A Mastectomy in 1855
February 29, 2012 § 1 Comment
Hawaiian missionaries Asa Thurston and Lucy Goodale Thurston. Daguerreotype, ca. 1864. Public domain.
Letters of Note has published a remarkable letter from Hawaiian missionary Lucy Goodale Thurston to her daughter, describing Mrs. Thurston’s mastectomy in 1855. The operation was done without any form of anesthesia. The doctors had advised her to not use chloroform “because of my having had the paralysis” (probably polio).
Dr. Ford looked me full in the face, and with great firmness asked: “Have you made up your mind to have it cut out?” “Yes, sir.” “Are you ready now?” “Yes, sir; but let me know when you begin, that I may be able to bear it. Have you your knife in that hand now?” He opened his hand that I might see it, saying, “I am going to begin now.”
Read the whole account here.
As you can tell from the picture above, the operation was successful and Mr. Thurston lived for another 21 years.
Hat tip to Suture for a Living.
Medical Photographer, 1978
February 2, 2012 § Leave a comment
Medical Photography Section, University of Oslo © All rights reserved.
Browsing through some old hospital newsletters, I found an article on cesarean sections and noticed a photographer in one of the photos. Being a photography section we typically don’t have many photos of ourselves at work, so I dived into our negative archive in hope of locating the shoot. « Read the rest of this entry »
How To NOT Use a Medical Photo
January 31, 2012 § 7 Comments
This is the official poster for the the 19th Workshop of the International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies (ISSVA). What on earth were they thinking? « Read the rest of this entry »
Unusual Robotic Surgical Skills
January 6, 2012 § 2 Comments
In a series of videos, surgeons at the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle present their skills with the DaVinci surgical robot in novel ways, including folding a paper plane, lacing an American football and painting fingernails.
A very creative way to communicate the precision of robotic surgery to the public. You can find all the videos here.
Blue Blood Donors of the Sea
January 3, 2012 § Leave a comment
Photo by Øystein Horgmo © All rights reserved.
While shooting lab photos at the University of Oslo’s Department of Medical Biochemistry, I came across this little guy – an atlantic horseshoe crab kept in a desiccator. What was this odd-looking sea creature doing in a hospital research lab? « Read the rest of this entry »
Collage
December 30, 2011 § Leave a comment
Photos by Øystein Horgmo © All rights reserved.
A collage of some of my photos, used on the University of Oslo Medical Photography Section’s new website (Norwegian).
Happy new year!
Merry Esophageal Christmas
December 22, 2011 § Leave a comment
© Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association.
A case report in the latest issue of the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association describes a 7-month-old boy who was admitted to hospital after problems with drooling, vomiting of any non-mashed food and laboured breathing. Thoracic CT revealed a star-shaped foreign body stuck in the esophageal wall (above). The foreign body was removed endoscopically and turned out to be an 18 mm large plastic star from a christmas decoration.
And with that story The Sterile Eye wish all readers and friends a merry christmas and a happy new year!
Norwegian Radio Interview
December 20, 2011 § Leave a comment
In February I was interviewed by a journalist from the NRK (the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation) show Banden about my work.
We sat down and talked about some selected medical photos of mine and it turned out pretty good, I think. Now I’ve finally gotten my hands on the recording, for your (Norwegian) listening pleasure.
Listen to the interview in Norwegian (© NRK, used with kind permission):
Four Years!
December 11, 2011 § 1 Comment
Geronimo - detail showing photographer reflected in his eye. Public domain.
The Sterile Eye turned four years on 11.11.11, and it passed me by! The last year haven’t been my most active in blogging, but I should have remembered that.
To celebrate four years of life, death and surgery through a lens, I bring you four “forgotten” posts (i.e. with few visits) from each year from 11.11.2007 to 11.11.2011. Here’s to more time for blogging in 2012. Enjoy!
2007/2008
2009
2010
2011
Black and White
November 17, 2011 § Leave a comment
Photo by Øystein Horgmo © All rights reserved.
A nurse talked to the family outside the room while I photographed the little girl they had just lost.
In black and white.
The teddy bear she had her arm around wore a t-shirt with a picture of her.
She had hair in that color picture.
The Sterile Eye 