“MY WIFE AND I USE IT AS A LITTLE VACATION,” JOHN SMILES, REFERRING TO HIS TRIPS TO THE JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL.
The Complex Airway Clinic Team Composed Of Alexander Hillel, M.D., David Feller-Kopman, M.D., And Richard Battafarano, M.D., Ph.D.
A patient of otolaryngologist Alexander Hillel, M.D., John has traveled to Baltimore from his Peterstown, West Virginia, home seven times. But Baltimore is more than a makeshift vacation spot for John — it’s where he took his first full breath.
Before coming to Johns Hopkins, John wasn’t sleeping well. When he did eventually fall asleep, his wife and children would watch him, counting the seconds between each breath he took — 35, 36, 37, 38. The breathless spells were broken by an eruption of gasps and choking sounds that alarmed John’s family and disrupted his sleep.