SURGERY NEEDS HOMOEOPATHIC SUPPORT


SURGERY NEEDS HOMOEOPATHIC SUPPORT. Disillusion your patients of the fact that they are wasting time by taking medicine. In acute abdomens, such as ruptured peptic ulcers, ectopics and appendices, one often a few hours to get in some good “licks” before the patient goes to surgery. But here one must be very watchful and quick to recognize the need for immediate surgery.


CASE I.

Mrs. F.S. aged 59, goitre operation in 1941, cancer of the larynx operation in 1947. Last December she took a cold that went to then lungs. Her mother died of cancer of the uterus. My patient had had 35 deep X-Ray treatments. When she came to me in Oct. of 1950, she was wheezing and breathing loudly like a saw being driven through a pine board. She had a metastatic lump in her neck and her breath was all but choked off from scar contractions as a result of surgery.

Many, many remedies were given, each upon what I thought were the indications at the moment. To mention a few: X-Ray, Phos., Carcinosin, Graph., Lach., Adreno-Cortin, Ars., Cadm. ars., Cadm. phos., Spong., Caust., Nit. ac., Scirrhinum, Crot. casc., Kali iod., hypericum, Bry., Puls., Kali bi., Ant. t., Rad. brom.

Today, she is alive and doing her housework, but she is not cured.

CASE II.

Mr. K. J., aged 42, after appendectomy was found to have a generalized abdominal carcinomatosis. Ascitic fluid was drawn off in Mar., 1951 and in Dec., 1951. When I first saw him on Feb. 9, 1952, he was bloated, full of fluid, with lumps as big as baseballs all over his abdomen. He vomited everything. His grandmother had died of cancer. Remedies used were: Carcinosin, Ars., Bell. p., Lyc., and Cadm. ars. 10M on May 22. He has been doing well since then but of course he is not cured.

CASE III.

Mrs. G.M., aged 48, had the right breast removed because of cancer, after which her right arm swelled up to twice its normal size. No doubt it was caused from an obstruction by deep metastases and scar contractions blocking the return flow of lymph. The same remedies were used as one would use for the original condition: Con., Carcinosin, Bufo., Sil., Graph., Lyc., Arn., and Apis.

Since starting treatment on Nov. 1951, the arm is slowly reducing and a re-ray of the chest shows no right lung involvement.

CASE IV.

Mrs. W.K., aged 63. After treating this case for about eight years, pulling her through many tight places, she decided she wanted to have a pelvic repair without consulting me. I had treated her for prolapse and the pelvic floor was gradually improving, but evidently, in her opinion, not fast enough. So on July 11, 1949, she had the uterus and bladder repaired together with a rupture and a rectocele. Cervical cysts were also removed.

She was ashamed to tell me what she had slipped away to have done but finally she broke down and told me on the following December 5th. Now her bladder and uterus were out again and in addition there had developed a rectovaginal fistula. So with Arnica and a number of other follow-up remedies, she is again back on the road to recovery and is doing nicely. Surgery needs homoeopathic support to be truly successful.

CASE V.

Mr. C.M., aged 80, was treated for diabetes and a huge prostate gland with some success. There was no sugar in the urine and insulin was not needed. He is now able to do without the retaining catheter. Then he suddenly turned the other way; he could not hold the urine.

Caust., Aloes, Gels., all failed. So with the prostate still quite large, I sent him to the best prostatic surgeon at Indianapolis that I knew. Results now are excellent. There are select cases that really need the services of a good surgeon now and then. It is your ability to judge when that counts. By and large, there is far too much surgery done when the indicated remedy will heal.

Of course, a case that has been taking homoeopathic treatment, if he does have to come to surgery, does much better after having had the preparation.

Disillusion your patients of the fact that they are wasting time by taking medicine. In acute abdomens, such as ruptured peptic ulcers, ectopics and appendices, one often a few hours to get in some good “licks” before the patient goes to surgery. But here one must be very watchful and quick to recognize the need for immediate surgery.

GREENSFORK, INDIANA.

DISCUSSION.

DR. ALLAN D. SUTHERLAND [Brattleboro. Vt.]: I have one thing to say. Of course. I slept through Dr. Bonds paper, with no discourtesy to him, just the time of day and, also, my lunch.

