15-03-2025
Thanks... Shelley, Frankenstein and Barnard
Our fascination with the human form and its possibilities has been with us for all time, but more especially so since Charles Darwin challenged mankind's religious origins, in his 'Origin of Species,' in 1859.
With much more innocence, we innocently wondered as children, about 'Captain Hook's' hook felt, in 'Peter Pan?' Or what about one-eyed, wooden-legged, 'Long John Silver,' from 'Treasure Island?' Later, 'Star Trek's' Jean-Luc Picard had a new heart, 'Star War's' hero Luke Skywalker and villain Darth Vader both had prosthetic appendages. What about Steve Austin, the 'Six Million Dollar Man,' of whom they said, "Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. Better... stronger... faster." Or Tony Stark, the Iron Man; Captain America's 'Bucky' Barnes; GOT's Jamie Lannister; Even 'Mad Eye' Moody, from 'Harry Potter,' were they all just complete and utter fantasy? Who among us was not simultaneously haunted and fascinated by Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein,' when a young scientist creates a grotesque living 'thing' from human body parts sourced from dissection laboratories and mortuaries. Going on to create murder and mayhem, Victor Frankenstein's monstrous creation has been brought to the cinema screen several times since Boris Karloff brought it to life so dramatically in 1931. The very idea that you could fit 'spare parts' into the human body though, remained little more than tales... stories of what could have been.
Until, on December 3, 1967, South African surgeon Christian Barnard successfully transplanted the heart of a human donor into Louis Washkansky, at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Although, he passed away 18 days later, Barnard's work had inspired hundreds of others and during the following year over 100 successful heart transplants would prove even more successful, and today, they are commonplace.
By the 1970s heart transplants were virtually commonplace, and the medical fraternity sought wider applications for transplants and enhancements, many of which may not have been essential to longevity but inspired by the 'quality of life' needs of a burgeoning consumerist society. Among these, total (tkr) and partial (pkr), knee and hip replacements are today commonly sought by those with leg joint ailments, most frequently through osteoarthritis, a degenerative disease of the joints that causes swelling, stiffness and significant pain.
Late last year, I sought medical help for this very condition, and met with a nearby consultant Christian Nita, and after an initial consultation he agreed a way forward and following X-Rays and MRI scans it was agreed that my left knee was an appropriate candidate for surgery, with all my options laid out and a total knee replacement chosen. This requires the bottom of the upper leg and the top of the lower leg to be removed and new titanium femur (upper), and tibia (lower) leg components and a plastic patellar spacer between the two, to replace the ailing joint.
Surgery day, a couple of months later, was a final flurry of documentation, vital signs measurements, questions and final discussions with the surgeon and anaesthetist, then I was wheeled down to the operating theatre. A shunt was inserted in the back of my left hand, a prickle in the back of my right and then I was sat up to have the local (spinal) injection. 'This will numb you from the chest down so you will just feel a cold spray (which I did) and we'll give you a sedative to keep you relaxed for the next couple of hours,' said the anaesthetist, and a screen was hung up so I couldn't see what was happening and the work started... I can't say it was blissful, but there's something Shelly'ish, about knowing I was being cut, sawn, pushed, pulled, hammered and well, whatever else, just a couple of feet away, and I just... didn't... care... Yes, it did play with my head a wee bit later, but that has still been the most amazing element of this entire process... It just shows how far medicine has come. My quality of life will be improved and I must thank a quality surgical team, and among a host of others, Frankenstein... I guess?
