[HN Gopher] Dr. Leonid Rogozov operating himself to remove his a...
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Dr. Leonid Rogozov operating himself to remove his appendix in
Antarctica, 1961
Author : andrelaszlo
Score : 131 points
Date : 2020-10-28 17:37 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (rarehistoricalphotos.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (rarehistoricalphotos.com)
| hermitcrab wrote:
| You don't get much more hardcore than that.
| watersb wrote:
| I have a chronic medical condition which often causes prolonged,
| severe abdominal pain.
|
| There have been times where, if I had the training and knew that
| self-surgery would lead to quick relief after only another few
| hours of excruciating sensation, I might have been willing to
| give it a go.
|
| And I would have probably passed out from the pain and bled to
| death.
| at_a_remove wrote:
| I have a similar medical condition in its effects, access to
| really frightening levels of painkillers, and I have often --
| in the less pleasant moments -- had similar impractical
| "daydreams."
| Gunax wrote:
| My grandfather had to have an appendectomy without anesthesia....
| But obviously he didn't have to self operate!
| mlvljr wrote:
| In the snow, while walking uphill to school!
| Barrin92 wrote:
| the psychological stress aside this is also crazy
|
| _" I worked without gloves. It was hard to see. The mirror
| helps, but it also hinders--after all, it's showing things
| backwards._"
|
| Fumbling around in your intestines backwards lying awkwardly on a
| table while you're already fucked up due to the appendicitis and
| fever. Pretty incredible.
| mft_ wrote:
| This is also crazy:
|
| > Opening the peritoneum, I injured the blind gut and had to
| sew it up.
|
| Removing the appendix is _relatively_ straightforward, and not
| too delicate (in a normal surgical situation!) Stitching
| damaged bowel is a lot more delicate. The idea of doing it
| mostly blind, via a mirror at best, to yourself... wow.
| scop wrote:
| I am thoroughly impressed one could be mentally composed during
| such a routine. I have a medical condition that has resulted in
| many procedures and operations. Needles and blood do not cause me
| any anxiety. However, on one occasion I had to have my big toe
| nail removed. It was numbed up fine and I was reading a book
| during the procedure. However, I looked down at one point and saw
| my toe nail being pulled off in a bloody mess and, even with (a)
| no fear of blood and (b) no pain, I almost passed out. There was
| something deep in my brain that said "alert, that looks really
| bad so you need to immediately pass out!"
| tjohns wrote:
| This is called "vasovagal syncope". [1] Certain emotional
| triggers, including the sight of blood, cause the brain to
| command the cardiovascular system to lower blood pressure. In
| some people this reflex is strong enough to cause loss of
| consciousness due to the the decreased blood pressure.
|
| There's a number of competing theories as to why this happens,
| possibly an evolved response to help control bleeding or
| vestigial tonic immobility (feigning death to hide from
| predators). [2] Either way, it's kinda fascinating.
|
| [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflex_syncope#Vasovagal
|
| [2]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5135249/
| abootstrapper wrote:
| Future headline, "Man removes own appendix by watching YouTube
| video to avoid unnecessary medical expense."
| mancerayder wrote:
| "Latest craze - teens are now conducting the appendix removal
| challenge. Here's how you can protect your tweens."
| Jtsummers wrote:
| There's a lot of information freely (or inexpensively)
| available, and enough people in the biohacking community that
| have demonstrated a willingness to perform (at least) small
| self-surgeries, that a more critical surgery being self-
| performed would not be surprising.
| NateEag wrote:
| s/surprising/shocking/
| chowned wrote:
| It's amazing what the threat of bankruptcy can make people
| do.
| gorgoiler wrote:
| _How to take your appendix out on the Piccadilly Line..._
|
| -- Monty Python, 1974
|
| https://greatwen.com/2012/11/20/how-to-take-your-appendix-ou...
| Shared404 wrote:
| I find it incredible some of the length's people are willing to
| go to in order to survive.
