Larynx

Debi Austin looked into the camera, swallowed - the hole in her throat as big as a half-dollar coin and as black as nothingness - and said she had her first cigarette when she was 13, that she had tried to quit but couldn't. And that "they" say nicotine is not addictive. Then she picked up a half-burned, still-lit cigarette from an ashtray, titled back her head and took a drag from the hole in her neck. She winced, and as the smoke wafted out of the hole she said: "How can they say that?"

Debi Austin looked into the camera, swallowed - the hole in her throat as big as a half-dollar coin and as black as nothingness - and said she had her first cigarette when she was 13, that she had tried to quit but couldn't. And that "they" say nicotine is not addictive. Then she picked up a half-burned, still-lit cigarette from an ashtray, titled back her head and took a drag from the hole in her neck. She winced, and as the smoke wafted out of the hole she said: "How can they say that?"

I enjoyed your editorial. As a paramedic in the Los Angeles City Fire Department, I had also encountered people of unclear persuasion. Early on I learned that rudimentary evaluation of the chest could leave me more confused. We never considered panty checks for what is present or absent (too impractical, embarrassing and humiliating--what if we chose wrong?). To avoid such a difficult situation, a senior paramedic taught me to check the larynx. The larynx enlarges during adolescence in males (maybe testosterone poisoning)

A voice box transplant has restored the speech of a 52-year-old Modesto woman 11 years after she lost her ability to speak and breathe on her own, surgeons from UC Davis reported Thursday. The 18-hour operation in October was only the second time that such a transplant has been undertaken worldwide. "This operation restored my life," Brenda Charette Jensen said in a news release issued by the medical center. Jensen lost her voice and ability to breathe normally due to complications from another surgery.

A voice box transplant has restored the speech of a 52-year-old Modesto woman 11 years after she lost her ability to speak and breathe on her own, surgeons from UC Davis reported Thursday. The 18-hour operation in October was only the second time that such a transplant has been undertaken worldwide. "This operation restored my life," Brenda Charette Jensen said in a news release issued by the medical center. Jensen lost her voice and ability to breathe normally due to complications from another surgery.

Lying on the table in the Marin General Hospital emergency room, Phil Sanson couldn't breathe. His eyes wide with terror, he realized he had no way of telling the nurses he was suffocating. His vocal cords were useless and his air passage was blocked by a fractured larynx, incurred when he dived out of bounds to save a loose ball in a basketball game between his The Master's College team and Dominican College of San Rafael, Calif. Fearing death, he prayed. Then, he slipped from consciousness.

Debbie Reynolds is writing her autobiography. "I thought I'd better do it before the children do," she said unseriously, in an eyes-lifted reference to the present vogue of caustic tell-alls by star offspring. "I've been working with a writer for months, and I've just now divorced Eddie (Fisher). It's very slow work." Her book is tentatively titled "Unsinkable Me," a reference, naturally, to her success in "The Unsinkable Molly Brown." She doesn't like it. "Too on the nose," she feels.

Teas from across the globe are becoming more and more popular in the U.S. One relative newcomer, yerba mate, is attracting fans for its allegedly jitter-free caffeine boost and high antioxidant content. Lab research suggests some potential health benefits from drinking yerba mate, but studies of lifelong yerba mate drinkers in the tea's native South America suggest the brew increases the risk of some cancers -- a fact most marketing campaigns omit.

Sonny Barger is not a religious man. But riding motorcycles is "as good a religion as any and probably better than most," says the Hells Angels icon. Meditative and transcendent, motorcycling focuses the mind, he says, and requires devotion. At 71, Barger has spent six decades riding bikes and 53 years as a member of the country's best-known outlaw motorcycle club. Now he's spreading the gospel of two wheels with his sixth book, "Let's Ride: Sonny Barger's Guide to Motorcycling, How to Ride the Right Way — for Life," co-written with Darwin Holmstrom.

Surgeons removed the voice box of former hostage Robert Polhill on Thursday in what doctors called a successful operation to rid his body of cancer. "He's in intensive care after undergoing surgery," Walter Reed Army Medical Center spokesman Ben Smith said. "His condition's good. Smith quoted doctors as saying the cancer had not spread beyond Polhill's larynx, or voice box. Polhill, 55, was freed April 22 after more than three years in captivity in Lebanon. Army Dr.

