周一清晨·英文故事汇 Harvey Cushing: A Life in Surgery(连载)

神外世界 · 公众号 · 医学 · 2018-11-19 06:00

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周一清晨·英文故事汇 Harvey Cushing: A Life in Surgery(连载)

周一清晨·英文故事汇 Harvey Cushing: A Life in Surgery(连载)

CHAPTER ONE

Western Reserve：The Cushings of Cleveland·Part IV

Harvey Cushing终于出生了……

Bessie's worst fear was that her doctor-husband would not come home when his three months were up but would re-enlist for three years, as most of the volunteers had done. She was afraid that he might come to like the wild and free life of men in camps, afraid that he would give in to military ambition ('Do not let motives of honor and promotion influence you more than you are aware'), and she worried that his sense of duty might cause him to abandon his family."

A fastidious and shy man who had had a fairly sheltered upbringing and neither drank nor smoked, Kirke found much of camp life 'unpleasant and unseemly,' yet he thrived on the food, the outdoor life, and, after a few weeks of training, the adventure of his regiment's advance into the hill country of western Virginia:

My faith is still firm that slavery is to be ended by this revolution, but how is the question. I am now seeing a little of slavery for the first time. The slaves are quite black, civil, and apparently not aroused by our presence in any way. There are occasional exceptions however ...

The inhabitants are mostly clad in homespun and have a slouched, limpey, greasy look ... The women here knowing that we will not disturb them are insolent hateful & abusive ... In the main our boys have avoided offense in the way of pillage and abuse of power.

The free-wheeling individualism and rude democracy of army life gradually began to grate on the young doctor. He formed no close friendships except with the chaplain. As a medical officer, dealing mostly with cases of measles and dysentery, he took a stern approach to the volunteers' health, including their lack of cleanliness and their malingering. `He has not pandered to the whims of men who thought they were sick when they were not, or who pretended to be sick to shirk duty, or who were a little sick and wished to be petted,' the chaplain wrote home. `This has made him seem to some cold severe and unsympathizing.'

Despite his misgivings and his wife's pleadings, Kirke decided to reenlist after the first three months. Knowing he was a good medical officer, he aspired to advance to brigade surgeon. But his unpopularity jeopardized even his current position. Learning of a plan to have him transferred to some other regiment, he chose to go home pending a decision on promotion. It was a lucky move; not long after he left, the 7th Ohio, which had enjoyed an unopposed advance deep into `secesh' territory, was suddenly surrounded by Confederate troops. Most of the northerners surrendered and were taken prisoner."

Kirke Cushing returned to Cleveland expecting to be called to further duty. The life had agreed with him to the extent that he now found it hard to sleep in a bed and considered setting up a tent in the yard. When Bessie served him peach preserves, he wondered whether it was an extravagance better saved for visitors. Although he was asked to report to Washington for an interview, he never went. Bessie, it appears, was determined not to lose her man again. She made clear to him that his real duty was to stay at home. Kirke never talked about why he left the army, though one of his sons mused: `I think I have heard mother say it was because he found her worn out, [baby] Harry quite ill, and his father also far from well and overburdened with family and professional cases, and he concluded it was his duty to stay here.' The timing of the birth of their seventh child, Edward (1862), suggests that Kirke impregnated his wife immediately after getting back from the war.

Nor did his return ease her burden in other ways. As his father had done, Kirke lectured at the Cleveland Medical School. He fell on the steps of the school one day, probably in the autumn of 1861, and cut his knee through his trousers. The wound became infected, and he was immobilized for most of the next twelve months, eight of them in bed, with amputation a possibility. With the help of one servant, Bessie ran the household, minded the babies and baby illnesses, and lifted, bathed, and nursed her sick husband. `Well she must have been made of iron,' Harvey told his own wife many years later.

Kirke Cushing recovered from his domestic wound but dragged a stiff knee for the rest of his life, and three times during the Civil War he volunteered to work with wounded soldiers after great battles. When the North began drafting men for service in 1864, he paid $1,000 to have a substitute, a recent immigrant, take his place. It was not an unusual or necessarily dishonorable practice. The eighth Cushing child, George, was born that year. Alleyne followed in 1867, and Harvey Williams on April 8, 1869.

To Be Continued…

往期回顾

周一清晨·英文故事汇 Harvey Cushing: A Life in Surgery(连载)

策划及编辑者：张亿乐，安徽医科大学第二附属医院神经外科研究生。

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