Early August 1538, Royal Hospital, Dharanikota.
A few days after the Ether experiment.
Word spread quickly, about a supposed drug that helps in Surgery had been discovered. On the day of the first trial, a lot of doctors and surgeons who were interested in the new advancement gathered in the Royal Hospital.
At least a dozen senior staff and reputed doctors from across the capital city were in the operating room. A goat was on the operating table, secured by straps. It would be tough for the goat to free itself.
Following the instructions on the application and dosage from the notebook, Hemadri poured the Ether into a folded cotton cloth and held it over the nostrils of the goat. The animal squealed and tried to fight back, but after several breaths, it started to lose the fight. In less than half a minute, the animal was out cold.
The entire room waited anxiously, wanting to know, whether the goat still lived or passed away from the effects of ether. After checking its breath, Hemadri's assistant, Jayanthi confirmed " "The Ether has put the goat to sleep."
There was an audible sigh of relief that surfaced from the room, accompanied by a lot of smiles and exclamations. The Ether was indeed proving to be effective.
"But does the test s…subject feel pain? Will it awaken from i.i…it?" Hemadri took a needle and stabbed the poor animal in several places across its body. There was no visible change in the goat. Not even a vocal complaint.
"There is no reaction caused by m…minor discomfort. What about serious bodily harm and pain that a surgery might e.e…entail?"
" Amputate its leg," Rudra Deva, who was only a passive observer till now, instructed.
Others looked at the king, some surprised at the coldblooded order, while others expected something similar, knowing the man's history.
"We need to kill the animal, anyway, for the celebratory feast. Let it help in properly testing the Ether."
"Ok," Hemadri said, " We will amputate its f…front leg, and sew it up as we do for p…people. After that, we can only wait and see how the test subject r.r…reacts."
Following Hemadri's instructions, Jayanthi left the room and returned with a box of surgical instruments. It contained various surgical tools, needles, sutures, and a cloth for cleaning up blood.
While Jayanthi assisted, Hemadri made the first cut through the fur and the underlying skin layers at the ankle joint of the right forepaw. The animal did not respond. Hemadri then proceeded to cup through the bones and ligaments and sawed off the bone. Jayanthi, the nurse, sewed a flap of skin over the exposed end of the limb.
During the entire ordeal, The goat never even twitched. Its chest rose and fell in normal rhythm as if it was having a good sleep.
"Parameshwara! I never believed it until now." Jayanthi said in awe, looking at the miracle that happened before. All the professionals in the room had a similar feeling. They were witnessing a revolution happening before their very own eyes.
Hemadri looked at Rudra, who was standing some distance away, and gave him a firm and respectful nod, thanking him, before he and his assistants unstrapped the goat and placed it in a small enclosure, for monitoring.
By the evening of the same day, the goat was awake, and moving about in the enclosure, albeit with obvious pain and discomfort.
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Over the next few weeks, various tests were carried out every day, to test the limit of the Ether. The other doctors were very eager to get their hands on the new chemical and tinker with it themselves. There was also a rush to test it on human specimens, and Hemadri put it down quickly, with instructions from Rudra.
Even with all of the information Rudra's memory library provided, they were never truly accurate. He only gets general information on things, and he does not want Ether to be tested on Humans without proper animal testing.
In those few weeks, various animals such as buffalos, a few more goats, and even a monkey were tested to check the boundaries of the drug. They learned that no matter the animal, A few drops of Ether in a leather breathing bag, held over their noses, was enough to put them to sleep. The amount of time each animal slept differed, however, as it depended on the body mass.
The doctors also quickly learned that not being careful with the stuff and using larger and longer doses can easily kill an adult bull. After that, tests were conducted to check how much of the stuff could kill the animals.
After weeks of rigorous testing, Himadri finally went ahead with the human testing. The first patient came in the form of a construction worker who, ironically enough, was working on the project to build Dharanikota Royal breweries, which will manufacture ingredients for the Ether.
A fall at the wrong angle caused the otherwise fit man to break his Tibia. Unfortunately, for him, there was no other option than amputation as the fracture was severe. To reduce the already severe pain he was in, he agreed to the use of Ether.
