Lifelong musician plays a sweet new tune and breathes easier after innovative lung procedure called BLVR

Oct. 9, 2024
Doc Davis is breathing much better, using far less oxygen and playing his harmonica again after receiving a procedure called Bronchoscopic Lung Volume Reduction or BLVR. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon, for UCHealth.
Doc Davis is breathing much better, using far less oxygen and is able to play his harmonica again after receiving a procedure called Bronchoscopic Lung Volume Reduction or BLVR. Here, he poses with his dog, Gizmo, who likes to howl along when Doc plays his harmonica. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon, for UCHealth.

When he was a young sailor in the U.S. Navy with time on his hands and the wide expanse of the Pacific Ocean surrounding him, Doc Davis would practice his harmonica and contemplate what the future would bring.

Nearly five decades later, he still has a harmonica, and he is playing it with a renewed fervor these past few months after an innovative procedure helped him breathe both easier and better.

The Bronchoscopic Lung Volume Reduction (BLVR) procedure helped him be more active, walk further and enjoy a better quality of life.

Diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a type of emphysema, Doc was fighting for every breath. Now he is a regular with the harmonica band the Huff n Puffers and able to handle higher elevations at his much-loved Colorado mountains.

“I thought I was going to die. I felt like I was 100 years old. It was hard to walk, and I had to stop every few steps. I couldn’t do anything, and it was really rough,” said the 66-year-old Denver resident. “But this has been a game changer.”

The fairly new procedure he underwent in June at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus has put not just the wind beneath his wings but into his scarred and diseased lungs as well.

“When you have COPD and emphysema, it feels like you’re under water or have a bag over your head when you try to breath,” he said. “But after the valve procedure, it was like night and day. I could breathe deeper, and I was able to exhale; its steadier and has been getting better.”

(Listen as Doc’s dog, Gizmo, sings along while he plays his harmonica.)

A Navy man finds him home in Denver, singing in bands and spreading his love of music to others

A California native who lived in various states as a child, Doc graduated from high school in Texas and enrolled in the U.S. Navy as a 19-year-old in 1977. He completed three tours of the South Pacific during his four years of service, visiting far-away ports of call, learning a trade as a radioman. He also loved playing his harmonica when he was off duty and on his ship’s deck with thousands of miles of open sea as a constant companion.

“It’s my favorite instrument. I played as a little kid. When you’re in the Navy, you have 12-hour shifts on and then 12-hour shifts off, so you have some time on your hands.  You need something to do when you’re in the middle of the ocean.”

The harmonica is Doc Davis' favorite instrument. He's able to play again after receiving an innovative new lung procedure called a BLVR. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon, for UCHealth.
The harmonica is Doc Davis’ favorite instrument. He’s able to play again after receiving an innovative new lung procedure called a BLVR. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon, for UCHealth.

After his Navy discharge, he found himself in the Bay Area working odd jobs, including as a taxi driver. After being injured on the job in 1988, a friend thought a change of scenery would be beneficial and bought him a plane ticket to Denver. Almost immediately he met his wife of 36 year, Dodie, a massage therapist who helped him recover from the whiplash he had sustained.

A self-taught musician, his earliest and fondest childhood memories are of his grandmother’s piano. He learned to play a tune by ear, and over the year mastered the guitar, mandolin, keyboard, and became comfortable singing too.

“After I first got to Denver I was heading up to Boulder and I saw those really cool rocks and I asked what they were called. And right there I thought to myself, ‘I’m going to be in a band called Flatiron.’ ’’

It didn’t take long for Doc to meet some fellow musicians who were looking for someone with his musical chops. They formed the Flatiron, a successful rock-blues group, performing throughout metro Denver for several years before breaking up in 1996.

Trying his hand at guitar lessons led him to his next career: Sharing his love of music to students with disabilities. He became a life skills coach, contracting with nonprofits to provide music and other activities such as exercise and diet/nutrition support for clients with special needs.

“It was the most fun I ever had, and I did it for 20 years.”

