The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1917-07-27
life IS SAVED BY J..
DARING OPERATION
Sergeant Dean, Whose Skull Was
Crushed, viii Leave Hospi-
tai Completely Recovered

10.
q Within the next day or two, Sergt
William X. Dean, of Company NJ. rldr,
! ty-seeond Infantry, will leave the DC.
partment Hospital and report 10 his
company commander for duty, and the
last chapter will have been written IN
one Of the most remarkable surgical
operations ever performed in the iIa-
| waiian Islands. II is the story of u
life being saved when 1t seemed impns
sible, and better still, of complete re-
covery with no apparent damage to the
body or mind of the patient in the face
of the gloomiest outlook that any man
ever faced.
On the afternoon of June IL, Sergeant
Dean started from Sehofeld Barracks
! for Honolulu on his motorcycle. Whoa
he reached the crossing known as Ewn
Junction his motorcycle collided with
on automobile. Both vehicles were trnv.
cling at good speed and the result was i
fractured skull and broken arm for
Dean. e IL .s"
He was taken to the Department Hos
pital at once, and was Immediately
operated on. Dean owes his life today
to the skill and dispatch with which
| that operation was conducted.
81 would not have given ten cents
| for his chances of recovery when ! saw
him brought, into the operating rouT,
] said one of the officers who was present
at the operation. There was a deqt il
his forehead large enough for you e
| put an egg in, and the brain substanc,
! was coming through and dropping onte
4 the floor of the room. & 5.n.
sergeant Dean had what is called .
depressed fracture of the frontal
bone aud the pressure on the brain
i was so great that, as / said, the braiT
matter was coming through. This ne.
cessitated an operation TO relieve this
! pressure, and 70 elevate the frontal
bone into. its normal position. The first
/ was accomplished by what is called .
\ tdecompression' operation in the sub
temporal region. That relieved the
pressure on the brain, and after the
skull was repaired the brain resumed
its normal place OF course il was i'm.
possible to restore that portion Of the
brain that had come through the crey.
ice, but, fortunately, the part of tho
brain affected is in what medical men
term Silent area that is, part OF
the brain which does not control any
muscular part Of the body, nor any of
the senses. Had the side of the skull re,
ceived an equally hard blow, the pa,
tent would doubtless have been para.
lived on one side of his body, while {
similar blow on the back of the head
might have produced total blindness
loss of speech, or other loss Of senses.
There is, however no apparent men
tai nor physical defect TO remind Ser
geaht slDosa OF. his escape. from death
and be is being detained in the hospital
because of mis- arm. He win go OUT .
living example of the wonders of mol
ern surgery.
In speaking of the case, the officer in
command Of the hospital said: "a
few years go such a case as that Of
Sergeant Dean would have been hope
less. But surgery isgmaking rapid nd
Nancrs. and science is solving the p .h
lens that modern conditions put to us
In the great war hospitals of Europe
cases arise every day that would have
been impossible to save o decade ng,
But the advances that have been and
are being made in the surgeon s work
particularly in minimizing infection OF
the injured parts and in the shortening
of the period Of .convalescence, make
the chances for recovery greater and
greater. AZ ~ .rlg F..
"Shell woundslthat formerly would
have left men crippled for life, may now
keep them from the firing line for rela
lively short periods. and some who
would have been dislgured by great
sears now have but slight ones. "
! Sergeant Dean is native of Georgi,
and is twenty-five years Of age. He en-
listed in 1918. and came at once to the
Second Infantry, being assigned to NJ
Company of that regiment, When the
Thirty second was formed Dean was
transferred as sergeant to that or
ganimtion. He has host of friend s.
not only in the two regiments where he
has served but in others. In and out OF
the service, who will rejoice at his mir
aculous escape from death and join him
ia his gratitude for the skill and care
that have saved his life. 49,.