{"id":332,"date":"2011-09-03T16:31:06","date_gmt":"2011-09-03T23:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lindacollison.com\/blog\/?p=332"},"modified":"2012-05-18T13:58:16","modified_gmt":"2012-05-18T20:58:16","slug":"writing-the-amputation-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/writing-the-amputation-scene\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing the amputation scene"},"content":{"rendered":"

Skeletons reveal sailors’ grisly deaths\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>(from<\/strong> Maritime Great Britain<\/a>)<\/h3>\n
Based on recent\u00a0studies done on\u00a0skeletons exhumed from three\u00a0naval graveyards in Britain it was determined that roughly 6 percent of sailors who died in naval hospitals\u00a0succumbed as a result of\u00a0 botched amputations or from complications secondary to amputations.\u00a0 No wonder Patricia (posing as Patrick MacPherson, surgeon’s mate\u00a0of\u00a0His Majesty’s frigate Richmond)<\/em> is worried about amputating Everett Lee’s leg aboard a tossing\u00a0ship!\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
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\u00a0My fascination with 18th century amputations and other surgical procedures has led me to museums to view 18th century surgical instruments first hand, as well as to YouTube videos of amputations.\u00a0 (Caution!\u00a0 Not for the squeamish!\u00a0 Although I have over a decade experience as a Registered Nurse, mostly in the Critical Care and Emergency setting, I found these videos unnerving!)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now, consider the poor sailor undergoing an amputation before the age of modern anesthesia and electric bone saws!\u00a0 Imagine being conscious, your senses dulled only by laudenum or liquor, and held down by restraints or human hands while the surgeon cut off the offending extremity as quickly as possible.<\/div>\n
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As imperfect as 21st century medicine is,\u00a0care today is\u00a0light years ahead of 18th century medical and surgical interventions.\u00a0 Many times we know the best way to\u00a0treat an injury or illness and we have reduced mortality rates to nearly zero for many surgical procedures.\u00a0\u00a0It is\u00a0assuring that all members of our society have affordable access to\u00a0state-of-the-art healthcare that is the problem\u00a0in\u00a0early 21st century America…<\/div>\n
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Aboard an 18th century British naval vessel, as on land, \u00a0the patients were at the mercy of the surgeon and his mates.\u00a0\u00a0 Some of the techniques and much of the medicine was not helpful at all.\u00a0 Bloodletting,\u00a0 for example.\u00a0 What were they thinking?<\/em>\u00a0 How many times did excessive bloodletting hasten someone’s death?\u00a0\u00a0Yet amputations done skillfully\u00a0could<\/em> save lives, and probably did save many.<\/div>\n
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Before writing the amputation scene in Surgeon’s Mate<\/a>, I read as many accounts as I could find\u00a0by naval surgeons of the era.\u00a0 Using my knowledge of anatomy, physiology, psychology, and nursing care, I tried to imagine what it would be like to cut someone’s leg off aboard a tossing ship.\u00a0 I\u00a0 watched several YouTube videos of\u00a0live amputations, to see how quickly an amputation takes using modern instruments, including an electric bone saw, with the patient made oblivious through the miracles of modern chemistry.\u00a0 Then I wrote the scene in which Patricia, who has assisted in amputations in the field, now must take charge and do the deed with her own hands.<\/div>\n
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This scene was difficult to research, to imagine, and to write.\u00a0 It might be difficult to read.\u00a0 But imagine how difficult it must have been to do!<\/div>\n
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Skeletons reveal sailors’ grisly deaths\u00a0 (from Maritime Great Britain) Based […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,85],"tags":[195,27],"class_list":["post-332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-writing-and-publishing","tag-historical-nautical-fiction","tag-surgeons-mate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1143,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions\/1143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madhatdesign.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}