Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 163, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1915 — IRON STAPLE REMOVED FROM PATIENT’S LUNG. [ARTICLE]

IRON STAPLE REMOVED FROM PATIENT’S LUNG.

For Two Year* He Wae Unable to Laugh Wthout Starting Fit of Coughing. Lincoln, Neb.—An Iron staple, approximately an inch and a quarter long and a half Inch across, which S. C. Hawthorne of this city swallowed over two years ago, was recently removed from his left lung. Again able to walk rapidly, to run, to breathe deeply, to sleep in different position* and to laugh Mr. Hawthorne is having difficulty in obeying a doctor's order to “act like a man ninety years old for two months.** During the two years which have elapsed since he swallowed the staple while fastening a wire support for vines growing over the porch of his home, Mr. Hawthorne has appealed to twenty doctors for relief from coughing spells which at times threatened hl* life. For a time prior to the operation which has restored his health, Mr. Hawthorne lost a pound or more in weight each day. His condition was serious when the cause of the illness was correctly diagnosed and an X-ray photograph revealed the location of the staple, which most of the doctors consulted had believed could not be In the lungs. Before swallowing the staple Mr. Hawthorne had never been sick, except for an attack of typhoid when he was 14 years old. At the time of the diagnosis which led to the operation for the removal of the staple Mr. Hawthorne’s weight had fallen from 200 pounds to 176 pounds in about a month.

When the X-ray examination was made, the staple was found in the hilus of the left lung, with an abcess formation and infected area in the hilus of the right lung. Mr. Hawthorne, seen at his home in Lincoln, said: “I am feeling well now practically for the first time in two years. I remember clearly the day I swallowed the staple. I was standing on the porch railing, reaching up to fasten the wire support for the vines. I was pounding one staple into a board and, as I reached up, swallowed the other, which I was holding in my mouth. “I phoned to a doctor immediately and asked him if there were any possibility that the staple had gone into the windpipe. He said that if it had I would have choked to death before he could reach me. I felt no pain after the first few moments, as I supposed the staple had gone into the stomach and through the gastro-intes-tinal tract However, my trouble soon began. “I was partially conscious during the hour and twenty-four minutes which the operatlqp required, only a local anaesthetic being employed. The staple was so lodged that it was necessary to work it into the right main bronchus from the left, in order to permit rotation and withdrawal, round end first. “The operation was performed with a tube containing a tiny electric light bulb and an instrument for grasping the staple. The tube and instrument were Inserted through the mouth and pushed down into the lung. The staple was removed without Injuring the tissues."