Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1892-04-21
ovARIoToMY.
How a Sixty Pound Tumor Is Re-
moved. An Unusual Event at
Christ's HospItat.

Christ's Hospital.
Think of sixty pounds of flesh and hs,ids
being removed from the intestinal cavity of
the human body, and yet that body lives. re-
covers and serves its owner better thar, everi
The feat OF removing a small woman from
large tunor, Gs newspaper once fecetious-
ly put 1t, was accomplished at Cbrist's Hos
plta1 last Wednesday. The tumor was one of
the large ovarian grOwths one hears about
occasionally which weigh nearly as much as
the remainder OF the. body and the patient
was the wife of Rock Island railroad man
a great surgical operation is an exciting
thingslt Is like snatching life from death like
the resuscitation of a drowned man or fhe
rescue OF child from a burning building.
1t has the same elements of danger of terri
bic suspense, OF the display Of nerve and
courage followed by the same nervoua ne
action when it is successfully aecomDlished
10 De present and witness such a triumph of
surgical science and skill is like SEEING one
OF Bernhardrs plays. The nervous system
becomes SO wrought up that when ~ IL over
one feels like dropping into a chair to recover.
l. as representative of the press was per
mitted to behold this particular OPERATION I
speak Of DR.. ID; w. Roby, of this city, was
the surgeon in charge and for his assistanta
he had chosen DIR. Anderson. of IaWrence-
De Melntyer, OF Topeka and Dr. Mrs. Farm
ham, also OF this city. The lady who was to
undergo the operation had been taken to the
hospital IN carriage by her husband the
day before. Miss Wood, a nurse trained ia
the celebrated hospitals of Boston, was
present.
A long, green operating table suggestiveiy
occupied the center of the room where the
operation was to take place. The COURAGE
Gus little lady who was about to be almost
cut in two, walked in without n tremor and
was helped upon the table. DR.. Anderson
then administered the ether and watched
the pulse while the other attendants stood
about IN readiness or watched the thermom-
eter which must be kept standing at eighty
degrees, no more, no less, until the end of
the operation. At last DR. Anderson having
announced the patient completely under the
influence of the anaesthetic, DR.. Roby, with
both arms bare to the elbow, takes up gilt
terlng knife OF peculiar shape, and barring
the abdomen, cuts slowly and carefully like
draughtsman drawing a graceful curve,
making an opening nearly fourteen inches
long. Into this he dextrously thrusts his
hand and finds the tumor so large aud grown
SO firmly on the tissues on every side that it
cannot be removed intact. 1t is composed
of many hundred sacs filed with fluids and
tieshy growths. These are broken into one
by one.
Everything moved with the utmost CELEBRITY
and silence, and no one was permitted to
speak except the surgeon in charge.
Inc entire operation required an hour and
half, and during all that time the work of
removing the Inonstrous growth went on
steadily, each one of the eight people en-
| gagged IN the delicate work moving about like
clockwork. At last it was finished. Every
movement of the knife had been scientific
| ally made. The last vestige of the tumor
had been taken out. The wound was sewed
up, and now csne the critical period. The
| patient was lifted from the table, placed in
bed in an adjoining room and under most
careful treatment slowly revives.
DR.. Roby, the surgeon, remained all night.
| Occasionally the patient had sinking spells,
| but by use of tine electric battery and stimu-
| lants she was rallied, and her temperature
and pulse steadily fell. In the morning she
complained of no pain, and her recovery is
| now nearly assured. The tumor and the flu
| id which it contained, weighed sixty pounds.
| The weight of the patient before the oper-
| alton was 152 pounds. The growth had first
| been noticed three years ago. 1t had in
creased in size until it had pressed the stom-
ach, heart, lungs and bowels into the upper
| part of the cavity and she could scarcely take
nOurishment or breathe with comfort. Her
| death from the tumor was only the matter of
a month or two. She is only twenty-four
! years of age and her youth will do much to
help her recover.-F. H. c., in Topeka Daily
| Capital, Feb. 13.