Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1894-05-25
when / came to prove 1t

Wnen came TO prove II.
was soon located in room No 11'in Ward
z, a private ward. l was assigned to it by a
tall, rosy-cheek, handsome headnurse, with
just enough of gray hair peeping from under
her nurses cap to give her piquant look.
She told me that Mr.. Lynn Of our town had
been in the same room and liked it. This
was Monday evening, had not seen the sur
geon yet, nor did Lsee him till Tuesday even
irg. Then DIR. Halstead came along. He
said he had read DR., Il IS letter; that the OPP.
Grafton would be so and SOL forget his tech
meal terms-and that it would take place
Thursday morning. suggested that l was
very weak, having been in bed two months,
| and probably delay for me to strengthen
would be better. s'You will never be strong
er until you undergo this operation" said tn
surgeon, and by the bye that was about the
longest speech l ever heard him make
never saw a man of SO few words. The next
evening about tea time a nurse came i'll an :
asked me to give her the name of any friend
| had in Baltimore and any friend in Staun
ton. in case it was necessary to address them.
| gave the names and went to the window and
looked out on the brightly lighted city below
a long time. Should | see it tomorrow
night? Later, a tall, serious looking
young surgeon came in with writing pad
He was the historian, and asked me a long
string OF questions about all the earthly afflic-
tons | and all my ancestors had had, and
what we had died of for several generations
back. Then came the maid with supper.
You had better eat good supper, she said.
ut will be some time before you have anoth-
er chance" l told her breakfast was my
favorite meal. breakfast You won't get
any breakfast and she went laughing out
of the room. Then came along the male Or
derby and he bathed me, put me to bed, made
the skin surgically clean where the surgeons
knife was to operate-it was an abdominal
operation-and put on bandages of sterilized
gauze. then slept the sleep Of the lust.
In the morning my breakfast was so late
that rang the bell. The head nurse of the
ward came and without waiting for my inqui-
ry said: "You can't have any breakfast this
morning; you are to be etherized." sNot
even cup of coffee?' Nothing" and she
disappeared through the door, as saw her do
many time afterwards when | asked for
diet she thought it best l should not have,
and about which she did not propose to argue
with me. l lay in bed watching the corridor
through the door. / saw carried by on a
board, on his way to the operating room. a
friend of mine with whom had gone to the
Hospital. 1 knew would be the next called
on, and it was not long. The rosy-cheaked
llead-nurse came in as chippery as if she was
inviting me to a picnic. "You can walk
with me can you not?'' 'Certainly 1 can
walk and had much rather walk" "Then
come with me-" And we went The Johns
Hopkins is a number Of immense buildings
and we had long walk under the terrace-a
half block l suppose. Presently the smell
of ether told me we were getting near the
operating room. Suddenly we turned out OF
| the terrace walk into little room; that was
the etherizing room. A young surgeon
dressed in white from head to foot, took
charge of me. l laid on a sort of table on
wheels. Another surgeon dressed in white
opened the door of another room (the opera
ting room) and looking in on us said "Ready
for him in minute" Two nurses dressed
in white from head to foot came in to aid in
the etherizing The etherizing surgeon put a
paper cone saturated with ether over my
mouth and nose. An exceedingly pretty girl
dressed Gas everybody else was) all IN white
with her sleeves rolled up above the elbows
opened the door of the operating room and
came i'll saying: "We are ready for him. ,
The young surgeon repeated slowly "Hold
| your arms close to your side and take deep
full breaths. Hold your arms close to-
But was gone into another world. In the
twinkling Of an eye my existence had ceased
When awoke was back on the little iron
bedstead in room No. II. BY the side Of the
bed sat Howard Wayt watching for me to re
appear in this world. Behind him at the
window stood the nurse, wearing blue dress
and white cap, also waiting for me to come
to. Being one of those patients who can be
nthnriua.a 'sithent nausea following. i fA1t
| very we'll and soon Went Off into a SOUND
sleep. My instruction from the nurse who
took charge OF me, was to ring the bell when
ever | awoke in the night, which | did, and
every time l rung, the night nurse would ap
pear with cup of hot milk or beef tea III
her hand. This was kept up for days. The
next day the chief surgeon came with the as
sistant surgeons and told me that would get
through all right. After that he came daily
about noon, and the two assistant surgeons
came twice every day, once at 8 A. M. and
once at 1880 P. NJ. to dress the wound,
Two weeks later had series of chills
which is a bad thing to follow surgical opera
TONS When the initial one came, two OF
three friends were visiting me. They rung
the bell. The little nurse. young girl, APP
parently not over twenty-one or two, came tG
the door and seeing what the matter was
cleared the room instantly and went to work
as coolly and methodically as an old practi
toner. could not help thinking what dire
running back and forth, aud calling for doc
tors, and tumbling over each other would
take place in private family in such cr
| sis,
The aseptic surgery is carried ont in this
hospital to the fartheSt extreme. The asss
tant surgeons who daily dress your wounds
are arrayed in white, and they never touch yor
until they lave washed their hands in a foul
per cent. solution OF aibolic acid. The
nurses are every bit as particular as the sur
geons. their hands are surgeally clean anG
| every bandage put Oh you has baen sterilized.
If q man carries enough OF strength to the
Johns Hopkins to survive an operation ht
will live; for every accident and un
toward occurrence is provided against there
from the start, ! may finish my individual
case by saying that when 1 went there I was
a physical wreck, weighing SO pounds. and
when came away had good general healtl
and weighed 151 pounds, Modern hospita
surgery as viewed from the patients stano
point q mean Johns Hopkins surgery for
was never in any other for surgical reatment,
IS with me one Of the triumphs of the times.
You would agree with me if you had seen
at one time in Ward q gentleman over sew
enty who had had kidney extracted; Vir
ginia professor. aged thirty-two, having un
dargone the same operation; a gentleman E
GOOD deal over seventy, who had undergone
! an abdominal operation; gentleman of for