Chapter 51: Blood Transfusion (1).

"She's bleeding!"

With my vivid imagination, I reconstructed the parts I hadn't seen.

It wasn't that difficult.

Those bastards.

It's obvious.

"Where!"

Blundell, despite it being a routine occurrence, rushed in a panic.

That's probably how it happened.

"The patient... is hemorrhaging... in the birth canal..."

"Oh no."

Could it have been placenta previa (where the placenta blocks the birth canal)?

I'm not exactly an expert in obstetrics, so speculating now is pointless.

At the time, I was in the dissection lab.

Anyway, the patient was said to be bleeding profusely.

It wasn't uncommon.

Even in the 21st century, obstetrics is one of the few departments where emergency patients can be rushed into the operating room without anesthesia consultation.

Massive bleeding was a common occurrence in this field.

"Stop the bleeding!"

"Yes!"

However, there was a problem.

While 21st-century obstetrics could handle almost anything, obstetrics in this era had very limited options.

A cesarean section could be attempted, but in an era without anesthesia, saving both the mother and the baby was nearly impossible. The best outcome was saving either the mother or the baby.

Most of the time, both died.

In cases like placenta previa, which I suspect this was, there was literally nothing that could be done.

"It's still coming out."

"There's no choice! Stop it!"

Especially when it came to hemostasis, they were still in the rudimentary stages.

If anesthesia were available, they could have opened the abdomen and performed a hysterectomy if things got too dangerous.

But human thinking doesn't change that easily.

And it was blood. Red blood.

Some people faint at the sight of a little blood, so when it gushes out, it's hard for anyone to stay calm.

"Uh... the patient's consciousness!"

"Damn it! Again!"

It's hard to call it fortunate.

Doctors are a profession accustomed to death, but for doctors of this era, it had a different meaning.

They were too accustomed to it.

People died every day.

People who didn't have to die were dying left and right.

In a way, it was inevitable.

When placenta previa ruptures and causes bleeding, the best they could do was stuff the birth canal with a dirty cloth. What kind of treatment was that?

It would have been better to pray for the bleeding to stop.

At least if the bleeding stopped, the risk of infection would decrease slightly.

"What should we do? Should we move her to the observation room?"

"Hmm."

The observation room in this era was different from what we now call the intensive care unit or critical care unit.

They literally just observed.

And when the patient passed away, they lamented.

"Oh dear, how sad," they'd say.

Yet, some family members were even grateful.

At least they could be with their loved ones in their final moments.

In 19th-century hospitals, where people often came in with headaches, got bled, and died, this was considered a stroke of luck.

"No, no."

Anyway, our Dr. Blundell waved his hand at that moment.

Courage?

No, it was recklessness.

I couldn't help but feel a bit resentful that I wasn't free in this situation.

'Ah... I probably gave him that idea, didn't I?'

Not long ago—no, just yesterday—Blundell and I had a rather in-depth conversation.

I thought I was being careful, but...

I must have given him too much inspiration.

Especially about volume.

The concept of water filling and circulating through blood vessels...

"Give her blood."

"Huh? A blood transfusion? But... where would we get a calf?"

Whether it was unfortunate or fortunate, 19th-century medical staff also had some concept of blood transfusion.

They knew about the heart and how it pumped blood through vessels.

They also knew that substances mixed in the blood could affect the entire body and that giving blood to an animal dying from blood loss could save it.

But they didn't know what kind of blood to give.

Was it because the idea of giving human blood to another human seemed like something a vampire would do?

Most hospitals used animal blood.

"No, we'll..."

What happens if you give animal blood to a human?

Even among humans, giving the wrong blood type can cause hemolytic (red blood cell-destroying) reactions, and in large amounts, it can kill. So, what happens with animal blood?

...

Unsurprisingly, the history of blood transfusion is synonymous with the history of death.

I was curious about how they handled it back then, so I looked it up, and that's what I found.

The Vatican even banned it, but since the Vatican's authority wasn't that significant in England, breaking the ban wasn't a big deal.

The nurse, knowing the dangers, looked extremely grim.

"We'll give her human blood."

Anyway, our Professor Blundell came up with a brilliant idea.

The nurse's face grew even darker, which was understandable.

Not just the nurse, but everyone around started to protest.

They probably would have.

They weren't exactly the progressive type.

"That's... something only vampires would do..."

"Yes, that's unacceptable!"

"Shut up! How long are you going to be shackled by such superstitions? You call yourselves scientists? Vampires? So you believe corpses can come back to life and other nonsense?"

"But there are cases where they really came back to life..."

"What nonsense!"

A magician from Joseon brought back a corpse...

"That, the East..."

