Essay about Dying of Breast Cancer in the 1800s - 711 Words

Known for centuries as the dread disease, Breast Cancer, a formidable opponent of any woman alive today, was even more so in the nineteenth century. Women who were diagnose with the disease had very little chance of survival and were all too often subjected to excruciating and brutal breast augmentation surgeries, even when much of the time they were already terminal and the surgery made no difference at all. Robert Shadle and James S. Olsons story about our ill fated heroin Nabby Smith recants a particularly horrifying fight with this villain of a disease at a time when medical knowledge was limited, and Breast Cancer posed an imminent threat to the lives of otherwise healthy middle aged women. Nabby Smith, born Nabby Adams was†¦show more content†¦After ignoring it for several months Nabby informed her parents, who wrote a family friend, Doctor Benjamin Rush, who was among the most respected Doctors of the day, urged her to travel to Boston and have her breast examined. By June of 1811 the now visible lump was enough cause for concern that Nabby returned to Boston for further examinations. After visiting several Doctors, Nabby finally came to the conclusion after a pointed letter from Dr. Rush, that she had no option other than surgery. This was truly a feared option for many women, as at the time there was no form of anesthetics used in medicine, so the procedure was brutal and extremely painful. Many women died from post operational infections before the cancer could claim their lives. Nabby went under the knife of Dr. John Warren on October 8th 1811. The vivid and very real brutality of the procedure was enough to make anyone feel some form of sympathy pains, and it was over in only about twenty-five minutes. After recovery Nabby returned home to Western New York in 1812, however by the following year the cancer had returned with a vengeance, with several visible tumors, she was terminally ill. She returned to Quincy, Massachusetts to â⠂¬Å"die in her father’s house† and on August 9th 1813, at the age of 49, Nabby Smith passed away with her entire family at her bedside. This reading truly illustrates not only the vicious nature of cancer,Show MoreRelatedAbortion Should Not Be Legalized972 Words   |  4 Pageswomen have psychological damage, and some women even die or have physical damage from having an abortion. In the early centuries, abortion was permitted and used by healers who performed them and taught other women how to do it (â€Å"History†). In the 1800’s, most abortions were illegal in the United States except those that were used to save a woman’s life (â€Å"History†). Also, it was a woman’s right to choose to abort or keep the child. In the mid-19th century, a humanitarian reform supported that abortionRead MoreA Career as an Ocologist Essays1524 Words   |  7 Pagesdie from cancer or cancer related complications. 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