Back in February of this year, Dr. Salazar and Dr. Abdollahi flew to Chicago to attend a training course for the revolutionary mild® procedure.
The mild® procedure by Vertos significantly reduces pain in patients suffering from lumbar spinal stenosis.
These patients can barely stand or walk because their nerves are being pinched inside their spinal column.
The mild® procedure allows the doctor to remove excess ligament, increase spinal canal space, and relieve compressed nerves.
Patients will be able to stand, walk, and get on with their lives.
Dr. Salazar and Dr. Abdollahi are always responsive to new procedures in the field of pain management that reduce patient dependency on medications.
The doctors pride themselves on being in the forefront of technology and want to make sure every patient at California Advanced Pain & Spine Specialists has access to the best and the latest as they become available.
Of course, they don’t want to be away for too long, and thanks to the new direct flight between Fresno and Chicago, they were able to make the entire trip in 24 hours.
Here is how their trip went down.
Friday evening after work, Dr. Salazar and Dr. Abdollahi drove to Fresno Yosemite International Airport.
Their redeye flight took off around 11 pm. They had grand plans of getting a wonderful night’s sleep on the plane and being refreshed Saturday morning for their course.
They forgot the flight was only 4 hours long, and flight attendants love to make announcements. Luckily, they landed early at 4:30 am in Chicago and proceeded to sleep at the only open food court at the airport.
Here is Dr. Salazar enjoying his 90-minute power nap to the lull of classic rock music playing in the background. Also note the fabulous eye mask, which Dr. Abdollahi supplied.
At the course, they spent time learning about the procedure, going over research studies, and discussing how they can use this procedure to help their patients.
Special note: it turns out one of the “special instructors” for Vertos was one of Dr. Abdollahi’s co-fellows from UCSF. They did their pain management training together.
Next they suited up in scrubs and used specialized tools for the procedure to practice on cadavers.
With the course complete and a few hours to spare before their flight home, Dr. Salazar and Dr. Abdollahi split up to enjoy Chicago.
Dr Salazar went to the Museum of Science and Industry. He somehow talked his way onto the sold-out U-boat tour. Meanwhile, Dr. Abdollahi found the closest gym and spent a good several hours pumping iron. What’s more fun, museum or gym?
They met back together at the airport and discussed the mild® procedure.
They boarded their flight back to Fresno at 7 pm and landed back exactly 24 hours after they had left. 11 pm to 11pm. Who knew so much can be done in just 24 hours!
