Day in the Life - Apothecary / Chirurgen

Nicolaus was awake well before dawn. He rose and stretched before lighting a candle and making his way over to the copper boiler and lighting its brazier. He ate a small meal of dried fruit and preserved vegetables, with some nuts, bread, cheese and some cold mutton Tolan had laid out, while he waited for the boiler to come to temperature. When it did, he made tea while allowing the hot water to flow into the tub. After luxuriating in a steaming bath, he proceeded to dress for the day. Below he could hear Tolan lighting the shops lanterns and prepping the materials for the days work.

He made his way into the workshop and begin preparing the most popular items to restock the Apothecary Shop. Elixirs of Resistance (vitamin tonic), Elixirs of Fertility (or Infertility), makeup, perfumes, sunscreen salve and creams, and sleep aids were mixed and distilled. Tolan assisted by producing the simpler items, such as soap, ink, glue, and sweets.

After starting those processes and restocking the shelves, Nicolaus began to prepare specialized compound orders and to meet with patients.

The first patients were a mother and daughter from Lowood, both pale and with dark circled sunken eyes. The woman had a rasping wet cough and the daughter looked weak and tired. Both were likely symptoms of a cold drafty house and poor diet over the winter. The poor ventilation for the cooking fire or hearth in the ramshackle housing had likely contributed to the woman's cough. He had Tolan make up a basket with several clay jars of preserves, some dried fruit and tonics. He also presented the child with a small packet of sweets. "Try to add some meat or fish into your meals, don't just send it all with the men-folk for their afternoon work-meal. Come see me again before the next market day if you do not see improvement. Sooner if it should worsen."

The next was trader from Suncross, with a half dozen swollen pustules on his belly in varying shades of angry red. Nicolaus drained them and applied salves and bandages and sent him on his way.

The third was a blacksmiths apprentice who had mistakenly handled a heated iron. Nicolaus took steps to prevent the burn from blistering, keeping it moist by the application of salves and ointments prepared in advance for the purpose and kept in sealed jars. Using vinegar as a base, the salves included oils extracted from several herbs, oil of roses, and used eggs used as a thickening agent. The ointment could be applied and reapplied as necessary to keep the injured area from drying out and blisters arising on the skin. Burn injuries from boiling pots, cauldrons, open-hearth fires and from the use of flame as a source of light contributed to what was likely his most commonly treated injury. He carefully wrapped the man's hand in clean bandages, instructed him in care of the wound and a message for his master. "Keep him away from the heat for a time until the skin heals or it will crack and the hand will never work properly. Set him to shop cleanup and fetch and carry until the skin is healthy and pink again."

The fourth was a elderly man with aches and a bent back looking for relief. While testing his range of motion, the door to the shop burst open and several loggers rushed in carrying one of their own.
"A tree fell wrong and caught some of the fellows 'neath its limbs. This one caught the worst of it!" said there leader as they laid the comatose man on the empty exam table. Nicolaus nodded and checked the man's breathing, before exploring his leg. It was for all intents crushed. Simple breaks could be set and allowed to heal over time with the support of splints. A cast for broken limbs for those fortunate enough to not lose them was made from a mixture of flour and eggs, the cast would harden enough to keep a broken leg set. Multiple breaks could not be set, and the loss of the limb was all but certain. Injured limbs, mainly from men working in the forests logging, often led to amputations. Nicolaus had the men go out into the street with the older man and had Tolan secure the door. He strapped the man down incase he should come to. Speed was important in amputations, before shock and blood loss set in. The leg itself was removed in less time than it took to knock back an ale and refill the mug, controlling the bleeding took a few moments more. He used cauterization to stop the bleeding, (he also used ligatures on blood vessels in some cases). He poulticed the stump and had Tolan retrieve the man's compatriots. "Tolan will give you a pouch of salves and bandages to apply to the wound. Make sure he eats and drinks and watch for fever, if the wound begins to smell bring him back at once. Don't allow him to despair, find him task to do when he heals and him fitted for a crutch. A man must have a purpose." Nicolaus waved them away and began to explain to the old man ways to alleviate his pain.

The morning continued in much this way with the stitching of lacerations, dentistry and treating skin ailments.

Later in the afternoon Nicolaus took some time to leave the shop get some air and stretch his legs. He stopped at a small stand on the plaza and purchased some food from a rather sad woman. He wondered if something had happened to the other woman who manned this particular stand, as she was seldom alone and rarely without a smile. He bid her good-day and wandered across the plaza towards the fields and followed a cart trail for a time to extend his walk in the sun.

