Dr. Wilson is now taking new Gynecology patients and seeing annual exams and problems during her office hours on Mondays and Wednesdays. We also have highly qualified Nurse Practitioners and Physicians Assistants with office hours 6 days a week. They are available for new patient consultations, annual exams, problems, and emergencies.

We also offer ultrasound services 5 days per week, bone density analysis, contraceptive counseling, and a wide range of other services. Dr. Wilson and the Nurse Practitioners all perform colposcopies for abnormal pap smears and you have the option of viewing the colposcopic evaluation on a screen.

Dr. Wilson and 3 members of her surgical team traveled to Nicaragua with a team of 30 people on January 18-26. Included in the group were 3 other surgeons, an emergency room doctor, 4 anesthesiologists, and the nurses, technicians and translators necessary to accomplish 132 surgical procedures in 5 days.

Nicaragua is a very poor country and many people cannot afford to have surgery, even if they desperately need it. Consequently, they live with pain, inconvenience and sometimes life-threatening problems for years. Some die for lack of medical attention.

The team flew to Managua, Nicaragua on Saturday, January 18th and spent the first night in Managua before boarding a bus the next morning and driving south to Rivas. In Rivas, they were taken directly to the hospital, which is a dilapidated, dirty facility badly in need of attention. There are no toilet seats, toilet paper, hot water, soap, or towels, even in the OR. The team brought 52 bins of supplies and turned the operating room into a sophisticated facility in one afternoon. They unpacked anesthesia machines, laparoscopic equipment, IV bags, sutures, instruments, and medicines, most of which had been generously donated by equipment companies, pharmaceutical companies and Scottsdale Hospital. The doctors and practitioners went to the clinic, which proved to be a sea of faces in an open air "waiting room." Some of these people had traveled hundreds of miles and had waited for days to be seen. People were seen one by one into the evening, and set up for surgery over the next 5 days. Some of these people would have to sleep on the ground outside of the hospital until their surgery day. An exhausted crew then boarded the bus for their hotels in San Juan del Sur, 40 minutes away.

The next morning the bus was boarded at 7 a.m. and, after a welcoming program put on by the women's auxiliary at the hospital, the surgeries began. Dr. Wilson and her team performed gynecologic procedures including hysterectomies, vaginal vault repairs and tubal ligations. Many of these women had terrible uterine and vaginal prolapse. This is a very uncomfortable condition and many had been suffering for years. Some had been bleeding for months due to large fibroids. Some had been told they had cancer months ago and had been living with this knowledge, unable to do anything about it.

Dr. James Nachbar, a plastic surgeon, performed cleft lip revisions on children, scar revisions, tumor removals, and many other procedures. Dr. Scott Croft, an orthopedist, re-broke and set bones that had been broken and never attended to, healing in twisted, awkward angles. He took off extra toes, and repaired injured, non-functional joints. Dr. Neal Reynolds, a general surgeon from South Carolina, took out gallbladders full of stones and repaired huge hernias.

At the end of the week, supplies were gone and they had to make due with what they had. Surgeons had to wear gloves that were too big or too small. Surgical supplies had to be washed and re-used, something that we would never do in the US. Patients had surgery despite the fact that post-operative pain medication had run out. Many patients, including children, did not receive the surgical procedure he or she needed simply because there was no more time.

At the end of the day on Friday, they packed up the equipment that had to go back to the US and left behind anything they could for the hospital to use. On Saturday, an exhausted crew boarded the bus one more time, made a last stop at the hospital to check on the patients and headed back to Managua.

Not only was this trip a gift to the Nicaraguan people, but it was a tremendous experience for the team. Service seems to bring out the very best in people, and this experience was no exception. People selflessly pitched in and helped each other, there was very little complaining, and everyone felt like they were making a difference, a BIG difference, one patient at a time.

The goal is to make 2 trips to Nicaragua per year, and a trip to Matagalpa, Nicaragua is being worked out for July. The hope is to take 2 more surgeons and perform 200 surgical procedures.

