That day was May 1, 1971. Two o'clock. Severe freezing cold: non-stop snowstorms outside. The place is the Novolazarevskaya Polar Research Center in Antarctica under the Soviet Union.
26-year-old young man said. Leonid Rozogov has been suffering from severe abdominal pain for the past two days. Fever, swelling of the lower right side of the abdomen. Feeling nauseous.
He was the only medical member of the 13-member Soviet research team to arrive in this desolate, almost lifeless ice valley, about eight months ago. He did not even dream that he would have to study in such a gero. Signs that he is almost certain that it is appendicitis. Appendicitis is not a serious problem. However, if it ruptures, and ruptures and becomes infected, there may be suspicion. There is only one way and that is to cut it off as soon as possible. I mean surgery.
- Now the question is, who will do the surgery? The nearest Soviet aid center is the Mirni Research Center, 16 km away. There are no flights. Helicopters cannot be flown to these parts of Antarctica because of severe storms.
Inevitably, Leonid made the decision. So far no one was able to send in the perfect solution, which is not strange. Yes, he will do his own surgery. He took a meteorologist and the driver with him. That's right, they will hold the knife, scissors, etc. and hold the mirror. Leonid took the help of local anesthesia.
He wrote the details of the incident in his personal diary. Where he writes -
"I've never been so scared in my life. The pain was so great that I felt like the whole building was shaking like a toy in a whirlwind. Eventually my friends noticed and came to calm me down. We made the bed and then we disinfected the bed and got ready for the operation ...
My condition was getting worse. The thing is I tell them. They were throwing unnecessary things out of the house ...
My new assistants! The last time I looked at them. They wear the same white clothes as the doctors' assistants in the operating theater. Which is whiter than whites. I'm also a little scared. However, whenever I fill the syringe with novocaine and give myself the first injection, I automatically go into operation mode. Then I looked no further.
There was a lot of bleeding, but I kept doing my job ... I had to hit the colon to remove the peritoneum. Which I have to sew. I was getting weak. Every 4/5 minutes I had to rest for 20-25 seconds.
Finally I remove the cursed appendix. There were black spots on the floor. That means it would have exploded if it had been one day late and I might not have survived. I was holding my breath in fear. My hands felt like rubber. I thought something bad might happen. But I successfully cut and removed the appendix. ” 📒
The world's first example of self-surgery was made that day.
Within two weeks, Leonid recovered completely. The Soviet government awarded him the Order of the Red Banner of Labor that year.
Leonid returned to the country in October 1972 after completing the campaign. MD did the surgery. He later became the Head of the Department of Surgery at the St. Petersburg Research Institute. He died of lung cancer in 2000 in St. Petersburg.
