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Some aspects of medicine are a paradox. For instance, there are treatments that will hurt before they can heal. Or, there is the ordeal of having an operation. A surgeon must cut before he can cure. Thankfully, we live in a time where healthcare and healing are aided by the gift of anesthesia.
What is anesthesia?
In general terms, anesthesia is medicine given before surgery or medical procedures to put you to sleep. Under the influence of anesthesia medicines, a patient experiences loss of sensation. This affect can be with or without loss of consciousness depending on the desired outcome.
When did anesthesia first come on the scene?
A Christian Creationist might believe that the first episode of anesthesia appeared on the scene when God created a woman. The bible describes the “surgical” event in the second chapter of Genesis starting with verse eighteen.
“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.
But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man. While he slept, God took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that God took he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”
Who claims the credit for modern anesthesia?
In American history, the credit goes to a dentist named William Thomas Green Morton. His mojo juice was ether.
How did anesthesia work before ether was discovered?
It didn’t. Only remedies that alleviated pain or caused a stupor were available. One record of a surgery without anesthesia came just thirty five years prior to William’s demonstration. It concerned a woman named Frances (Fanny) Burney d’Arblay who might have been spared a great deal of agony had she lived to see Ether Day.
Fanny lived from 1752 to 1840. She wrote four novels, eight plays, one biography, and twenty volumes of journals and letters. Her work influenced writers who came after her, namely Jane Austen and William Makepeace Thackeray.
In one detailed and gory letter to her sister Esther, Fanny describes the event of having a mastectomy for breast cancer without anesthesia.
Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey, Napoleon’s own surgeon, performed Fanny’s surgery. Fanny received little detail beforehand to keep her from being nervous. It took a team of nine to hold Fanny still and accomplish the procedure. The ordeal lasted over three hours. Amazingly, Fanny lived an additional twenty-nine years after her nightmare. Her story begs for the gift of anesthesia.
In this podcast episode, Healthcare, Healing, & The Gift of Anesthesia, we discuss a variety of aspects regarding the use of anesthesia.
Show notes include:
1:30 Episode riddle (We present a riddle or puzzle with every episode and give the answer by the end of the show.)
2:10 Educational path, job market and typical work day of a CRNA
8:30 History of anesthesia
14:00 Mechanisms of anesthesia compared to natural sleep
16:45 Different groups and types of anesthesia
20:00 The process of waking up from anesthesia
22:45 Opioid crises connection to anesthesia
25:00 Physiological complications affect anesthesia use
28:30 Safety of anesthesia use
31:30 Unusual events on the job of giving anesthesia
35:00 Answer to the riddle
37:00 Faith testimony
Other 2020 podcast topics include:
MD Talk: Virus News and Clinical Treatment
MD Talk: Healthcare? How To Be Your Own Best Medical Expert
Tech Talk: Language, ASL & Machine Learning
MD Talk: Mental Health & Disease Crises
MD Talk: Virus Combat Tips To Stay Well
MD Talk: Virus Habits & History
Unexpected STEM And Faith stories (our intro to Paradoxifi podcast)
