Medical Disorders

In the 1930s, Adolf Hitler's tactics were brilliant, his foresight remarkable, according to many military historians. Working directly in opposition to the best advice of his generals, he conquered most of Europe militarily and his prospects seemed unlimited. If he had retained his wits, some critics speculate, he might have continued his expansion--winning the war in Europe and dictating a peace with the United States. But he didn't.

The line of prospective bone-marrow donors whose hearts were touched by the life-or-death struggle facing two young Ventura County boys wrapped alongside the State Office Building on Wednesday. There were police officers and sheriff's deputies in uniform. Civilians in business suits waited patiently. Others, many of them on a day off from work, stood comfortably in T-shirts or sweatshirts and casual pants.

The goal of the surgery was to give 7-year-old Chelsey Thomas the ability to smile, but it was her parents who were grinning from ear to ear Friday night. That's because Friday's procedure marked the halfway point to realizing a lifelong dream for Chelsey, who has been unable to smile since birth due to a rare neurological condition called Moebius syndrome.

Layne LaRue seemed like a perfectly healthy 13-month-old before he came down with a fever in June, his parents said. Less than two weeks later, before doctors determined why his body could not fight off disease, the boy was dead. Now, Scott and Theresa LaRue of Silver Strand Beach near Oxnard have learned the worst: Their other two children are also afflicted with the rare immune-system disorder that took Layne's life, X-linked lymphoproliferative disease.

As 7-year-old Chelsey Thomas waited for nurses to wheel her into the operating room, she drew a quick sketch of herself holding hands with her friend Ryan. On each face she penciled in a grin. The picture represented what the platinum-blond second-grader from Palmdale has longed for all her life: the ability to smile. On Tuesday morning at Kaiser Permanente's Woodland Hills Medical Center, her dream was on the verge of coming true.

As 7-year-old Chelsey Thomas waited for nurses to wheel her into the operating room, she drew a quick sketch of herself holding hands with her friend Ryan. On each face she penciled in a grin. The picture represented what the platinum-blond second-grader from Palmdale has longed for all her life: the ability to smile. Tuesday morning at Kaiser Permanente's Woodland Hills Medical Center, her dream was on the verge of coming true.

Here's a glossary of terms often associated with back pain, a condition that affects an estimated 75 million Americans. * Cauda equina syndrome: Compression, usually due to the pressure of a massive herniated disc, on a sheaf of nerve roots from the lower spinal cord that spread out like the tail of a horse, hence cauda equina.

The family of a 9-year-old Seattle boy with a severe lung disorder is pinning its hopes for his recovery on a sophisticated heart-lung bypass system at Children's Hospital of Orange County, one of only a few such machines in the nation. Sopheap Chea was listed in stable condition Tuesday after being flown to Orange County from Seattle in a private jet Monday night. "The next few days will tell us if he's going to turn around," said Dr. Paul Lubinsky, one of the boy's physicians at CHOC.

Biopool International Inc., a Ventura producer of test kits for diagnosing blood disorders, says it has acquired a new technology for the early detection of potential complications in patients receiving heparin, a drug used in treating blood-clot diseases. The complication may occur in as many as 10% of patients who receive the drug. The new technology was developed at the University of Alberta Hospitals in Alberta, Canada.

The little blond girl who never smiled will be rolled on a gurney into an operating room in Kaiser Permanente's Medical Center in Woodland Hills two days before Thanksgiving. Dr. Ronald Zuker, a Canadian surgeon, will operate on her, using delicate implements, microscopes and tiny needles. He will labor for about eight hours installing a muscle taken from her thigh into the lower left side of her cheek. He will then attempt to hook up a healthy nerve to her new muscle.