So, on that humid monsoon day, The first surgery was carried out in which, the patient was under the influence of a proper anesthetic. That day will be celebrated in the future as World Anaesthesia Day, or Ether Day.
The use of anesthetics in surgeries was a revolution in the way they were performed. Without the need to take into account the pain and suffering of the patient, Several new types of surgeries which were lethal to the patients earlier, could be carried out.
This could be seen in the fourth human patient, on which the Ether was utilized. A pregnancy complication caused the patient to lose hope in normal delivery. After obtaining consent, Ether was used to perform the surgery and ease the pain and shock the mother would have to go through.
Of course, it was not perfect, as it still posed a lot of Risks, and the chances of the patient surviving were still low, but it was a lot better than leaving them to die. Nevertheless, The surgery was a success.
After hearing about the caesarian surgery that was carried out, The king personally wrote a book on that type of surgery and the ways to improve it using various means and equipment. That book would be considered the cornerstone of such surgeries, for a lot of time in the future.
Surprisingly, On the matter of General Surgery, The king remained quite mum. Besides writing a book titled 'Anatomy of the Human Body and Surgery; by Rudra Deva' there was not much push from him in the surgery department.
Not much help from Rudra was required, however. Even without his help, the field would progress. He did not want to interfere in that process, as it would damage the natural growth of the field, started by his creation of Ether.
This was also proved by the introduction of appendectomy, which was once thought to be incurable and mostly deadly, to its patients. After a brief discussion with Hemadri and Rudra, nurse Jayanthi, now a proper surgeon became the pioneer of that type of surgery. All Rudra assisted in that was, whether or not it was possible.
In the weeks and months after that first surgery, more and more doctors learned how to incorporate Ether into their surgeries.
As the numbers increased, Bad apples also popped up. It was not like the surgeries in the Royal Hospital were perfect, as there were already cases of failed operations, but it was even worse for the surgeons outside of it.
This caused Rudra and his council to put out the first medical regulations. All the Doctors who want access to the Ether must be certified by the Royal Hospital in the capital city. This also necessitated the expansion of facilities there, taking the first steps of turning it into a university.
Several other general improvements were also carried out in the field over that year by Rudra. This was when Stethoscopes, the mandated use of gloves and masks, and strict adherence to aseptic conditions were introduced, at the Royal Hospital. This further helped in patient care.
Not everyone was very quick to accept the ideas, however. As the rate of information flow is slow, these rules were only mandated in the capital city and the surrounding towns. Even then, some of the doctors refused to follow them.
A visit from the soldiers, and some 'life-changing experiences' quickly fixed that in most of them, however. Sadly, some people cannot be changed, and several of the older and experienced doctors, who refused change, were banned from practics medicine in the kingdom's lands, thus effectively exiling them.
The production of Ether could not keep up with the usage in the earlier months, as there were very few people who knew how to produce it. But as the Brewery and the washing soda plant became active by October, the production matched to meet the demand.
It was also helped by the fact that, ether was only viable for a few months, as the formation of peroxides will make it unusable. That and the fact that improperly stored Ether can explode, caused the demand to be constant.
With the use of Washing soda, and limestone, the production of soda-lime glass became possible, and Rudra also capitalized on this, establishing Royal Glass Works in Machilipatnam. This helped provide the bottles and the lab equipment required for Ether production and Alcohol bottling in the future.
Each bottle of Ether was good for about ten doses, and there were about fifteen major medical centers in Dharinikota, and many more smaller ones. By the year's end, all of the major centers started the use of Ether.
All of this factors, contributed to the steady flow of income into Rudra's pockets, as all of them were owned by him. There was still no seperation of state and the royality, which he plans to do in the future.
While all of this was happening, Rudra was not idle, however. Most of what was happening in regards to Ether, surgeries, brewery, and Glass production didn't require his constant attention or oversight. Selvappan came through and hired professionals to manage each factory, and successfully reduced the load from Rudra and thus the council, effectively delegating the task.
So, the king was able to focus on other things while all of this was happening.