The Outlandish Companion - Diana Gabaldon [173]
Sb: #471087-SPOILER—Penicillin
Fm: Elise Skidmore S/L 6 71576,375 To: Diana Gabaldon 76530,523
Dear Diana,
Thanks for explaining the reasoning behind why you used “fits” vs. “seizure.” Makes perfect sense to me and I just _knew_ you had good reason for it.
In re “You make it look so easy.” Just to put things in perspective, this is just about two weeks’ work you’re looking at. Well, that’s the mark of all champions, making what’s really tough look like a piece of cake. Kudos to you. I thought the excerpt was very well done. Those two weeks were well spent.:-) Elise 23-Aug-97 22:50:22 Sb: #471087-SPOILER—Penicillin Fm: Marte Brengle 76703,4242 To: Elise Skidmore S/L 6 71576,375 Cupping is exactly what one might think—the application of small, thick-rimmed cups to the skin. The person doing the cupping first lights a bit of some kind of aromatic herb (usually) and tosses the flaming material into the cup, then quickly turns it upside down onto the patient’s back. As the flaming material burns up the oxygen, a vacuum forms and the skin rises inside the cup. My grandmother (Evelyn Eaton) gives a rather vivid description of having this done to her in one of her collections of autobiographical short stories (originally printed in the _New Yorker_). I believe it’s “Every Month Was May” but could possibly be “The North Star Is Nearer.” My mother’s got my copies of the books so I can’t check, but the story itself is memorable.—M 24-Aug-97 10:36:30 Sb: #471256-SPOILER—Penicillin Fm: Elise Skidmore S/L 6 71576,375 To: Marte Brengle 76703,4242 So tell me, did this actually help cure anything? Doesn’t sound real pleasant to me.:-)Elise Fm: Marte Brengle 76703,4242 To: Elise Skidmore S/L 6 71576,375 My grandmother had “catarrh” which was an all-purpose term for a heavy chest cold, and yes, apparently the cupping did help. It was about all that was available in rural France in the 1930s.—M— Fm: Rosina Lippi-Green 102014,1664 To: Diana Gabaldon 76530,532 Diana, I’ve read it twice. I’m not surprised it took you a while to write it, it’s very, very finely put together. I can’t comment on the medical aspects, of course, but I think the form and rhythm of it—starting with the formal description and moving into the introspection, ending with the conversation—works beautifully. rosina To: Rosina Lippi-Green 102014,1664 (X) Dear Rosina— Thanks!—Diana Fm: Coleen 103361,1003 To: Diana Gabaldon 76530,523 Gosh, Diana, it feels right, emotionally and medically. The medical record is objective, as one would expect, and the doctor is experiencing the mixed emotions during writing that (I think) most healers have experienced. I identified mostly with the emotions and especially the confessional aspect of the situation. Even when you did everything possible, you feel like there must have been something more you could have done. Very well written. The piece has, of course, made me pause to think about possible solutions to Claires anaphylaxis problem… if there were some epinephrinelike plant—ephedra perhaps? Just thinking out loud… To: Coleen 103361,1003 (X) Dear Coleen: Oh, good; glad it works for you. Re the ephedra—we got it out here in the Southwest, but evidently not in the Eastern/Central region, according to the _Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants_. There’s _lots_ of stuff listed as “allergenic,” but my general impression is that they mean people are easily allergic to ’em, not that they relieve allergic symptoms. The only anti-allergenics from the Eastern region are (evidently) wild licorice, chamomile, and wild yam. Wild yam might actually be a possibility, in that diosgenin from yams is the basis for the steroid hormones used in a good many modern drugs—like oral contraceptives and asthma medications—BUT (the book says), such drugs are derived “from elaborately processed chemicals found in the wild yam.” Claire wouldn’t have anything
#: 471256 S8/Research & craft [WRITERS]
#: 471379 S8/Research & craft [WRITERS]
Fm: Diana Gabaldon 76530,523
Fm: Diana Gabaldon 76530,523