St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-14
He Stands on His Feet an
Hour and Patiently En-
dures Horrible Agony. 50
When the Surgeons, Unknown
to Him, Administer Ether
and Continue Operations,
He Becomes Enraged at Them
"A Most Remarkable Sur
gical Operation. r

' him last Saturday for the re-
mOval of cancer from his throat and
face at private hospital at 80 West Six
teenth street, during which he gave an
exhibition of nerve and courage as rare
as it is remarkable. MIR. Barrett was
born in Ireland, and spent all but two
of his forty-SiX years of life in that cOun-
try. He has worked on the docks ever
since he was boy, and is noted among
his fellows as of great strength, endur-
ance and temperance principles. He
was at work on the White Star pier
about eighteen months ago. when
a box of soap fell from the side of a
steamer and struck him glancing
blow on the left cheek. There was a
gOod-SiZed lump raised on his cheek, and
his eye was blackened, but he went Oh
with his work just the same, and in
little while the effect of the blow had
all passed away, as far as could be seen
Appearances proved deceptive. A
ing his dinner, he discovered that there
was blood running into his mouth. An
investigation showed that his teeth had
made small warty eXcreScence which
was attached to the left cheek, Just in
front of the angle of the jaw. Mr.. Bar
ret paid no attention to it, and thought
it would disappear as suddenly as it
seemed to have grown. But it did not.
1t kept growing all the time. Masses
like little balls formed on the inside of
the cheek and extended nearly to the
mouth. Mr.. Barrett suffered much from
pain, which was burning and lacerat-
ing, and extended to the left shoulder
and the top of the head, writes the New
York correspondent of the st. Louis
GlObe-Democrat In abOnt four months
the left side of the face began to swell,
and it slowly increased in size till it was
nearly as large as cOcOanut.
PREPARING FOR THE OPERATION.
Mr.. Barrett did not know what was
the matter with him and never felt wor-
ried about it until he read, about two
months ago, an account OF the German
crown princes malady in the news
papers. 1t dawned on him then that if
he had cancer he had better be doing
something about it, and he went to the
hospital. DR.. T. j. Keane, the house
surgeon, made careful examination of
the new growth and found epithelial
cancer cells in a piece of tissue which
was taken from the patients throat and
submitted to micrOScOpical eXamina-
ton. The disease had spread to the
left tonsil and uvula, and had taken in
part of the tongue at it's base and the
upper jawbone. There was no local or
internal treatment given, and the pa
tient was put Oh a diet to prepare him
for the operation to extirpate the can:
Ger, which was similar in kind and po-
sition to that which killed Gen. Grant.
The patient was taken to the Operat-
ing rooms Saturday at 2 p. m. DR..
Keane did the work, and there were a
dozen physicians present. -!
Nov, Mr.. Barrett, just lie on the
table and take the ether" said DR..
Keane.
''No, sir, will not,'' said the patient.
"YOu can cut my head off and l will not
say word, but I'll not take thing to
destroy my senses. I'll not give you
any trouble, sir.' >
be shaken. and-the glittering knives on
the table had no effect on him, and the
work went on without the an8sthetic.
To deaden the sensibility of the MEN,
brane in the mouth and to wrevent gag
ging it was painted with a 4-per-cent
solution of cocaine. A jaw-eXtender
was then placed between the teeth Oh
the right side, and by using set-screw
the mouth was opened so wide that it
nearly dislocated the jaw. 1t was I'M
comfortable for the patient, but it gave
good view of the tumor.
THE PATIENTS REMARKABLE NERVE.
A deep incisiOn was made in the
cheek on the inside of the lower Jaw
bone. The blood gushed into the mouth
like a fountain, showing that the tumOr
was very muscular. SpOnges were
packed into the mouth, and as fast as
they became saturated were quickly re-
moved and others put in their places.
The patient had great difficulty in
breathing, and the instruments we've
got in readiness to split open his wing
pipe and insert a tracheOtOmy tube if it
should be necessary. After the hemor-
rhage was checked the incision was ex-
tended upward and all around the dis
eased mass. The patient aided the sur
geOn greatly. Instead of getting fur
his throat he calmly shut up his wind
pipe and held his breath till the blood
could be cleared away. A piece of
tissue was raised SO that st could be
seized with thumb fOrceps and the
whole mass as it appeared in the mouth
was disSected out with knives and scis-
SOrs. The left tonsil was removed en-
tirely. The uvula was cut away and
section of the roof of the mouth. The
base of the tongue on the left side was
cut into about half inch. This took
all the cancerouS tissue out on the in
side. This part of the operation lasted
an hour, and the patient stood on his
feet all the time. He was apparently
the most uncOncerned person present.
He had not uttered a sound of COM
plant, and when his face turned black
from partial SutfOcatiOn caused by the
blood getting into the larynX, he brought
himself out of the trouble without as
SiStance. He had suffered terrible pain,
but the only sign of it was the paleness
and anxious expression of his face.
HIS MOUTH IRONED WITH HEATED
METAL.
The most horrible torture was yet to
come. The hemorrhage in the mouth.
had to be stopped before the operation,
could go on. Styptic cotton and Other5
things were tried without success.
Paquelin's thermO-cautery was got in
readiness as dernier resort. The eau
terry was raised to white heat for
the patient warning and then plunged
the heated metal into his mouth and
ran it over the wounded surface. Smoke
from the burning flesh poured from the
patients mouth and tears of agony ran
down his cheek, and finally mingled
with his blood. When the cautery be-.
came cold it was heated again and APP
piled to some other part of The mouth.
This was done several times and finally
checked the hemOrrhage. Not once
during this terrible ordeal did
the patient vince. He did not
even clinch his fist, but rested his hands
Oh his hips most of the time. He had
gone through enough to put ninety-nine
men out of a hundred an their backs in
an unconscious condition, and yet he
said he felt first rate. The patient was
next placed upon his back on the oper-
ating table to remove the external
tumor, which operation included the re-
mOval of the upper portion of the jaw.
The patient refused to take whisky, as
he was temperance man. DR.. Keane
well knowing the agony caused by cut