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March 18, 2011 03:45 am PDT

First-person account from surgeon who removed his own appendix

From The Atlantic's archives, a harrowing 1961 account of a Soviet surgeon on a primitive Antarctic base who had to remove his own appendix, stopping frequently as he battled vertigo and blood loss: I worked without gloves. It was hard to see. The mirror helps, but it also hinders -- after all, it's showing things backwards. I work mainly by touch. The bleeding is quite heavy, but I take my time -- I try to work surely. Opening the peritoneum, I injured the blind gut and had to sew it up. Suddenly it flashed through my mind: there are more injuries here and I didn't notice them ... I grow weaker and weaker, my head starts to spin. Every 4-5 minutes I rest for 20-25 seconds. Finally, here it is, the cursed appendage! With horror I notice the dark stain at its base. That means just a day longer and it would have burst and ... At the worst moment of removing the appendix I flagged: my heart seized up and noticeably slowed; my hands felt like rubber. Well, I thought, it's going to end badly. And all that was left was removing the appendix ... And then I realised that, basically, I was already saved. Antarctica, 1961: A Soviet Surgeon Has to Remove His Own Appendix 1800s surgical kit unboxed Boing Boing My weird femur printed in stainless steel - Boing Boing Surgeon with bleeding suitcase stopped at airport - Boing Boing A Scottish surgeon is growing - Boing Boing...


Original Link: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/zW2vHlJMqPw/first-person-account.html

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