Doctors at Bulkley Valley Hospital would like to thank you for your donations.
A Bronchoscope for Bulkley Valley
What is the similarity between Tom Cruise and a doctor in small-town BC? According to Dr. Michel Smialowski, of Smithers, BC, they use some of the same tools. For example, Dr. Smialowski says that a bronchoscope is just like “in Mission Impossible, where they drill through the floor and use a little lighted tube to see what’s going on.” Because of your generosity, the Bulkley Valley Hospital in Smithers has a new bronchoscope, which is used to look into lungs to diagnose and treat breathing problems.
According to Dr. Smialowski, bronchoscopes aren’t needed often in a small hospital, but “when you do need one, it’s the only tool that will work.” This was vividly illustrated not long ago, when a healthy 26-year-old construction worker came into the hospital with a severe dental abscess. He was given IV antibiotics, but soon, he began to struggle for breath. When Dr. Smialowski looked at him, the whole inside of his mouth and throat were infected. The young man’s tongue was five times normal size, and the muscles that opened his mouth were frozen.
The Bulkley Valley Hospital is small, and didn’t have the facilities to help the patient. He had to be sent to Vancouver by plane. First, though, doctors had to make sure that he could survive the trip. His mouth and throat were still swelling. He needed a breathing tube to make sure his throat didn’t close, suffocating him. Without your generous contributions to TB Vets, this would have meant a tracheotomy, in which doctors cut a hole into the throat, and insert a breathing tube.
Fortunately, your donations recently allowed TB Vets to provide a bronchoscope to Bulkley Valley Hospital.
The bronchoscope’s slender, flexible tube could pass down the young man’s swollen throat, and a breathing tube was threaded down over it. The patient could now breathe. He was sent to Vancouver, where they were able to treat his abscess. He is now completely cured.
Without your help, this young man would have had to undergo a dangerous procedure that could have damaged his voice for life. Because of you, his doctors had a simple, less invasive way to save his life. Thank you.
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