Public Anatomy Page 25
Eli looked through the medical supply closet, removed a round canister with a plastic lid.
“Yeah, I know.”
“What you got there?”
Lipsky was obviously bored with his unnecessary search. Eli held up the canister. “Baby formula. Want some?”
“Nah. Ate half a dozen donuts on the way over.”
Eli gave the container of formula to Tobogganhead and explained to the mother that baby formula would be tolerated better than cow’s milk. She was most grateful.
For the first time in weeks, he felt like a doctor.
Once they had the baby formula and a little reassurance that they were good parents, Tobogganhead and the woman were ready to leave with their baby. But first, Tobogganhead told Eli that after the baby settled down, he would come back to the clinic in a few days and let the doctor fix the sore on his head.
From the break room, Lipsky watched them leave. “What was wrong with that baby?”
“Nothing, really,” Eli told him. “New parents.”
Lipsky nodded as if he understood. “Say, Doc,” Lipsky walked toward Eli, his shoulders pulled back, hands pressed behind him, just above his waist, “while you’re at it, my back’s been killing me.”
Eli opened the clinic door again. A wave of heat rushed in. The typical Memphis summer was back. The rain was over. Not a cloud in sight.
“I’ll be glad to take a look at your back,” Eli said and pointed. “Just go to the end of the line.”
Lipsky returned to the break room. “You doctors, always making people wait.”
Outside, an old man sat in a wheelchair, dirty bandages wrapped around both feet.
It wasn’t high-tech surgery, Eli thought. Definitely not glamorous. But these people needed a doctor just as much as anyone. And for now, at least, he was that doctor. With undiagnosed illness and late-stage disease, each patient would be a challenge. But the challenge would release his mind from the past days of death that he had been powerless to stop.
To his surprise, Eli noticed a new arrival outside the clinic. A white coat distinguished her from the patients. She leaned beside the man’s wheelchair and began unwrapping one of his bandages.
The patients allowed Eli to cut through the line.
Meg looked up at him, kept unwrapping. “So, you’re the new clinic doctor now?”
Eli nodded. “Keeps me out of trouble.”
Meg let the dirty bandage fall to the ground. “Need any help?”
“Think you can handle an actual live patient?”
Meg stuck out her tongue and then removed a package of gauze and a roll of tape from her coat pocket. She rewrapped the man’s foot, tore off a piece of tape with her teeth, and winked at him.
Eli wanted to keep watching her, but Meg rolled the man’s wheelchair to him. “Take him inside and see if you can do as well with the other foot.”
Pushing the wheelchair, Eli turned to see Meg approach the line and call out, “Who’s next?”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am surrounded by a group of talented individuals at Oceanview Publishing. I thank Mary Adele Bogdon, Frank Troncale, Kylie Fritz, and Susan Hayes. I am grateful for my publicist, Mary glenn McCombs, from day one, and the artisan of covers, George Foster. I extend a special thanks to Bob and Pat Gussin and to Susan Greger for those extra years devoted to publishing.
I cherish Penny Tschantz for her encouragement of my writing life that began during my days at the University of Tennessee. I want to thank Chris Roerden for her insight and I give a hearty thank you to the folks at Davis-Kidd Booksellers.
For their knowledge and assistance with research on Vesalius, I thank Mary Teloh and Jim Thweatt in the History of Medicine Collection of the Eskind Biomedical Library at Vanderbilt University. I especially appreciate the opportunity for a hands-on perusal of a fabulous edition of De Humani Corporis Fabrica.
I acknowledge the valuable resource of the following texts in my research and writing on Vesalius: Andreas Vesalius of Brussels by Charles D. O’Malley, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1964; The Epitome of Andreas Vesalius, Preface and Introduction by L. R. Lind, Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1949; The Illustrations from The Works of Andreas Vesalius of Brussels by J. B. deC. M. Saunders and Charles D. O’Malley, Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company, 1993.
I am thankful for my parents, Wilder and Norma Pearson, who gave me my foundation. I appreciate my brother, John, and his family, for preserving and tending the land for the next generation. I thank my wife, Robin, for the opportunity and the inspiration to write, and Will and John for the substance of life.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
In the year 1543, an anatomist from Brussels named Andreas Vesalius published his masterpiece on anatomy, De Humani Corporis Fabrica. He was twenty-eight years old. The text challenged the teachings of the ancients, namely Galen, and the anatomical Renaissance began.
The Fabrica, written in Latin, is comprised of seven books, each on the detailed anatomy of the seven major human organ systems. Vesalius knew these organs in intimate detail. Unusual for that era, the young anatomist had personally performed the human dissections, often stealing the body from the local gibbet.
The tome is massive and contains over twenty finely wrought, full-page woodcut figures with numerous text illustrations. The original woodcuts were preserved for centuries until they were destroyed by fire in Germany during World War II. In the sixteenth century, Vesalius had the forethought to publish a version with only six books called The Epitome, a volume known for its brevity and used by medical students of the day.
Vesalius, an anatomist, surgeon, and philosopher, was appointed court physician to Charles V before moving to Spain as physician to Philip II. In 1564, he took pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Much mystery and speculation surround this departure. One explanation is that during a public anatomy, to the dismay of his audience, he dissected a corpse and found the heart still beating. By taking pilgrimage, he escaped The Inquisition. He died on the Greek island of Zante.
Today, a preserved, first edition copy of De Humani Corporis Fabrica is a rarity and is quite valuable. The book is considered the turning point that ushered in the age of modern medicine.
• • •
The practice of medicine is at once a fulfilling yet humbling endeavor. The human element in the delivery of medical care is a powerful resource that provides the needed balance to medical sophistication. The addition of robotic-driven techniques to the practice of surgery is a remarkable advance. Many patients have already benefited from this innovation, as will many more.
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thi
rty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-One
Chapter Sixty-Two
Chapter Sixty-Three
Chapter Sixty-Four
Chapter Sixty-Five
Chapter Sixty-Six
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Chapter Seventy
Chapter Seventy-One
Chapter Seventy-Two
Chapter Seventy-Three
Chapter Seventy-Four
Chapter Seventy-Five
Chapter Seventy-Six
Chapter Seventy-Seven
Chapter Seventy-Eight
Chapter Seventy-Nine
Chapter Eighty
Chapter Eighty-One
Acknowledgement
Authors Note