Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1894-07-19

Il nan D4OCh' sui lO1N' |
the smell of ether told me We were |
getting near the operating room. y |
young surgeon dressed in white from
head to foot took charge Of me. llaid /
on a sort of table on wheels Another
surgeon dressed in white opened the |
door Of another room (the operating
room and looking in on US said
Ready for him in a minute Two
nurses dressed entirely in white came
in to aid in the etherizing. The ether
iNng surgeon put a paper cone satura-
ted with ether over my mouth and
nose. An exceedingly pretty girl
dressed (as everybody else was) in
white, with her sleeves rolled up above
the elbows. opened the door Of the op-
Grating room and came in, saying, 1--WE
are ready for him" The young sur
geon repeated slowly Hold your
arms close to" But I was gone into
another world. In the twinkling of an
eve my existence had ceased.
When Iawoke l was back on the
little iron bedstead in room No. II.
Bv the side Of the bed sat Howard
Wayt watching for me to reappear in
this world. Behind him at the win
dow stood the nurse, wearing a blue
dress and white cap, also waiting for
me to come to. Being one Of those
patients who can be etherized without
nausea following, felt very well and
soon went off into a sound sleep. Ny
instruction from the nurse who took
charge of me, was to ring the bell
whenever | awoke in the night, which
did, and every time rung, the
night nurse would appear with cup
of hot milk or beef tea in her hand.
This was kept up for days The next
day the chief surgeon came up with
the assistant surgeons and told me |
would get through all right After
that he came daily about noon, and
the two assistant surgeons came twice
every day, once at s a. IN. and once
at 7.3O p. IN. to dress the wound.
Two weeks later had series Of
chills, which is bad thing to follow
surgical operations When the initial
one came, two or three friends We're
visiting me. They rung the bell.
| The little nurse, a young girl, appar-
entity not over twenty-one or two,
came to the door and seeing what the
matter was cleared the room instantly
and went to. work as methodically
as an old practitioner. I could not
help thinking what dire running back
and forth, and calling for doctors, and
tumbling over each other would take
place in private family in such a
crisis.
The aseptic surgery is carried out
in this hospital to the farthest extreme.
The assistant surgeons who daily dress
your wounds are arrayed in white, and
they never touch YOU until they have
washed their hands in a four per cent
solution of carbohc acid The nurses
are every bit as particular as the sur
geons, their hands are surgically clean
and every bandage put on you has
been sterilized If a man carries
enough of strength to the Johns Hop
kius to survive an operation he will
live; for every accident and untoward
occurrence is provided against there
from the start. I may finish my indi-
vidual case by saying that when |
went there I was a physical wreck
weighing % pounds, and when l came
away I had good general health and
weighed 15l pounds. Modern hos,
pital surgery as viewed from the pa
tents standpoint q mean Johns Hop,
lins surgery, for was never in any
other for surgical treatment) Is witt
me one Of the triumphs Of the age.
You would agree with Inc if yoy
had seen, at one time, in Ward c 4
gentleman over seventy who had
kidney extracted; Virginia profess
or, aged thirty-two, having undergone
the same operation gentleman
good deal over seventy, who had un
dergone an abdominal operation an'
had nearly three hundred gall stone
removed-all going about in whee
chairs, rapidly recovering and abou
to 20 home. From the other wards
heard of even more remarkable case;
but I am writing only Of what ! saw
And now let me close with a fe7
words on a tender point to male pa
tients You willpretty surely becom
, attached to the nurses. You can
e help this. They are such whOlesOm'
= pure, clean-looking, young womer
7 with cultivated minds and such eS
I ceedingly pretty manners, and 1t