Doc Davi’s journey with emphysema, specifically COPD

As the years passed, Doc began to develop respiratory issues, despite his healthy lifestyle and daily swimming regimen. As a child, he had pneumonia twice, exacerbated by parents who “smoked like chimneys” who were warned by a physician that their son’s lungs looked worse for the ware for someone so young.

Doc has never been a smoker. Aside from sneaking a few cigarettes in high school to look cool, his Navy enlistment and the rigors of boot camp put a stop to any desire to light up.

But the damage had been done. Performing in smoky bars and clubs also contributed to his growing lung problems.

In 2020, he was told he had COPD and emphysema, caused by second-hand smoke.

COPD is an umbrella term for people with lung diseases who find it difficult to breathe and for whom there are no cures. The best patients can do is manage their afflictions.

Emphysema, a specific type of COPD, is a chronic and progressive disease where air sacs in the lungs have been damaged. These tiny air sacs, also called alveoli, sit at the end of the bronchioles (or air tubes), in the lungs. They serve a crucial function as they expand with oxygen when a person inhales and shrink when the body exhales carbon dioxide.

While healthy alveoli look like tiny sponges, diseased ones develop small holes between one another where inhaled air becomes trapped, making it difficult for people to exhale.

Doc was forced to use supplemental oxygen. The air we breathe contains about 20 percent oxygen, along with other gases. People with COPD like Doc need supplemental oxygen systems providing a much higher percentage of pure oxygen to help them breathe.

The COVID-19 lockdown disrupted his exercise routine, and he suspects the stress of the pandemic triggered another chronic disease, rheumatoid arthritis, which temporarily inhibited his ability to play his instruments until he was able to manage the affliction with medication.

Dealing with multiple chronic afflictions affecting many facets of his daily life, his health was deteriorating, and he would be forced to confront some tough decisions.

Doc Davis' quality of life is much better after he received help for lung damage from second-hand smoke. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon, for UCHealth.
Doc Davis’ quality of life is much better after he received help for lung damage from second-hand smoke. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon, for UCHealth.

The impact of BLVR on quality of life

During a May 2022 camping trip to Valley of the Gods in southeastern Utah, he and Dodie withstood an intense dust storm. He made it back to Denver, but with a serious inflammation of his bronchial tubes that included terrible fits of coughing and wheezing that shook his entire body.

Medical tests showed he was in acute respiratory failure, and he landed in a hospital intensive care unit for a week. He was given Albuterol which unfortunately, caused his heart to have an irregular heartbeat, called atrial fibrillation, which he now controls with medication.

“It just about did me in,” Doc recalled. “When I got to the VA emergency, they said my oxygen level was 20 percent and my heart rate was 170. The doctors said it’s a wonder that I didn’t have a stroke and die.”

When he was discharged, he went searching for answers. He was very reluctant to go the route of a lung transplant, which is difficult to qualify for and requires a long, arduous recovery.

It was after some research he discovered that the BLVR procedure was not only an option, but that it was available at UCHealth. The procedure is reversible, and it does not preclude a patient having a lung transplant later down the road.

“When I got home from the hospital, I was on six liters of oxygen (per minute). I was so weak I couldn’t walk, and I slept all the time. I started searching the internet for pulmonary exercises – and for some answers. I came across videos about the valve procedure and thought maybe this could help.”

Last winter, Doc got in touch with UCHealth, more specifically, the UCHealth Pulmonology Clinic, and asked to be considered as a BLVR procedure candidate.

The BLVR procedure, which has been available to patients like Doc for the past five years, has strict criteria for a patient to qualify.

Doc qualifies for BLVR procedure

Eligibility includes a variety of pre and post-tests as well as a patient having:

  • Confirmed COPD or emphysema diagnosis.
  • Quit smoking.
  • Willingness to participate in pulmonary rehabilitation.
  • Shortness of breath despite using inhalers.
  • Certain tests that detail pulmonary functions.

