Charlevoix county herald., 1916-08-04
HOLE IN MANS HEART 10
PLUGGED; LIFE REeTOREo

Heroic Operation that Saved Would.
Be Suicide From Death 10
Fully Explained.
Kirksville, Mo.-Earl H. Fisk OF
the heart here still lives and is In
fair way toward recovery. His life was
saved by an operation performed by
Dr. George A. Still. who says he took
hold of Fisk's heart, thru which the
bullet had passed and by twisting the
tissue of 1t with his thumb and fore.
finger plugged the hole and stopped
the flow of blood. DR.. Still says the
heart had ceased to beat and the man
was apparently dead.
Fisk shot himself In his room short
ly before ! p. m. He was carried into
the operating room at 1:20 O'Clock
Examination showed a bullet wound
directly above the heart. The follow
sing account of what was done was die
tated by DR.. Still.
"The shirt and undershirt were
cut away from the chest and the skin
Immediately sterilized with pure car
bolic acid washed off with alcohol.
The patient gasped a few times after
being laid on the table, but apparent.
ly was dead. No pulse could be felt
either in the wrist or neck.
II made the remark that there
wasn't much use operating on corpse
and then added that he wouldn't be
any deader II we had good look at
the wound inside. Immediately open.
ed the chest between the fourth and
fifth ribs for about four inches, the
bullet hole being In the middle of the
wound, which was In the intercostal
space below the rib near the nipple, a
little inside. The wound exposed I
hole In the pericardium, which was
distended with blood. split the per.
icardfum and let out lot OF blood clot
This exposed the hole in the heart.
1.-The instant / took hold of tho
heart 1t began to beat. With my index
finger I twisted the tissue Of the
heart wall so as to plug the hole In
the heart, then removed the remain.
ing clots in the heart sack or pericar.
dunn
From then on the pulse picked W.,
but all the time l was sewing up the
wounds and while the nurses were ad-
ministering a gallon Of normal salt
solution. he did not regain conscious
ness. The normal salt solution was
to replace the lost blood and counter
act shock.
HE did not regain consciousness
until some time after he had been in
bed, and it was two or three days be-
fore he was totally rational.
"The pulse steadily improved until
after about three days 1t was normal.
lie ran a little fever during the first
week. His temperature was pracu.
cally normal for the next two weeks,
and later on he left the hospital, ap-
parently all right. 4
"The bullet which had gone thru
the body and lodged in the tbs sues un.
de, the skin between the tsnth ard
eleventh ribs on the right sid. was
removed. 1t was perfectly shaped. The
end .pf 1t showed the impriI.. If his
shirt where 1t struck before entering
the booy. The sides showed the marks
Of the revolver riflings. 1t had miss.
ed the ribs going in and showed no
bone marks. 1t must have traversed
lip Of the lung, the heart and liver.
ut went thru the heart near the
center. 1t must have barely missed
the largest vein In the body, the vena
cava, and little farther to the right
would have caught the thin part Of
the heart and the pulmonary vessels;
a little farther to the left the aorta
the main aretery of the body. The bull
let was an old style one Of lead"
Fisk tried to get out of bed one
night when the attendant was not
looking. He struggled to injure the
wound.
Two weeks ago he had sufficiently
recovered to leave Kirksville with his
mother for their home at Helena.
They stopped at Minneapolis for Wis
1t with relatives and while there Fisk
was taken with the grip. but accord
ing to information from there the i'll
ness was not traceable to his wound
and he has practically recovered.
No motive has been disclosed by
Fisk for his desire to die. His father
killed himself in September, shortly
after Fisk entered the school as a stu
dent. His grandfather also took his
own life.