surgeon_bob

With kidneys, a failure of the new organ was a disappointment. But with a heart, a failure was a death. Scary? You sew in an ice-cold paralyzed heart from a dead person, warm it up in its new home, and wait: will it beat? You bring up a page of my book - The Transplant Web. bluewaterpress.com/web

I was an intern, boggled out, courting my lady, driving back to the hospital on a bridge over the Mississippi, and fell asleep. Glad for good rails! (I loved her then and for 70 years more).

MASH was a hollywood version. The Marines are smaller, tighter, closer to the troops. Take away the cocktail hour and the foolishness of MASH, tho and it's pretty close. My biggest take-away? War is hell, yes; also standing proof that "there's got to be a better way". North Koreans are humans. We treated them if they came to us. Women, sometimes.

i am skeptical about a head transplant. Face? sure. Carotid arteries? sure, fix 'em. But nervous system? spinal cord? we can't make that regenerate or heal even in the lower spine. But what a field head transplants could be for science fiction! Draculoids, anyone?

Oh that's a good question. In a clean fresh wound, there's no need for antibiotics at all. What is needed is to clean the wound by irrigation, and removal of foreign material, and dead tissue. If the wound is new enough, it can be closed by suture. But after several hours, it should be left open. Then, after a day or two, if the wound is clean and healthy, it can then be closed. Antibiotics don't treat the wound. Anything like strong salt water actually injures the tissues in the wound and does more harm than good.