Most patients are former smokers, though some may suffer from second-hand smoke like Doc, or have a genetic disease called Alpha-1 antitrypsin, an inherited disorder that causes lung disease.

“BLVR won’t extend a patient’s life, but it will improve their quality of life and symptoms,” said Katie Garces, UCHealth nurse practitioner specializing in pulmonary disease.

During the procedure, a patient is put under general anesthesia and tiny valves are deployed into their diseased lungs through a bronchoscopy, which is a small, flexible tube with an attached camera. There is no cutting or incisions. Patients typically get between two and six valves during the hour-long procedure – Doc got four in his right lower lung lobe which was the most damaged portion of his lungs.

The valves work by allowing trapped air to escape and preventing new air from entering the diseased lobe. In essence, this shuts down the lobe, taking it out of play so healthier portions of the lung take over, function better and become stronger. The result being that patients breathe easier and have less shortness of breath.

“It’s very patient dependent,” said Garces, also a pulmonary sciences and critical care instructor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “It’s not a magic bullet and not for everyone, but Doc was a good candidate for it.”

Patients stay in the hospital for four nights; one reason being so the pulmonary care team can treat the 30% of patients who experience a collapsed lung. Once discharged, patients are monitored every three months for the first year.

“This is a very substantial step forward and a very good option for patients to manage COPD and emphysema,” said Dr. Ali Musani, UCHealth interventional pulmonologist. “Some of these patients have been using inhalers for decades and are not breathing well.”

Most patients undergoing BLVR see an improvement in their breathing immediately; others experience it over time. Perhaps just as important, they feel better doing the activities they enjoy, he said.

“We tell patients that it can take up to three months to notice a difference as it takes a body that long to equilibrate with the valves,” said Musani, also a University of Colorado professor of medicine and surgery.

Doc is ready for his next act

Doc noticed an immediate difference the day after his June 21st surgery.

“I felt a little pain in my chest the day of the operation, but it was gone the next day, and I could breathe deeper. I felt it right away,” he said. “Before I had to stop a half dozen times when I walked a block. Now I can walk a couple blocks without stopping. Everything is looking good, and I am feeling a lot better.”

He continues with pulmonary rehab and his regimen includes almost an hour on the treadmill and elliptical, along with leg exercises and weights, all the while using two liters of oxygen per minute — half of what he used before BLVR.

While Doc is unsure if he will ever be able to eliminate his need for supplemental oxygen, he needs far less than he did before his procedure. Other changes? He can head west and enjoy the mountains and all their elevated splendor — a pleasure that was taken from him in previous years, as his breathing became agonizing above Denver’s 5,280 feet.

Another source of joy: for the past year he has been playing with the harmonica-wielding Huff n Puffers. Each of the members has a connection with the instrument’s role in helping pulmonary rehabilitation patients – an area Doc wants to focus on now that he is getting stronger. Doc and the Huff n Puffers recently performed during a Colorado chapter meeting of the American Lung Association, a UCHealth partner.

He has become a pied piper for the instrument that were once ubiquitous with childhood, but for Doc, it’s deeper than merely nostalgia. He wants to make it his next mission.

“It’s very good for your lungs: As you blow air out and then must draw air in, plus it’s a lot of fun. We all get old, and it would help so many. I believe it should be a part of every lung rehab program in the country.”

But his most pressing goal is to extoll the virtues of the BLVR procedure.

“I want to spread the word and be an ambassador for this. It’s a game changer, and that’s why I am driven for people to hear the story because people get anxious and feel hopeless when they get this sick. They need to know they have a chance and there is some hope. They can do it like I did, and it and it can change their life.”

About the author

Mary Gay Broderick is a Denver-based freelance writer with more than 25 years experience in journalism, marketing, public relations and communications. She enjoys telling compelling stories about healthcare, especially the dedicated UCHealth professionals and the people whose lives they transform. She enjoys skiing, hiking, biking and traveling, along with baking (mostly) successful desserts for her husband and three daughters.