These trips are all volunteer, and many of the volunteers are taking vacation time to do it. Because of the generosity of the pharmaceutical and equipment companies as well as the hospital, very little financing is needed, but we do need money to buy antibiotics and pain medication, essential supplies that we cannot get donated, and to help diffuse the cost of airline tickets, room and food for some volunteers who cannot afford to pay these costs. We are hoping to raise $20,000 per trip for the next two trips. If you would like to donate, please send a check made payable to Amigos de Salud to Marilyn at our office...8997 E. Desert Cove, Scottsdale, AZ 85260. It is tax deductible. You may also call Shannon at 480.391.3638. Anything will help. We are also looking for relatively new, clean tee-shirts, blankets and stuffed animals. These serve as great packing materials for the supplies on the way down, the T-shirts serve as patient gowns for surgery, the blankets keep patients warm as they wake up from anesthesia, and the children love the stuffed animals...it gives them something to clutch as they are going off to sleep.

Thank you to Julie Wrigley and the Julie Wrigley Foundation for funding the trip in January, and also to all of the pharmaceutical and equipment companies that so generously donated supplies. Thank you to the employees in Dr. Wilson's office who donated so much. A big thank you to the Scottsdale Hospitals for donating and lending us equipment, allowing us to take items that would have ordinarily been thrown away, and lending us essential surgical instruments and trusting us to return them safely. The trip would not have been possible without all of you, and you were all there in spirit.

Other procedures, such as vaginal vault suspensions for severe prolapse can be done through the laparoscope with great success. Often these procedures are coupled with other reconstructive surgery such as bladder suspensions, cystocele repairs and rectocele repairs. These procedures are being advanced and perfected with the use of dermis and fascia to support the repairs instead of relying solely on a woman's own tissue to provide strength for the repair.

We are tracking the data on these minimally invasive procedures in order to maintain the highest level of quality we can. In fact, Dr. Wilson presented a paper on laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy and 2 videos on laparoscopic hysterectomy at the recent Global Congress of Gynecologic Endoscopy in Miami. She is also presenting a video at the upcoming International Congress on the Contemporary Management of Uterine Fibroids to be held here in Phoenix, and is speaking at the Midwinter Symposium in Scottsdale in May. She is working on a number of papers and videos for submission to the next Global Congress of Gynecologic Endoscopy to be held in Las Vegas in November.

The most exciting data we have is on laparoscopic hysterectomies in women who weigh over 250 lbs. Obesity was previously thought to be a contraindication to the laparoscopic approach, but the potential complications of conventional surgery in these patients were great. The team has now performed 15 laparoscopic hysterectomies on large patients over 250 lbs. with minimal hospital stay (one night generally) and absolutely no postoperative complications. In fact, most of these patients have returned to their normal activities within a week.

We also recently removed the largest uterus that has been removed laparoscopically in Arizona. The uterus weighed in at 2 lbs. The surgery took only 90 minutes and the patient did very well.

We will keep you posted regarding future developments. We are all very excited to be able to offer a minimally invasive approach to a procedure that previously required a large incision, at least 4-6 weeks recovery time, and a fair amount of postoperative pain.

Upcoming dates:

March 6
April 10
May 1

Call Shannon to RSVP: 480.391.3638

Unwanted hair can be removed from the upper lip, eyebrows, underarms, and bikini line. It is only slightly uncomfortable and requires just a few treatments to accomplish the goal in most patients. Epilight can also be used to remove brown spots on the face, arms and hands.

Laser vein removal is perfect for spider veins on the legs and small veins on the chest and face. Again, only a few treatments are required.

Microdermabrasion is a painless procedure that removes the top layer of dead skin from the face and leaves skin looking smooth and rejuvenated. Amy will have you feeling pampered and relaxed at the end of the treatment!

Call or stop by to arrange a free consultation with Amy.