I've been all caught up in our home drama, and so I'm days behind on my friends' list. Just saw this.
Yep, I agree that Leale did just about every effective thing that modern medicine could have done. He relieved the pressure on the brain, he administered surprisingly modern CPR (including mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and external cardiac massage), and he kept Lincoln comfortable. I was touched to read that Leale spent most of that nine hours holding the President's hand, so that if he had any residual consciousness he would know he was not alone while dying.
But I'd be willing to bet that Lincoln was comatous the whole time. Apparently his pupils were dilated by the time Leale got to him. I'm no neurologist, but that sounds pretty bad to me.
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Date: 2005-07-08 08:49 pm (UTC)Yep, I agree that Leale did just about every effective thing that modern medicine could have done. He relieved the pressure on the brain, he administered surprisingly modern CPR (including mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and external cardiac massage), and he kept Lincoln comfortable. I was touched to read that Leale spent most of that nine hours holding the President's hand, so that if he had any residual consciousness he would know he was not alone while dying.
But I'd be willing to bet that Lincoln was comatous the whole time. Apparently his pupils were dilated by the time Leale got to him. I'm no neurologist, but that sounds pretty bad to me.