Here is a story with nothing to do with China, virus, crowns or pandemics. This took place in 1961 on the 7th continent, Antarctica - the South Pole. The Soviet Union had sent an expedition there in 1960 that would stay for a year. During the Southern Hemisphere Winter, it was impossible to enter or exit the continent.
The team of scientists that were holed up in the South Pole that Winter included one medical doctor among the 12 people at the station. That was plenty. His name was Leonid Rogozov and he had previously worked at a Russian pediatric hospital and was qualified as a surgeon.
One doctor for 12 people is plenty - - - unless the doctor gets sick. Yikes! Double Yikes! He got lower abdominal pain which he rightly diagnosed as appendicitis. His symptoms were classic and were getting worse every day. What to do?
Simple, he operated on himself. Two at the camp, a driver and a meteorologist, who thought they wouldn't faint at the sight of blood assisted him. They weren't much help. Realize that he could not use a general anesthetic. He had them place ice on the area to slow things down. He injected his belly with some dental novocaine. Not bad enough? He couldn't see inside himself. He tried having one of his aids to hold a mirror but that didn't work.
He made the incision as he saw it but because he couldn't see inside himself, he operated by feel. I'll skip all the bloody details but say that he was able to pull it off or should I say "cut it off" and sew his intestine closed without looking. The appendix was indeed ready to explode which would have caused an infection that he couldn't survive.
He doused his insides with antibiotics and sewed himself up. It all took an hour and forty-five minutes. His fever returned to normal after five days and he removed the stitches after seven days. Leonid lived to the age of sixty-six in 2000 when he died of cancer.
Some interesting pictures were taken during the operation - google his name, if you're interested.
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