, we should say, is an Olympic rower, he’s put some wear and tear and some miles on that body but when you decided that maybe something more serious was needed then it was easy because Chris was right there.

Dr. Jennifer Gorman: Exactly. And I think um you know Andre is um so athletic um he’s a perfect person, he shouldn’t feel limited by the severity of his hip arthritis he should get a new hip and continue with all the wonderful things he’s doing and Chris is just down the hall and we work together on patients. And what I love about Chris is many surgeons will just do surgery because that’s what you’re asking them to do but Chris often comes back to me and says, “Hey can we try this, can we give a little time” and so he’s very thoughtful in his approach. So he was like “yes, yes, yes” for Andre, we just- we knew. 

Margaret Larson: Is it kind of nice just to be able to physically be together, you know yell down the hall, go look at records together as opposed to talking on the phone, or skyping that kind of thing, does it give you a little more deliberative time?

Dr. Christopher Cannon: Absolutely. And as she said, they normally do a very good job of having people kind of- kind of teed up and ready for surgery, try the non-operative treatment and physical therapy and medication injections but if there’s any we think hasn’t been done or we think there’s some other things we can try, it’s very nice to be able to walk down the hall and actually be face-to-face. 

Margaret Larson: To confab a little bit. I mean we sort of lose that with all of the different ways to contact one another but I like the idea that my doctors are heads down over the records to try and figure it out. Andre Nowaczyk is our patient who we’ve been talking about today. What was your experience with the care you received?

Andre Nowaczyk: The best. The best experience one can have with um-um Polyclinic people um because my story started here when I was 13 years-old. 

Margaret Larson: This is a great photo of you rowing way back in the day, right?

Andre Nowaczyk: Yes, but many years of-of abusing practically your body without knowing it ‘til the time came to decided what to do with all that pain and discomfort, that’s where Dr. Gorman and Dr. Cannon came in and uh from the first meeting, the rest was easy to make a decision and go for surgery and then recuperation. It’s um it’s beyond expectations. 

Margaret Larson: And so how’s your health now?

Andre Nowaczyk: Very well- I do practically anything. Maybe a little slower but uh anything. 

Margaret Larson: That sounds wonderful and the scarf in your lap, is that from Tokyo? From the Olympics? 

Andre Nowaczyk: Yes, that’s part of my Olympic experience, Tokyo ’64, 50 some years ago. But um the journey continues because what you learn in the early years, the discipline, the devotion, and commitment…very easy to find uh help later on in life with um uh, when necessary. 

Margaret Larson: I’m so glad you’re doing well and congratulations- whenever you’re in the Olympics you get to say that for the rest of your life. So that’s wonderful. What did you do for Andre?

Dr. Christopher Cannon: We did a hip replacement. A total hip replacement, um, and as I had mentioned uh he had really had not improved enough with the non-operative treatment tried and so, as seen on the little model here-

Margaret Larson: Okay you have to explain this to me.

Dr. Christopher Cannon: Yeah, exactly. So there’s not a normal hip here to show but your hip of course is a ball and socket joint and his own ball, his femoral head, had worn out completely and so we uh put in something that looks like that and so there’s a little piece that fits down on the femur and-

Margaret Larson: Yowza

Dr. Christopher Cannon: Yeah, exactly. And then a metal socket over there and then it all fits back together um and in recent years we’ve moved to what they call an anterior approach which is-

Margaret Larson: What does that mean?

Dr. Christopher Cannon: When you- when you do the surgery you have to approach the hip from one side or the other and actually there’s several different approaches that can be done. Uh traditionally they- in the United States- had been done through what’s called the posterior approach- which has worked fine for many years and many people have done very, very well with that. But in recent years, there’s been a move towards doing it from the front and the big issue is it’s very- it’s kind of one of the minimally invasive procedures so very soft tissue friendly, there’s no muscle cut, um after surgery there’s no dislocation precautions, so you don’t have to tell people “Don’t cross your legs, don’t sit in a low chair” and so it makes for an easier and less painful recovery.

Margaret Larson: Right, and they can get back to normal life more quickly. 

Dr. Christopher Cannon: Exactly. 

Margaret Larson: We’re going to talk more about this in our wellness panel in a bit. How long does that thing last?

Dr. Christopher Cannon: Um, we think pushing 30 years. So a long time. 

Margaret Larson: Wow. Okay. I’m kind of glad I’m aging in the age of new knees and new hips *all 3 laugh* I think that’s wonderful. Thank you all very much. After the break, don’t let a nasty flu bug sneak up on you. It’s not too early for a flu shot in fact I’m getting mine right here on our next segment, we’ll be right back.

[Exit music plays]