(Oldie but goodie) Auto-appendectomy in the Antarctic

[Hastur]

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For anyone who hasn't read the story yet... Leonid Rozogov was the team doctor for the 1960-61 Soviet Antarctic Expedition. Rozogov developed appendicitis. He was the only doctor around.

(Don't mind me today, I'm digging through a doctor's blog and finding the awesomest links.)

"I didn’t permit myself to think about anything other than the task at hand. It was necessary to steel myself, steel myself firmly and grit my teeth. In the event that I lost consciousness, I’d given Sasha Artemev a syringe and shown him how to give me an injection. I chose a position half sitting. I explained to Zinovy Teplinsky how to hold the mirror. My poor assistants! At the last minute I looked over at them: they stood there in their surgical whites, whiter than white themselves. I was scared too. But when I picked up the needle with the novocaine and gave myself the first injection, somehow I automatically switched into operating mode, and from that point on I didn’t notice anything else."

The rest:

http://www.bmj.com/content/339/bmj.b4965.full

Brought to you by the department of inspiration, the department of Still Up at 6 AM, and the department of DUDE, THAT'S F---ING HARDCORE.

 

[NKChemEng]

This is fantastic. 👍👍👍👍

 

[ponyo]

For anyone who hasn't read the story yet... Leonid Rozogov was the team doctor for the 1960-61 Soviet Antarctic Expedition. Rozogov developed appendicitis. He was the only doctor around.

(Don't mind me today, I'm digging through a doctor's blog and finding the awesomest links.)

"I didn’t permit myself to think about anything other than the task at hand. It was necessary to steel myself, steel myself firmly and grit my teeth. In the event that I lost consciousness, I’d given Sasha Artemev a syringe and shown him how to give me an injection. I chose a position half sitting. I explained to Zinovy Teplinsky how to hold the mirror. My poor assistants! At the last minute I looked over at them: they stood there in their surgical whites, whiter than white themselves. I was scared too. But when I picked up the needle with the novocaine and gave myself the first injection, somehow I automatically switched into operating mode, and from that point on I didn’t notice anything else."

The rest:

http://www.bmj.com/content/339/bmj.b4965.full

Brought to you by the department of inspiration, the department of Still Up at 6 AM, and the department of DUDE, THAT'S F---ING HARDCORE.

Movin' meat?

I've come across this quite a few times but it still amazes me.

 

[Hastur]

Movin' meat?

I've come across this quite a few times but it still amazes me.

Yeah, that's the blog. 🙂

This time when I read the BMJ article I found myself tearing up twice... once when reading the account:

(...)an oppressive feeling of foreboding hangs over me . . . This is it . . . I have to think through the only possible way out: to operate on myself . . . It’s almost impossible . . . but I can’t just fold my arms and give up.

“18.30. I’ve never felt so awful in my entire life. The building is shaking like a small toy in the storm. The guys have found out. They keep coming by to calm me down. And I’m upset with myself—I’ve spoiled everyone’s holiday. Tomorrow is May Day. And now everyone’s running around, preparing the autoclave.

and once at the end of the article when I saw the disclaimer:

Footnotes

• Competing interest: VR is a son of Leonid Rogozov.

Aww, man. Aww, man. Wow. Well played.

 

[centrigeugle]

wat.

I don't understand your post. 🙁

 

[Hastur]

wat.

I don't understand your post. 🙁

...What don't you understand about it? *blinks*

 

[NKChemEng]

...What don't you understand about it? *blinks*

Actually, I don't either ... explain the competing interest. What's wrong with that?

 

[Hastur]

Actually, I don't either ... explain the competing interest. What's wrong with that?

In peer-reviewed journals it's customary to acknowledge potential conflicts of interest, which can be anything from "this study was funded by the Sellapill Pharmaceutical Company" to "the patient being described is the author's spouse" and so on. Competing interest doesn't mean there's something wrong with it, just that the author is disclosing any factors which may affect their ability to be impartial.

In this case that section is being used as a sly and understated way of saying that the article was a tribute to the author's father, and not impartial AT ALL, and that's OK.

What got me, of course, was the world of gratitude implicit in this. I don't know if the son was born before or after that date. If he was born afterwards, he wouldn't be alive at all if not for his father's willingness to take extreme measures to save his own life; even if before, this is why the elder Dr. Rozogov was able to be there to raise his son, who is now an anesthesiologist. What an incredible gift.

 

[vickpick]

wat.

I don't understand your post. 🙁

try reading books.

 

[centrigeugle]

try reading books.

Really? Reading books is going to help me with a convention used in peer-reviewed journals?

Good job.

 

[b-real]

Really? Reading books is going to help me with a convention used in peer-reviewed journals?

Good job.

It's too late for the spirited comeback, you still look ignorant. The damage is done.