{"id":1451,"date":"2018-09-22T06:02:56","date_gmt":"2018-09-22T06:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.autodesk.com\/latam\/?p=1451"},"modified":"2018-09-26T12:41:57","modified_gmt":"2018-09-26T12:41:57","slug":"to-adriana-with-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.autodesk.com\/latam\/2018\/09\/22\/to-adriana-with-love\/","title":{"rendered":"To \u00abAdriana\u00bb With Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"September 18, 2018<\/strong>. Its Tuesday, and my life it\u2019s about to change forever\u2026 but first sorry for the delay in posting new stuff,\u00a0 the last couple months, were busy, hardcore and full of work. Its\u2019 been a while since my last Post (VET Prosthetics\u2026 Still coming up to publish the entire Process…). Between some Consumer Products Design ( a bottle) and full time Prosthetics design has been too difficult to keep track with the blog.<\/p>\n

After my former apology, let\u2019s begin\u2026<\/p>\n

This very week my life has changed forever, honestly, I didn\u2019t realize the outcome or the significant impact of\u00a0 technology until the last Tuesday. 3:00 PM<\/strong> was the time for the surgery, her name is \u201cAdriana\u201d, and my relationship with \u201cAdriana\u201d until this day, was entirely based on CAD, Why? \u00a0Because for the past two weeks, I spend at least 120 hrs. with her Skull, (a Digital One &\u00a0 3d Printed One) to be more explicit, a CT Scan, an STL File, and a 3D Surface Model, was my entire connection with her. By the time I was thinking about tolerances, 5 axis machining, boundary conditions, endmill & ball end cutters, 3d Printing, cutting compensation, fixture design, tolerance and fitting, G54, axis interpolation, coordinate systems, and how to connect 5 different design stages in a very unique way to make a design possible for manufacturing. (3D CAD \/ CAM Jargon). This very Tuesday my insides just change forever.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\"\"\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00abAdriana\u00bb survived a cerebral aneurysm, her blood vessels inside a vain rapture in her brain, which led into a serious condition called\u00a0subarachnoid hemorrhage, producing a massive cerebral edema.\u00a0 She was taken to ER and during the\u00a0 surgery, the doctors had to practiced her a\u00a0 decompressive craniectomy to save her life, but during the procedure\u00a0 she lost\u00a0 \u00bc Skull bone from the right hemisphere, after 1 year with no bone, (she rejected her first PMMA Implant ) she suffered collateral effects, the Atmospheric pressure directly in her brain caused part of the right hemisphere to collapse, \u00a0she lost the ability to speak and control the left side of her body, \u00abAdriana\u00bb was tired and don\u2019t want any other treatment. Her only choice was a custom-made Implant. But again her choices were limited, today only six companies in the world manufacture this sort implant.<\/p>\n

2:50 PM<\/strong> arriving to the OR, I saw 3 surgeons holding up what will be \u201cAdriana\u2019s\u201d head implant in their hands, and suddenly the real meaning of what is about to happen just \u201cclick\u201d in my mind. 3:00 PM sharp<\/strong>. She arrived at the OR, It’s\u00a0 the first time we met, I saw her arriving with the nurses, just wave my hand to her and said hello, she didn\u2019t replied, I don\u2019t blame her (another surgery and by the time I didn\u2019t knew she can\u2019t speak). But she was there, not a CT Scan, not a 3D model, I saw \u201cAdriana\u201d, the wife, the mom, the daughter, the person itself, and I just realized this is it\u00a0 \u201cIt is for real\u201d, in the computer world we have the blessing of the Undo command, in the real life there is no Undo,\u00a0 \u00a0you have one shot… so make it count. \u00a0Suddenly a nurse turns the litter and saw the damage in her skull, I was speechless… (I saw her skull digitally a million times before, I know every little detail, every curvature degree, every angle, but seeing her for the first time\u2026 the practice is over, and I just keep telling to myself\u2026 It is going to work, it is going to work, We tested a million times in the computer, (In GRANTA<\/strong>, theres a big sign in the wall that says:\u00a0 \u00abIn CAD<\/strong> we trust!\u00bb). \u00a0Imagine design something with 0.05 mm tolerance fit, with no access to the part itself, imagine driving a car as fast as possible, just with instruments and data, there is no room for error, one mistake and it\u2019s the end, it\u2019s the human skull, you can\u2019t just cut the tissue and take measurements, we depend entirely of digital data.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\"\"\u00a0\u00a0\"\"\u00a0\u00a0\"\"\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\"\"\u00a0\u00a0\"\"\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

