Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Chapter 1580: Chapter 1486: Unintentionally Sparking Another Surgical Revolution

"Yes, Your Highness."

Bodlock’s face was full of pride: "In fact, I’m very skilled at this kind of surgery. My fastest record is completing a cesarean section in 1 minute and 52 seconds."

The more Joseph listened, the more wrong it sounded. He narrowed his eyes and said, "Are you sure such a short time is enough to finish the incision and the suturing and so on?"

Bodlock said as a matter of course, "Your Highness, with all due respect, suturing is almost meaningless.

"And the woman in labor usually struggles violently, which makes suturing impossible to carry out..."

"Hold it right there!" Joseph immediately cut him off. "So your surgery is just about cutting open and not about closing up?"

"Uh, you see, even if we barely sew it up, the woman will still die from hemorrhage and infection." Bodlock switched to a professional tone. "Some women even go into cardiac arrest during the surgery."

Joseph pressed a hand to his forehead. "This is not the cesarean section I’m looking for."

Bodlock froze for a moment, then continued, "Your Highness, if what you want is to save the woman when there is obstructed labor, that can be done as well."

"More than eighty years ago, we already had mature techniques for instruments like craniotomy forceps and obstetric hooks, which can quickly ’reduce’ the size of the fetus and remove it from the birth canal..."

Joseph waved with a dark expression, stopping him from going on.

"What I want is a cesarean technique that allows both mother and child to survive."

Bodlock lowered his head again. "This... Your Highness, with the current obstetric techniques, I’m afraid that’s not very likely..."

Joseph’s brows furrowed at once.

He knew nothing about obstetric techniques from later generations; he had no way to "cheat" even if he wanted to.

He thought for a moment and decided to give Bodlock some hints from the surgical side, to see if he could trigger a "flash of insight."

"Well, let’s first deal with the problem most likely to occur—massive postpartum hemorrhage."

Even without surgery, excessive blood loss often occurred during normal delivery.

Bodlock immediately said, "Your Highness, physicians will ligate the blood vessels in the shortest possible time. The hemostats you invented play a critical role as well."

Joseph had been about to praise his medical skill, but then recalled that definition of cesarean section, so he cautiously asked about this so‑called "vascular ligation" technique.

The answer did not disappoint him. According to the doctor’s description, the current technique only ligated arteries that were easy to locate; slightly finer blood vessels were completely ignored.

Seeing that the Regent was obviously displeased, Bodlock hastily added, "Your Highness, as the woman completes uterine contractions, the amount of bleeding will significantly decrease. As long as their bodies are strong enough, it is possible for them to survive."

Joseph let out a breath and said, "What I want is to ensure that the woman survives, so we need to replenish her blood."

"Replenish her blood?"

"Yes. Draw some blood from other people and transfuse it into the woman’s veins. With a slight modification to the syringe, this should be doable."

Bodlock quickly said, "Your Highness, in theory this does solve the blood loss problem. However, over the past hundred years many people have done a large number of inter‑animal transfusion experiments, and the mortality rate is extremely high..."

Joseph immediately said, "That’s because the blood types were incompatible, which led to hemolysis."

The doctor leaned forward. "You just said ’blood type’... What does ’hemolysis’ refer to?"

"The blood of two sheep may look the same, but the antibodies in it are likely different... Ah, just understand it as different types." Joseph explained patiently. "When blood of different types is mixed, hemolysis occurs... that is..."

He himself no longer remembered exactly what "hemolysis" meant, so he glossed over it: "In short, it causes problems.

"But as long as the blood is of the same type, it can be transfused between individuals.

"Humans are the same."

Bodlock, as if discovering a New World, also pulled out a notebook and eagerly said, "You’re saying blood is divided into different types? Then what types are there? Why do different types exist—does it have to do with ethnicity, or something else?"

"Humans have several blood types: A, B, O, and AB. As for why... that’s not what we’re here to discuss."

Bodlock nodded repeatedly, then asked, "Then how do we distinguish between different types of blood?"

"That..." Joseph let out another breath. "That’s something you’ll have to research."

In his previous life, he had only glanced at the health posters while standing in line for physical exams; how would he know anything that professional?

Bodlock quickly nodded in earnest. "Yes, Your Highness. I will not disappoint you!"

After finishing the topic of blood transfusion, Joseph went on, "Aside from blood loss, there is another very important issue, and that is infection."

Bodlock said, "Your Highness, after using Phenol for disinfection, cases of infection have already decreased significantly."

"I want absolute safety." Joseph said, "When The Crown Princess gives birth, I will have someone bring a certain drug. Whenever there is a large wound, you will inject it into her."

What he was referring to, of course, was Penicillin. The current "Divine level" drug.

Only now did Bodlock understand why the Regent had summoned him in the middle of the night to discuss obstetric techniques—it turned out that The Crown Princess was pregnant.

He quickly bowed and said, "Yes, Your Highness. I will keep it strictly confidential."

Joseph didn’t particularly care about confidentiality and immediately thought of another matter. "Right, tell me in detail about your current suturing techniques."

Bodlock took a wooden box out of the small leather case he carried and popped open the clasp:

"We usually start with cleaning the wound, and then...

"My assistant will help me thread the needle. I usually choose Flax thread. Many doctors recommend using catgut—you know, you don’t have to remove it—but in my experience, catgut very easily causes wound infections."

Joseph said a bit uncertainly, "Perhaps it’s because the intestine wasn’t cleaned thoroughly, and beyond that, protein easily breeds bacteria. You can try disinfecting the catgut before using it."

Bodlock immediately nodded and took note.

In fact, there were already mature disinfection methods at present, but doctors hadn’t yet formed the habit of disinfecting anytime, anywhere.

As he spoke, he picked up a few needles from the wooden box. "Look, this is a suture needle, Your Highness, very fine..."

Joseph, however, frowned. "It’s straight?"

"Is there a problem with that, Your Highness?"

Joseph took paper and pen and drew an arc based on the suture needles he had seen in later generations. "You can try making the suture needle in this shape. Oh, and its cross‑section is flat."

"All right, Your Highness."

As Joseph spoke, he caught sight out of the corner of his eye of a few dark iron instruments in the doctor’s surgical kit and asked, "What are those for?"

Bodlock hurriedly took each of those tools out. "Oh, this is a pair of forceps for delivery, and this is a pelvic measuring device..."