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The First Patient |
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Our first patient was admitted on January 10, 1886. The original admissions and medical record book reveal that this patient was a 14-year-old schoolboy suffering from acute Chorea (St. Vitus' Dance). His father was a laborer and his mother was confined to another hospital. "This patient lived at home and was poorly clad and probably poorly fed and attended school. Chloroform was administered once when admitted to control his paroxysms and he was then put upon a nourishing diet." He was treated expectantly. He had difficulty sleeping for which chloral was prescribed also potassium bromide. He was given Fowler's solution (arsenic) several drops three times a day. On the ijth of February the record states that "the patient has not been able to feed himself since his admission to the hospital. Has voracious appetite. At times he has been unable to walk requiring to be carried but there is decided improvement in his condition."
By the 24th of February, patient doing well. "Treatment continued and also baths given with brisk friction upon the spine." By the middle of March patient was "up and about house and grounds." On April 4, seventy-eight days after admission he was "discharged well".
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