When he returned to the shop. Tolan was waiting anxiously. "Master, there were several messengers here requesting you attend at once." Tolan presented the messages. Three of them.

Nicolaus read them quickly and arranged them in order of concern. "Gather your bags and fetch me both of my satchels."

The two men secured the shop and set out for Mistyward. When they arrived at the noted address, they passed a haggard young man pacing in the street. When Tolan knocked to announce their arrival, a gaggle of women ushered inside with almost hysterical urgency and rushed them up narrow stairs to a pretty room with windows looking out towards the cerulean sea. A woman with long dark hair, so pale she was almost ethereal, lay in a bed breathing shallowly. A stout, grey haired midwife stood at the bedside glaring surly. Nicolaus placed his satchels down and gently touched the woman forehead and leaned in to listen to her breathing. "She is very weak, ...she will never survive the birth. You were wise to send the message, we may yet save the child." The midwife's sullen look shattered. Tears began to run as she reached out to hold the woman's hand.

"Clear the room Tolan, the mid-wife and I will take care of this." He began to lay out his surgical instruments as the the mid-wife rolled back the bedding and bared the woman's swollen belly.

Nicolaus came down the stairs some time later and walked out into the street and approached the young man who had fear in his eyes. "Sir, your wife is awake," The man's face lit up in joy and relief, "but when she next closes her eyes she will not again open them. She is very weak and holding on through sheer will, ...say your goodbyes." As the man began to run for his home Nicolaus called after him, "You have a boy, she named him for your father." The man looked back with tear filled eyes and continued inside and up the stairs.

The two men trudged down a cart trail towards a large central house surrounded by smaller outbuildings and cleared fields. Tolan announced them to laborers working near the house and they were led into a room filled with a large family. Children, youths, and adults mingled sitting on chairs and tables and even the floor. The house was deathly quiet. One of the laborers pointed to a closed door at the rear of the room. "Our master lies there, kicked by a plow horse he were."

Nicolaus quietly opened the door and slipped into the room. A middle aged woman sat near a bed holding the hand of a man whose head was swathed in bandages. She said nothing, barely registering his arrival as he studied the man. A bruise covered one side of his face and disappeared beneath his hair and bandages. Nicolaus lifted the mans eyelid on that side and noted the blood filling it. "The stars told us this would happen, we had warnings." the woman murmured.
Nicolaus started to gently unwrap the bandages. "Then I suppose I must re-align the stars. Tolan set up the apparatus."

Nicolaus began to disassemble the cage mounted on the mans head and remove the hand cranked drill. "We have relieved the pressure from his swollen brain. He will have brain aches for a time but should recover." The woman starred as the instrument was removed from its mount and cleaned by Tolan. "Keep the wound clean and bandages and it will heal over. Plenty of broth and liquids when he is awake. It may be a day or two."

They returned to town as the sky was beginning to darken. Their last stop brought them to a wealthy man's home near the keep. The servants brought them to a elderly man, white haired, grey skinned and with eyes a startingly solid white from cataracts. "I have not been able to see since I was a young man. They tell me you studied at the Great Library and might help me." The man's resignation and disbelief were clear as he leaned back in his great chair.

Nicolaus studied the man, calling for more light and holding the man's face and parting his lids wide.

"I may be able too, but the chances are not good. Your eyes have deteriorated far and you are not a young man to heal easily. ...You also have nothing to lose. There will be some discomfort." Tolan and one of the servants arranged a table nearby and placed more lights before each raising a lantern to follow where he needed.

"This will paralyze you, and dampen the pain a little, but it will still be very painful." The old man nodded and swallowed as Nicolaus flicked the brass syringe and injected the mixture. Then he picked up knife with a tiny needle like blade and placed a set of lenses on the bridge of his nose and squeezed them into place. He carefully sliced into the man's eye.

Tolan followed his master down the street and onto the plaza. "Master,... will he truly see again?"

Nicolaus glanced back at the man absently, "The cataract burst on one side and he will never see through it, it will be irritated and red for the rest of his life. The other however was moved successfully, his sight will be somewhat blurred but he will see again in a 10-day or so once he has healed and the bandages come off."

It was early evening when he sat for a meal of meat pie, wine, fish and several other meat dishes before adjourning to his experiments in the cellar leaving Tolan to finish and clean-up the workshop.

Late into the night Nicolaus pursued his active experiments, read relevant texts for insight and journaled his own work. When the moon had reached it's apex in the night's sky, he finally climbed the stairs and fell into his bed, asleep before his head was on the pillow.