Henry Horn’s sore throat posed little problem to an imaginative Alaska Highway Doctor. Henry’s tonsils had been removed years ago, but one grew back. And every winter he suffered from a constant sore throat. A winter along the Alaska Highway did not help the problem.
Link to another story “Injured, Sick or Worse on the Highway”
Henry told Donna Blasor-Bernhardt the story in an interview many years later.
The Public Roads Administration made available a doctor, a dentist and four nurses. Henry noted that the dentist used a foot operated treadle to run his drill. Relieved that his problem lay in his throat, not in his mouth, Henry reported to Dr. Doyle.
Doyle looked at the offending tonsil: had Henry sit down in a chair in his office. Out of the corner of his eye, Henry watched to nurse contrive a device that turned out to have a “wire snare on it. Dr. Doyle lowered the device into my throat and snipped the tonsil by pulling the wire snare tight.”
Henry stayed on the table for awhile while nurse Bea kept an eye on him. Since he lived in the building next door, when he asked Doyle for permission to go home at about 6:00 pm, Doyle agreed.
At about 9:00 the day took a turn for the better for everyone in the camp. “…a man had returned from the states and had a suitcase full of scotch.” He had taken the suitcase to Dr. Doyle’s office and a small crowd had gathered.
Henry helped himself to a scotch and Dr. Doyle stepped over to him. “Henry, didn’t I remove a tonsil for you this afternoon?”
Doyle produced a tongue depressor and a flashlight and took a good look. “ ‘It looks as if I did a good job, so go ahead and have another drink.’ That was the end of my convalescence. I went to work the next morning.”