"Enough! Stop with this nonsense!"

Blundell was furious at those who lacked faith—no, those who had too much faith in superstitions—and continued.

"The experiment where blood brought someone back to life. What did you use?"

"Dog blood. Ah, should we use dog blood then? Actually, using calf or lamb blood is more in line with biblical thinking, isn't it?"

"Hah."

He was struggling to contain his anger.

Use dog blood?

Sigh.

"You experimented on dogs! You gave dog blood to a dog that had lost blood! So what should we give to a human who's lost blood?"

"Ah."

"We should give human blood!"

If they had stopped there, humanity would have just experienced a great leap forward.

The first case of treating hemorrhagic shock with a blood transfusion was over 100 years ago.

But that was an 'experiment' on dogs, not a treatment, right?

They had never saved a human.

It's not that they hadn't done it, but that humanity hadn't done it yet.

"Everyone, roll up your sleeves!"

Now?

Even now, it hadn't been done.

"We'll only take a little. We'll collect it and give it to her, so don't worry. Just roll up your sleeves. I'll give you something in return."

Why?

Because they had no concept of blood types.

Of course, that was to be expected.

In an era where the very concept of why blood transfusions were necessary wasn't clear, knowing about blood types would have been stranger.

Without the need, even accidental discoveries couldn't happen.

"Sigh."

I was looking at the collected blood—no, the clump of blood.

The only saving grace was that their blood-drawing and transfusion techniques were so poor that they couldn't transfuse much.

At most, maybe 100 mL went in.

"The patient seems a bit better. Look. Haha. It's such a good thing that I thought of you."

The surprising thing was that this collection of blood—this mixture of blood types with no consideration—was somehow having an effect.

"Just a moment ago, she was completely unconscious."

"What about... the baby?"

"Ah, the baby is outside. Don't worry, ma'am. There were some difficulties, but it should be fine."

Indeed, among fluids other than vasopressors, blood is the best for raising blood pressure in cases of hemorrhagic shock.

Even with just that small amount, the patient seemed to regain some consciousness.

Watching this, I began to hope for a miracle with odds close to zero.

'Could it be... that all seven people here have the same blood type, and it matches the patient's?'

If that were the case, the patient might survive.

The odds were 1 in 4^8, or 1 in 65,536—a 0.000015% chance.

'Hmm.'

In other words, it was practically impossible.

And miracles don't happen easily.

Otherwise, why would they be called miracles?

'Oh dear...'

I looked at the clump of blood.

Of course, blood does clot when exposed to air.

That's how止血 works.

But it doesn't usually clot this much on the inside.

Moreover, less than 10 minutes had passed since the transfusion...

'Statistically speaking, it's all mixed up.'

There might be some Type O blood, but...

What difference would it make?

It's all mixed.

Even if the patient were Type AB, it wouldn't matter.

It's mixed.

...

It was essentially like giving her poison.

"Uh, for now, should we give her some fluids? I'll prepare them."

The poison was almost lethal.

If the blood clotted inside...

What would happen if it blocked the blood vessels leading to the brain, lungs, or heart?

'Cerebral infarction, pulmonary embolism, myocardial infarction.'

...

Damn.

Each one was a perfect cause of death. Without time to think, I sprang into action.

Normally, I would have thought more about what to give, but I didn't know.

I figured giving her water might help.

Diluting it might have some effect, since it seemed like less than 100 mL had been transfused.

"Ah... what if we give her more blood?"

Then Blundell said something insane.

Give her more blood?

Like that?

"But... even though we didn't take much, isn't it still a lot?"

...

"Compared to the amount she lost, it's nothing. We need to give her ten times more."

Wow.

This guy.

Are you seriously playing in-and-out like this?

"If I were Professor Robert, I'd be dead by now.

But will there be volunteers? First, let's give her water... We can give a lot of water, so..."

"Ah, is it about giving first?"

But I was calm, and this guy was Professor Blundell.

You can't mess with a professor.

So I pacified him.

I had to do something before this guy caused a disaster.

Even if I was furious, what could I do?

"Yes, yes."

"Alright, let's do that."

With his permission, I quickly got to work.

The reality that I, a doctor, had to boil water first was frustrating, but...

Anyway, after doing this multiple times, I had gotten faster.

"Like this?"

"Yeah. Distilled!"

"Uh, but isn't distillation usually for making alcohol?"

"Shut up. We need to make it fast. The patient is dying. Remember? Giving water saved her last time?"

"Uh, alright."

Of course, there were helpers too.

They believed my lies and did their best.

'If giving water could save everyone... why would we invent IV fluids or research artificial blood?'

Of course, I was doing my best too.