Grantville Gazette 38

Letters Home, 1 and 2

So That the Blind May See

Leahy Medical Center, Nurse Training Program, March 1635

My dearest aunt,

I am well. It is warm and we are all fed very well here at this school of nursing. We have received our third clothing allowance. I cannot imagine what comes next after a gift such as that.

I am learning many new things. As you can see, I have learned how to write better. Part of training is being able to read and write. A person's life might depend on reading the instructions a physician writes. My American is improving but there are still many words I do not know and there are some words I learn by accident.

For instance, I have learned that there is such a thing as a "doggie door." The word "doggie" means a hound or what the Americans call a "dog." These Americans are so fond of their dogs that they make openings so that the dog might enter or leave the house as it wills.

This can lead to many problems.

Last night one of those problems came to the hospital while I was working my shift-which is a word that has nothing to do with clothing.

A German family was leasing a part of an American house. Americans have very interesting houses. There are things inside these houses that you can not even imagine and I can barely describe to you. Some even have separate houses for dogs.

This German family was celebrating some important event. The American family as well. Americans enjoy celebration almost as much as they enjoy their dogs.

The young German son came to the house unexpectedly from his training for the army. He thought to surprise his mother and his brothers and sisters by entering the house through the "doggie door." When he left for training the American family had a dog called an Irish Setter but it had died of old age and was replaced by a larger and younger dog that did not know the young man.

This became a problem for the "ER." ER is one of those American words which means a room of emergency, where the injured can be brought at any time, day or night, for treatment of injuries or sudden illness.

The young man found that the doggie door was large enough for him to enter the house, but before he could fully enter, the new dog found him and was not pleased.

The attending physician said the dog used the man's head as something called a "chew toy." You could see where the dog had bitten the young man quite easily.

You could plainly see the upper and lower teeth marks from the dog. I counted no fewer than ten bites. The dog was not happy with this intrusion into its territory. The young man was not happy either.

While the attending physician went to quiet both families, who were very busy arguing in the waiting room about who was responsible for the dog being left in the kitchen and matters like that, I could tell that the young man was in need of help.

Americans are very much interested in cleanliness which is how I was able to cure the young man of his blindness.

His face was covered in the saliva from the dog and the marks from the dog's teeth were plainly visible all about his skull and face but you should not worry. There was only a very small amount of blood. I later found out that the young man had been wearing a hat which might have protected him from the teeth slightly.

As you can imagine, the young man was trembling. Placing one's head into a small opening then, from the darkness, having some angry dog begin biting you must have frightened him. He was whispering as a child might who is terrified and hiding under a bed.

The young man was saying over and over that he could not see. This was foolish because even though his eyes were shut I could tell there were still eyes under his eye lids. One does not need training to understand this much.

I admonished the young man to be still and proceeded to use my training to carefully clean the saliva from his face and eyelids. I ordered him in my best command voice to open his eyes which he did after some struggle.

He seemed startled that he could see and when he realized that he was seeing he shouted that he could see, which caused the family in the waiting room to shout back that it was a miracle. Lament turned to exultation.

The attending physician was upset that I had allowed the patient to cause the family to start another period of shouting and crying out as if in a chorus with their young man.

The young man thanked me for bringing back the power of sight and the family was very glad that I had done so. They say I caused a miracle and helped their young man to see again. The attending physician shook his head and told me to keep cleaning his face. Dog saliva is very sticky when dry and not easy to clean, but I was able to manage it.

I think the attending physician was pleased with my efforts. The young man was very happy and would have shown his happiness more obviously, but I did not let him. I am a professional.

I was very happy that I was able, with the help of God and my training, to make the blind see.

I think I like being here. The miracles that one can perform with nothing more than this object called a four-by-four gauze pad and a bit of clean water amaze me every day. I can only imagine what I can do when I learn the miracle of the "IV," but that comes later in my training.

Next week we learn the miracles of disinfectant and irrigation. I admit I was a bit worried about the irrigation training. I assumed that had something to do with farming and fertilizer, but I was wrong. I have much to learn it would seem, but I am ready for the tasks ahead. I do not even fear amputation and debridement any longer.

The miracle of the four-by-four strengthens my resolve.

I think it is enough to remember the look of astonishment and joy as the young man forced his eyelids open and saw the light after the horror of his ordeal and thinking the dog had eaten his eyes and that he would never see again.

I will write again soon. Please send any small amount of money you can spare. Paper and postage is expensive. The beer is tolerable. I go to church every Sunday. Some of the music is very good. Some of it would frighten a wolf from its meat.

Your loving niece,

Adalheid

Triage

Leahy Medical Center, Nurse Training Program, April 1635

My dearest aunt,

I am well.