Dog-mauling victim Diane Whipple was killed in the same way a lion pounces on its prey, suffering bruises and cuts everywhere except for the soles of her feet and the top of her head, a chief medical examiner testified Monday. The most severe wounds were to Whipple's neck, where her jugular vein was severed and her larynx was punctured, Dr. Boyd Stephens told jurors in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Her voice was quiet. But even the most boisterous students in the Locke High School auditorium fell silent to hear Pauline Owens. "You are about to learn an important lesson," she began. It was a 25th anniversary commemoration of the Great American Smokeout, sponsored by the American Cancer Society. Owens, whose larynx was removed due to complications of her smoking habit, was speaking with the aid of a little machine known as a voice box.

Trent McCleary, who came within minutes of dying after being hit in the throat by a slap shot, felt well enough Sunday to write a note to his Montreal Canadien teammates. "Doing great, everybody," said the handwritten message delivered by team doctor David Mulder. He said he would be listening to Sunday's game, in which Montreal defeated Carolina, 3-0. "Battle hard," the note said. "Go Habs." It was signed, "Trent No. 6."

A man who lost his voice in a motorcycle accident 19 years ago rasped "Hello" and "Hi, Mom" just a few days after what is believed to be the first larynx transplant since 1969. Timothy Heidler, 40, could be speaking in a normal voice in five months or less, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic said. In a 12-hour surgery on Sunday, Heidler received the larynx, part of the trachea and 70% of the throat of an unidentified donor.

Phase One: Cigar smoking is something Grandpa does at Friday night poker games. Phase Two: The pastime gets bigger and hipper. Trendy types are lighting up at fund-raisers and night clubs. Suddenly, stogies are everywhere. Demi Moore posed with one for the cover of Cigar Aficionado magazine. (Some of the magazine's subscribers recently paid $450 for a "Big Smoke" Las Vegas weekend.) And recently, it was even possible to catch a cigar party at the gym.

A complex surgical operation on an Italian woman who wanted to repair her damaged voice to allow her to speak normally again went smoothly Friday, said the woman's surgeon at UCI Medical Center. "She's doing great," said Adriana Cioce's surgeon, Dr. Roger L. Crumley. Cioce, 42, a tour guide in Rome, arrived here last week. She was scheduled for surgery Tuesday but doctors had postponed the operation after she developed a heart irregularity.

A man who lost his voice in a motorcycle accident 19 years ago rasped "Hello" and "Hi, Mom" just a few days after what is believed to be the first larynx transplant since 1969. Timothy Heidler, 40, could be speaking in a normal voice in five months or less, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic said. In a 12-hour surgery on Sunday, Heidler received the larynx, part of the trachea and 70% of the throat of an unidentified donor.

A complex surgical operation on an Italian woman who wanted to repair her damaged voice to allow her to speak normally again went smoothly Friday, said the woman's surgeon at UCI Medical Center. "She's doing great," said Adriana Cioce's surgeon, Dr. Roger L. Crumley. Cioce, 42, a tour guide in Rome, arrived here last week. She was scheduled for surgery Tuesday but doctors had postponed the operation after she developed a heart irregularity.

Mike Lee of Simi Valley suffered a fractured larynx when he was hit in the throat with the ball Saturday night in a U.S. Olympic Festival field hockey game. Lee's injury is similar to the one incurred by The Masters' College basketball player Phil Sanson, but it not as severe. Lee, 28, does not have respiratory problems and his ability to speak is improving. He was released from the intensive-care unit of Baptist Hospital Monday and referred to UCLA specialist Thomas Calcaterra.

Lying on the table in the Marin General Hospital emergency room, Phil Sanson couldn't breathe. His eyes wide with terror, he realized he had no way of telling the nurses he was suffocating. His vocal cords were useless and his air passage was blocked by a fractured larynx, incurred when he dived out of bounds to save a loose ball in a basketball game between his The Master's College team and Dominican College of San Rafael, Calif. Fearing death, he prayed. Then, he slipped from consciousness.