Till Taught by Pain
William Stewart Halsted (1852-1922) pioneered life-saving surgical procedures and invented the use of local pain blockers in surgery. Author Coventry, a medical doctor, tells half of his story through William’s point of view and the other half through that of Caroline Hampton, a young South Carolina belle. She leaves home for nursing school in New York and later becomes William’s wife. William advances to Chief Surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital. However, he has learned the dosages and effects of morphine and cocaine by injecting himself. He, Caroline, and one longtime friend struggle to manage, and often hide, the clutches of his addiction so it does not derail his career, marriage, and friendships.
This fact-based novel vividly shows William’s medical genius in dealing with many ailments from tiny growths that might be malignant to massive goiters and ugly intestinal blockages. Immensely skilled as a surgeon, William calmly focuses on what is needed in chaos. A natural leader, he misses nothing in the OR setting. He plans every step and insists on cleanliness. However, his halting and bumbling courtship of Caroline fits the time and place when relationships between doctors and nurses were grounds for termination. Caroline’s love, devotion, and appreciation for what they manage and build together often make her the heroine of this story.
Each of the 58 chapters begins with one or more epigrams taken from contemporaneous letters, news accounts, and medical books and journals. These add real context to Halsted’s and Caroline’s journeys. Coventry describes medical procedures using medical terms (“resection” instead of removal, “incise” instead of cut); layman’s terms might have worked better for more readers. Recommended as a mesmerizing account of two people who helped ease the pain and suffering of many at that time and in later decades.
