By Peter A. Sutters Jr.
“It's really amazing that my pain is gone,” said Dorji. “Incredible.”Dorji, who only has one name, is a student of geography and planning at Sherubtse College, Bhutan's only university, had a chance meeting last year with a doctor and part-time explorer from Long Island Jewish Hospital in New Hyde Park when he ventured to Bhutan to evaluate the health care needs of a group of nomadic yak herders.Bhutan is located in the heart of the Himalayas, sandwiched between India and Tibet. Few tourists are allowed to visit the country because of the fear on the part of King Jigme Singye Wangchuk that Western influences will damage the fragile culture of the region. “We recruited Dorji to help us penetrate the area,” said Dr. Kenneth Kamler, a microsurgeon at LIJ. “We needed his good spirits to help us along the way.”Kamler, who has climbed Mount Everest in the Himalayas six times as an expedition doctor, noticed that although in good spirits, Dorji was experiencing severe back pain brought on by years of grueling farm work in his home town of Phongmey, the village that is at the end of the nation's only major road.”I saw how much his back was hurting him,” said Kamler. “I though I'd help Dorji, to sort of return the favor.” Kamler arranged and paid for Dorji to fly to New York late last year to see a team of specialists at LIJ who could evaluate his condition and assess how best to relieve his pain. Dorji said the pain was so bad that he could neither sit nor stand for more than a half hour at a time.”I had to lay down all the time,” said Dorji, who speaks English he learned at school. “In my country, with all the work, that is not possible.”After running a series of test, doctors found the pain was coming from four fused discs in Dorji's spine and that surgery to separate then was not a viable option for a young man eager to get back to work. What would work for Dorji, the doctors concluded, was an unusual method of pain relief that would send Dorji back to his undeveloped country with some advanced medical technology buried beneath his skin. Doctors, who donated their services, implanted a device called a spinal cord stimulator in the young man's back and attached electrodes to his spine. With a remote control device, Dorji can direct the stimulator to send electrical impulses to instantly relieve the pain. The battery will last about 2 1/2 to five years, depending on use, and the hospital is already planning to have Dorji back or fly doctors out to replace it when the time comes.”All of these people will be remembered for the rest of my life,” said a smiling Dorji, looking at the team of doctors that helped in his surgery. Reach reporter Peter A. Sutters Jr. by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300 Ext. 173.
