Read Online A Country Doctor's Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov - Free Book Online
Authors: Mikhail Bulgakov
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for anaesthesia and make her comfortable. Iâll be back in a moment; I must just go to my room and fetch some cigarettes.â
âVery good, doctor, weâll be ready by the time you come back,â replied Anna Nikolaevna.
I dried my hands, the nurse threw my coat over my shoulders and without putting my arms into the sleeves I set off for home at a run.
In my study I lit the lamp and, forgetting to take off my cap, rushed straight to the bookcase.
There it wasâDöderleinâs
Operative Obstetrics
. I began hastily to leaf through the glossy pages.
â⦠version is always a dangerous operation for the mother â¦â
A cold shiver ran down my spine.
âThe chief danger lies in the possibility of a spontaneous rupture of the uterus â¦â
Spon-tan-e-ous â¦
âIf in introducing his hand into the uterus the obstetrician encounters any hindrances to penetrating to the foot, whether from lack of space or as a result of a contraction of the uterine wall, he should refrain from further attempts to carry out the version â¦â
Good. Provided I am able, by some miracle, to recognise these âhindrancesâ and I refrain from âfurther attemptsâ, what, might I ask, am I then supposed to do with an anaesthetised woman from the village of Dultsevo?
Further:
âIt is absolutely impermissible to attempt to reach the feet by penetrating behind the back of the foetus â¦â
Noted.
âIt must be regarded as erroneous to grasp the upper leg, as doing so may easily result in the foetus being revolved too far; this can cause the foetus to suffer a severe blow, which can have the most deplorable consequences â¦â
âDeplorable consequences.â Rather a vague phrase, but how sinister. What if the husband of the woman from Dultsevo is left a widower? I wiped the sweat from my brow, rallied my strength and disregarded all the terrible things that could go wrong, trying only to remember theabsolute essentials: what I had to do, where and how to put my hands. But as I ran my eye over the lines of black print, I kept encountering new horrors. They leaped out at me from the page.
â⦠in view of the extreme danger of rupture â¦â
â⦠the internal and combined methods must be classified as among the most dangerous obstetric operations to which a mother can be subjected â¦â
And as a grand finale:
â⦠with every hour of delay the danger increases â¦â
That was enough. My reading had borne fruit: my head was in a complete muddle. For a moment I was convinced that I understood nothing, and above all that I had no idea what sort of version I was going to perform: combined, bi-polar, internal, external â¦
I abandoned Döderlein and sank into an armchair, struggling to reduce my random thoughts to order. Then I glanced at my watch. Hell! I had already spent twenty minutes in my room, and they were waiting for me.
â⦠with every hour of delay â¦â
Hours are made up of minutes, and at times like this the minutes fly past at insane speed. I threw Döderlein aside and ran back to the hospital.
Everything there was ready. The
feldsher
was standing over a little table preparing the anaesthetic mask and the chloroform bottle. The expectant mother already lay onthe operating table. Her ceaseless moans could be heard all over the hospital.
âThere now, be brave,â Pelagea Ivanovna muttered consolingly as she bent over the woman, âthe doctor will help you in a moment.â
âOh, no! I havenât the strength â¦Â No â¦Â I canât stand it!â
âDonât be afraid,â whispered the midwife. âYouâll stand it. Weâll just give you something to sniff, and then you wonât feel anything.â
Water gushed noisily from the taps as Anna Nikolaevna and I began washing and scrubbing our arms bared to the elbow.
âVery good, doctor, weâll be ready by the time you come back,â replied Anna Nikolaevna.
I dried my hands, the nurse threw my coat over my shoulders and without putting my arms into the sleeves I set off for home at a run.
In my study I lit the lamp and, forgetting to take off my cap, rushed straight to the bookcase.
There it wasâDöderleinâs
Operative Obstetrics
. I began hastily to leaf through the glossy pages.
â⦠version is always a dangerous operation for the mother â¦â
A cold shiver ran down my spine.
âThe chief danger lies in the possibility of a spontaneous rupture of the uterus â¦â
Spon-tan-e-ous â¦
âIf in introducing his hand into the uterus the obstetrician encounters any hindrances to penetrating to the foot, whether from lack of space or as a result of a contraction of the uterine wall, he should refrain from further attempts to carry out the version â¦â
Good. Provided I am able, by some miracle, to recognise these âhindrancesâ and I refrain from âfurther attemptsâ, what, might I ask, am I then supposed to do with an anaesthetised woman from the village of Dultsevo?
Further:
âIt is absolutely impermissible to attempt to reach the feet by penetrating behind the back of the foetus â¦â
Noted.
âIt must be regarded as erroneous to grasp the upper leg, as doing so may easily result in the foetus being revolved too far; this can cause the foetus to suffer a severe blow, which can have the most deplorable consequences â¦â
âDeplorable consequences.â Rather a vague phrase, but how sinister. What if the husband of the woman from Dultsevo is left a widower? I wiped the sweat from my brow, rallied my strength and disregarded all the terrible things that could go wrong, trying only to remember theabsolute essentials: what I had to do, where and how to put my hands. But as I ran my eye over the lines of black print, I kept encountering new horrors. They leaped out at me from the page.
â⦠in view of the extreme danger of rupture â¦â
â⦠the internal and combined methods must be classified as among the most dangerous obstetric operations to which a mother can be subjected â¦â
And as a grand finale:
â⦠with every hour of delay the danger increases â¦â
That was enough. My reading had borne fruit: my head was in a complete muddle. For a moment I was convinced that I understood nothing, and above all that I had no idea what sort of version I was going to perform: combined, bi-polar, internal, external â¦
I abandoned Döderlein and sank into an armchair, struggling to reduce my random thoughts to order. Then I glanced at my watch. Hell! I had already spent twenty minutes in my room, and they were waiting for me.
â⦠with every hour of delay â¦â
Hours are made up of minutes, and at times like this the minutes fly past at insane speed. I threw Döderlein aside and ran back to the hospital.
Everything there was ready. The
feldsher
was standing over a little table preparing the anaesthetic mask and the chloroform bottle. The expectant mother already lay onthe operating table. Her ceaseless moans could be heard all over the hospital.
âThere now, be brave,â Pelagea Ivanovna muttered consolingly as she bent over the woman, âthe doctor will help you in a moment.â
âOh, no! I havenât the strength â¦Â No â¦Â I canât stand it!â
âDonât be afraid,â whispered the midwife. âYouâll stand it. Weâll just give you something to sniff, and then you wonât feel anything.â
Water gushed noisily from the taps as Anna Nikolaevna and I began washing and scrubbing our arms bared to the elbow.
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