I learned a new word today and admitted my first patient into the hospital. My name is on the record for all to see. I am very proud, but do not worry. I am not so proud as to require confession.

Americans are, for all their knowledge and resolve, not as strong as one might believe.

This horrible war has left many German orphans and you will be pleased to know that many Americans took these orphans into their homes and raise them as their very own. No child has been allowed to starve and die of cold and neglect in the woods. Americans seem very fond of children but also very frightened that one might succumb to the slightest upset.

I ask you to say a prayer for these orphans and one in particular.

W. is a seven- or eight-year-old female who came to the room of emergency with a cut on her chin. It was so small that if I had come to you with it, you would have frowned at me. It was a very small cut, barely the width of a fingernail and the blood was barely enough to cause a line from her chin to her throat and was drying already. The girl was not even crying.

They make excellent toys here in Grantville and this German girl was being taken to a merchant where one of these incredible toys could be bought for her by her new mother and father.

They have toys called "Lincoln Logs" and "Legos" and even dolls with more clothes than a queen.

The girl, in her rush, tripped and fell and cut her chin on the concrete sidewalk. American parents seem reluctant to control the whims of children. I cannot imagine Mother allowing me to run for such a reason as this.

The "EMTs," people trained to go about and find injured or ill people to bring to the ER, brought her and her parents to the hospital. If anyone had asked me I would have said that she did not need the hospital or the EMTs. She needed a four-by-four, some disinfectant and an admonishment to be more careful.

Instead, the attending physician called for a suture set to sew the cut closed. He made comments about the importance of a young girl having a blemish-free face. Can you imagine sewing a cut? I will explain in a future letter the art that is suturing.

As I was standing ready to assist in disinfection and irrigation, the attending physician angrily told me to triage the parents.

The word, triage, sounded important and French, so I immediately turned about and was presented with my first case though I did not know it and I learned exactly what "triage" meant.

These American parents were pale as ghosts. I admit, I was frightened at first. There is a term Americans use for a horrible apparition called a "zombie" and I thought I was seeing two of them right there.

You would, if you can pardon my description, have thought their new daughter had been decapitated and disemboweled. Their looks of horror at this very minor injury almost caused me to laugh but I am a professional, so I did not.

These two Americans stood still as statues in the town square.

I tried to talk to them but they seemed not to know I was there. I decided to use my training to determine the pulse of the woman and was astounded to find that after all my training I could almost not find it. Her skin was very cool to the touch. She looked ready to topple over like a tree.

The father was not much better though his pulse was right where I was trained to find it.

I immediately called for assistance and once the mother was looked at and a nurse with far more training than I have found what the blood pressure was, there was such a fuss. I will explain blood pressure later. Let me just explain that blood pressure is very important. Without it you will die unless the miracle of the IV can be performed. I will write more about those two things later when I learn more about them.

The charge nurse took me aside and said I had done the right thing and let me sign on the record. They were admitting the mother and keeping the father under observation until his blood pressure rose enough for the charge nurse to stop muttering to herself that a corpse had a higher blood pressure than he did.

This worried me a bit but I learned later she was making light of the matter. I did not want to admit and lose my first patient in the same day. That cannot look good.

The girl received her stitch and was angry with her parents for delaying her. If I had been asked for my opinion I would have suggested that the young girl be reminded of her manners.

The father, with some help from his family, was able to get the girl home and stayed with his wife through the night. She recovered but was telling everyone about all the blood.

I did not tell her that there was barely a drop of blood. I was happy that my first patient recovered enough to go home that next morning.

I can only hope that all of my patients recover so quickly.

The girl comes back in two weeks to have the stitch removed. The mother should be able to do that without using a sewing machine. A sewing machine is a miraculous device for stitching together cloth into clothes. I have been told it would not be useful to remove stitches from the chins of little girls who should be more careful both of sidewalks and their parents.

I hope that someone tells these parents that German children can survive much more horrible injuries than the one she came to the room of emergency with. I have seen it but I will not trouble your spirit with descriptions of some of the horrible things that can be done, with purpose or by accident, to the human body, both adult and child.

And I have now learned well the meaning of triage. It means that sometimes the obvious injury is not the most dangerous and that a young girl with a cut chin is less of a problem than an overly concerned American parent ready to faint and fall down. I hope these German orphans survive the coddling of their American parents.

The attending physician said that something called "plastic surgery" might be necessary to remove any scarring. I have seen this substance called plastic. I hope this surgery will not be necessary. Better a scar than having plastic sewn onto one's face.

I will write again soon. Please send any small amount of money you can spare. Paper and postage is expensive. The beer is tolerable. I go to church every Sunday. I have sent a piece of plastic along with this letter.

Your loving niece,

Adalheid