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4:00 PM,<\/strong> surgery begins, around 1 hour took to prepare her for the implant, the surgeons start cutting the hair and scrubbing some antiseptic solution, she was in deep anesthesia and the procedure begin, took around 45 minutes to the surgeons to separate the tissue from the bone and expose the skull damage, I recall a nurse making a bet, \u201cIt won\u2019t fit\u201d she said\u2026 \u201cIt\u2019s too small, bet you a Diet Coke in the MD Lounge that we are going to stay in surgery at least 6 hours, making the fit\u201d , and the critical moment start\u2026 \u201c Pass the Implant\u201d one of the surgeons ordered the nurse, so she took the implant from the sterile bag and what they call the \u201cpresentation\u201d start, the surgeon just insert the implant in the skull and guess what\u2026? the implant just fit perfectly\u2026 the nurse said.\u00a0 \u201cI guess you won a Soda\u201d. (Something I learned with the Doc. Carlos, Monroy<\/strong>, is never bet a soda with him, I recall a discussion making and adjustment in the cutting simulation…was about a wall thickness compensation and I loose 2 diet sodas for 0.015 mm instead of 0.020 mm… he won by a hair ) Rapidly and the surgeons started marking the perforation points in the skull to fix the implant, took them about 5 minutes to drill holes in skull to fix, 10 more to secure the implant and another 10 minutes to stitch the tissue around the defect\u2026 2.5 hours to open and\u00a0 close and took \u00abAdriana\u00bb to Intensive Care. A surgical procedure that take around 6 to 8 hours with regular PMMA Implants\u00a0 performed in less that 3 hours, they called up a new record. And everyone starts asking how that happened? (and certainly, describing it how to make that happen will take me an entire day to explain the process to the staff). At the end the nurses said It\u2019s a beautiful thing \u201cthis custom-made implants you made\u201d they called a piece of Art, and I\u2019m telling to myself, \u201cbetter called them a piece of fine engineering\u201d. (Funny thing they keep calling me \u201cDoctor\u201d, and I\u2019 keep\u00a0 telling them \u00abI\u2019m not a Doctor, I\u2019m an Engineer\u201d). Dr. CAM If you like. (Thanks for the cool nick name Daniel Huamani<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\"\"\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\"\"\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

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Friday<\/strong> After two days in intensive care \u201cAdriana\u201d was taken to her room, and we made a quick stop in the hospital today to see her, she was with her family and they ask her if she remember us?. She answer no, I don\u2019t. Her mom replied;\u00a0 \u201cThey were with you at the surgery, they designed and manufactured your implant\u201d. She just cries and keep saying\u2026 thank you!, (you could imagine the rest), one or two tears came from my eyes. She recovered the ability to speak and move her hands, recovered her face, and the most important thing she recovered her identity, as simple as hugging her husband, talk to her mom, watch her face again in the mirror and recognize the person in front. And I just keep thinking how simple things in life matter so much, and the rest of us kind of always take it for granted, for others like \u00abAdriana\u00bb could mean everything…. just to see her smile is priceless.<\/p>\n

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From that moment my life changed forever, from seeing just 3D data, and thinking in CAD mode, to witness the power of technology and the impact in people\u2019s life. After leaving the hospital I\u2019m still shocked… can\u2019t believe what we just did for her. In all my years of professional life experience (+10 Automotive, +6 Autodesk, -1 as entrepreneur) have never accomplish a project so significant and powerful than helping \u00abAdriana\u00bb to improve her life quality. and i’m glad I’m going to have a chance to know her better when finishes rehabilitation therapy.<\/p>\n

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To \u201cAdriana\u201d,\u00a0<\/strong>thank you for the greatest lesson in my life, and for giving me the chance to tell your story<\/p>\n

To Ford & VW<\/strong>\u00a0, thanks for all the training and experience accumulated all over the years in critical design & manufacture projects.<\/p>\n

To Autodesk<\/strong>, thanks for all the access to groundbreaking technologies, the opportunities to learn from other manufacturing industries across the globe and all the friends I left behind. Special Thanks to Randy Twiddy<\/a>\u00a0,\u00a0Andrew Ward<\/a>\u00a0,\u00a0Cory Barrette,\u00a0<\/a>Matt Lemay\u00a0<\/a>& Lucas Ewing<\/a>\u00a0, you’re a big part of this. Without your help, non of this would be possible.<\/p>\n

To Autodesk Foundation, <\/strong>HUGE !\u00a0 thanks for helping fired up this amazing adventure, Ann Koh, Kellan Hays<\/a>, Oliver Gould & Christine Stoner<\/a> and rest of the team that I might be forgetting at the moment<\/p>\n

To PhD\u00a0Carlos\u00a0Monroy,\u00a0<\/strong>thanks for sharing with me your world’s vision about design & engineering,\u00a0 was my privilege worked closely with the great\u00a0GRANTA TEAM<\/strong> in Mexico City,\u00a0 you are the Genius behind this amazing company, and a wonderful human being.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

PD. Coming up the Spanish Version, I need some sleep !<\/p>\n

Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n