I had one case who had an acute appendix, and I felt, at the time, required surgery. The surgery was done; the appendix removed. The boy did pretty well except he had terrific abdominal pain which the usual morphine suggested by the surgeon didnt help.

So I asked him one day specifically what the pain was like. He said it felt as if he were all tied up in knots. I gave him a dose of Sulphur. He had a lot of gas; he practically blew the sheets off the bed. After that he was all right. So, homoeopathy comes in after surgery as well as before.

DR. JULIA M. GREEN [Washington, D.C.]: I have thought a good many times in recent years and I wondered whether the homoeopathic remedy doesnt work in face of a great deal of competition by other drugs and other manipulations. Sometimes it seems to, and this is true of surgical cases. I wonder whether we are justified in prescribing while the surgeon still is in charge.

I generally have left everything alone until the surgeon had finished, but it maybe that we would do better, the patient would come out better, if we tried to give them a little medicine on top of it. I would like to know what other people think about it.

DR. VIRGINIA M. JOHNSON [Chicago, Ill.]: I would like to recite a case. I had one case of appendicitis where the appendix ruptured. I had Dr. Knapp, who used to belong to the American Institute-I guess he probably does now-operate. I got there one day and they had a couple of priests and the family and half the interns in the hospital and a hall full of nurses.

They had given the child up. So, I went home and got a dose of Abdominal abscess 200th. I came the next day, and a bunch of the nurses met me with the interns and wanted to know what I had given. They said they never saw anything like it. Dr. Knapp had put down the remedy he had given and what the intern had given and he said, “Doctor, he sure and get your remedy on the record”.

DR. ROGER A. SCHMIDT [San Francisco, Calif.]: I think the lack of comments comes from the fact that all the surgeons have left and we general practitioners or internists dont have much of that type of work. So, we should leave it to them to make pertinent comments.

Of course, we have patients whom we send to surgery, and we never do that without giving them some remedy to take with them: Arnica, in the first place, when there are no other specific indications.

When they come back from surgery there is always some indication for Strontia carb, for example, for the distended abdomen, or many other remedies that might be needed.

Indeed, homoeopathy can work tremendously to help surgical patients. I believe that every one of us homoeopaths have been consulted, at least I have, as we have those patients who come to us saying, “Well, I heard that you can cure without surgery. So that is what I came to see you about.” I think we have frustrated the surgeon many times.

DR. CARL. H. ENSTAM [Los Angeles, Calif.]: I think every paper deserves our consideration and comment, whether we support or do not support, but I am wondering in this if the title of this paper isnt so complete in itself that it doesnt call for much comment.

The truth of the matter is that all surgery, even the best of it, can well support or can well require homoeopathic care postoperatively and, certainly preoperatively. We dont get very far by just telling ourselves that. If this information were carried to where some other ears could hear it that would benefit, we would get somewhere.

I want to illustrate one, little, simple case. I dont do surgery any more now that I am feeling my way through homoeopathy. I prefer to do that. I enjoy it more.

A number of years ago I served as a resident in a large general hospital. It became customary on the part of the surgeons to walk away about Friday and leave all the bad cases on my hands.

One of the cases was a very lovely Swedish woman. She took a shine to me because I could speak to her and understand her. You have all had the experience of operating under handicaps of one kind or another.

I wasnt in this institution as a homoeopath but a physician. I became tremendously interested in the problems of this patient because her bowels collapsed and nothing would pass.

The nurse had routine postoperative orders and was carrying those out: the injection of pituitrin and all sorts of fancy enemas as you well understand.

Finally, the nurse called me again and said, “This patient is going to die, and the surgeon isnt available. What are we going to do?”.

I said, “I dont like it any better than you do, but I am going to do something for her and it isnt going to go in the hospital record”.

I went down to my own room and brought back a few tablets of Carb. veg. which was the only prescription I felt belonged to this case. This nurse dissolved it in half a glass of water and gave teaspoonful doses. In the matter of a few hours, things straightened out and by Monday morning there wasnt anything the surgeon could complain of.

Wilbur K. Bond