|
| This case in particular is incredible to me, partially because I
| am freaked out (irrationally) by the idea of surgery at all.
| Being awake during surgery is impressive enough, but doing it on
| yourself is a whole new level of amazing.
| woliveirajr wrote:
| Amputated his own hand to survive:
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aron_Ralston
| leeoniya wrote:
| > his own hand
|
| ...if only:
|
| > prepared to amputate his trapped arm at a point on the mid-
| forearm in order to escape.
| prvc wrote:
| It's a no brainer if the only alternative is death.
| gabythenerd wrote:
| I can see a more passive person preferring death easily.
| Shared404 wrote:
| Suicide rates would argue otherwise.
|
| For me personally, there's not a lot of things that I think
| would stop me, but I don't think I would operate on myself.
|
| Possibly, if I had the skills I would feel differently, but
| honestly, I think I would feel the same way.
| graeme wrote:
| Suicide is largely based on anguish or some internal factor
| rather than due to imminent death or acute but transient
| pain.
|
| The typical person is not actively suicidal. So conditional
| odds suggest in most cases a person would prefer to live
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide#/media/File:Suicide_c
| a...
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide#Risk_factors
| Shared404 wrote:
| I recognize that suicide is not particularly related to
| the operating on oneself. I was using it as proof that
| sometimes avoiding death is not a no brainer, as is
| suggested above.
|
| Edit to clarify: There exist situations which would drive
| one actively toward death, I could understand a refusal
| to do surgery on oneself being a passive decision leading
| toward death.
| whaaswijk wrote:
| For some of us the idea of cutting into ourselves is
| definitely not a no brained. I could easily see myself be
| paralyzed by fear in such a situation.
| ashton314 wrote:
| That is some serious mental grit. I'm getting woozy just thinking
| about photo. I don't have that big of a problem with blood or
| needles--I find it fascinating to watch when I get blood sample
| taken from my arm. (Did you know the vials are evacuated? That's
| why the blood spurts into them!)
|
| But this... I swear, if I were born in an earlier century, I
| would have died long before now. I am soooo grateful for the
| medical technology we have in this age.
| vr46 wrote:
| Holy cremoly. I had appendicitis when I was about 7, back in the
| 1980s, it was awful and after surgery in an actual hospital with
| actual doctors I was still out of action for six weeks. I have no
| idea how anyone could be in a fit mental state to be able to do
| this to themselves, and I imagine this could have gone completely
| wrong very easily, it's beating the odds that is just as
| impressive too.
| mancerayder wrote:
| The 80s weren't Medieval in technology. Is it because it burst?
| bonzini wrote:
| Yeah I remember a friend had appendicitis in the late 80s and
| she only spent one week in hospital and one week recovering
| at home.
| JJMcJ wrote:
| Saw a photo of a surgeon removing his own gall bladder. This from
| the 1920s. The reason he did this was to further his belief that
| general anesthesia was being over used.
| nextaccountic wrote:
| Did this change his mind about general anesthesia?
| DoofusOfDeath wrote:
| My grandfather was a young man in Ireland around then. His job
| was to hold un-anesthetizes surgical patients still.
|
| When he was old and in the U.S. (late 1960s?) he chose suicide
| over surgery.
| Shared404 wrote:
| Do you have a link? I'd love to read more about that.
| severine wrote:
| Sounds like Evan O'Neill Kane. See https://en.wikipedia.org/w
| iki/iEvan_O%27Neill_Kane?wprov=sfl... and
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-surgery?wprov=sfla1
| cakeofzerg wrote:
| I do this by my own hand
| buescher wrote:
| Brought this to mind, which I first saw in redacted form in The
| Best of Creative Computing:
|
| http://www.mit.edu/people/dmredish/wwwMLRF/links/Humor/The_E...
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(page generated 2020-10-28 23:00 UTC)