Scary Surgery Makes Lucky Life

     I was able to meet a very special young man. His name is Jessen Cole. I have taken his picture as a football player for Chico High. This time I was taking his picture for a much different reason. I spent a short time with him as he talked about surviving a rare reaction to anesthesia called malignant hyperthermia. 

     This is very rare condition which Enloe has never experienced in the last 30 years. Cole was set to go under a routine wrist surgery. He was given anesthesia for the surgery. When stitching his wrist, Cole reacted and was in immediate danger. The reaction could have killed him within minutes, but doctors were able to quickly diagnose the symptom and treat it very quickly. A couple weeks later, Cole had made a full recovery. He was back to good health and now you would never even suspect he would have been so near to his death. The malignant hyperthermia is a genetic trait that overwhelms the body and causes it to shut down. Cole remembers going under and waking up in pain.

     He is very lucky. I took pictures of him as he discussed the incident that happened three months ago. He had some images from when he was in the hospital on a laptop. I took pictures of the laptop and had Cole reflected in the screen to the two images looked superimposed on each other. This gave the sense of the imagery to be a visual memory of his experiences.

Jessen Cole is reflected in a computer monitor showing of a picture of Cole when he was in the hospital as he talks about how he survived a rare reaction to anesthesia called malignant hyperthermia after recovering in his home Saturday, July 10, 2010 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Jessen Cole talks about what it was like to have survived a rare reaction to anesthesia called malignant hyperthermia after recovering in his home Saturday, July 10, 2010 in Chico, Calif.

(Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Enloe Century Project Underway

Enloe Hospital is continuing to work on their Century Project with the building of a new tower facility for surgeries and more rooms. Their expansion is pretty expansive and I had a chance to see the progress on the new tower. I was taken on a guided tour of the construction site. There is a lot to still be done, but I was impressed with the layout of the facility. It will definitely be a big improvement. I look forward to its completion.

Superintendent of Harrison Drywall Lewis Blackwell (right) shows crew members were to place drywall on a tour of the continued construction inside the Enloe Century Project as they work on the new hospital facility Friday, July 2, 2010 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

A worker walks through a hallway on the fourth floor on a tour of the continued construction inside the Enloe Century Project as they work on the new hospital facility Friday, July 2, 2010 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Jerry Kaye works on the soffit for the nurses station on the fifth floor on a tour of the continued construction inside the Enloe Century Project as they work on the new hospital facility Friday, July 2, 2010 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Crews work on the new tower of the continued construction inside the Enloe Century Project as they work on the new hospital facility Friday, July 2, 2010 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)