The Incision Which Caused the Worldwide Revision
Please listen to this 1895 version of Amazing Grace to set the mood for this page.
Mrs. Crawford sang hymns and recited psalms in lieu of anesthesia, which was unknown at the time. |
Mrs. Crawford now temporarily resided at the home of Dr. Ephraim McDowell. Several assistants, including his nephew Dr. James McDowell, gathered around the makeshift operating table (usually Ephraim made house calls) and held Jane down.
Five days later, McDowell observed Jane engaged in making her bed. Twenty-five days later she returned to her home in Greensburg, Ky. She lived another thirty-three years after the operation. |
“I made an incision about three inches from the musculus rectus abdominis, on the left side, continuing the same nine inches in length... extending into the cavity of the abdomen.... The tumor then appeared in full view, but was so large that we could not take it away entire... we then cut open the tumor, we took out fifteen pounds of dirty, gelatinous looking substance... After which we cut through the fallopian tube, and extracted the sack, which weighted seven pounds and one half. As soon as the external opening was made, the intestines rushed out on the table; and so completely was the abdomen filled by the tumor, that they could not be replaced during the operation, which was terminated in about twenty-five minutes. We then turned her on her left side, so as to permit the blood to escape after which, we closed the external opening with the interrupted suture... We then applied the usual dressings, put her to bed and prescribed a strict observance of the antiphlogistic regimen.” ~ Ephraim McDowell in "Three Cases of Extirpation of Diseased Ovaria". Eclectic Repertory and Analytical Review
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What makes Dr. McDowell's incision, and Mrs. Crawford's survival even more revolutionary is the fact that there were several factors not in Mrs. Crawford's favor. As The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists explains on their website:
Ovarian cancer strikes about 23,000 women each year in the United States, and about 14,000 women die of this disease. Prognosis is good for women diagnosed at an early stage, whereas the majority, diagnosed at later stages, are likely to survive less than 5 years.
Mrs. Crawford's twenty-two pound tumor was, obviously, diagnosed at a late stage. This decreased her chances of survival with no relation to Dr. McDowell's education or knowhow. She was also in her forties, which decreased the survival chances she would have had if she had been younger. And finally, she had 5 children, which further decreased her chances. And yet, despite all that, she lived to be seventy-nine.