MERELY THE PATIENT MERELY THE PATIENT By HENRY HOWARD HARPER MINTON, BALCH & COMPANY NEW YORK 1930 Copyright, 1930, by HENRY HOWARD HARPER Third Printing, February, 1932 _Printed in the United States of America by_ THE KNICKERBOCKER PRESS, NEW ROCHELLE, N. Y. CONTENTS PAGE PREFATORY NOTE 7 A PAIN DISCOVERS ME 19 RUNNING THE GANTLET 23 THE CYSTOSCOPIC TRAP 36 YOU NEVER DISCOVER IF YOU HAVE PASSED OR FLUNKED YOUR EXAMINATIONS 40 THE SHOCKING DISCOVERY 44 “ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE—” 50 MY ENCOUNTER WITH ADHESIVE TAPE 62 THE ATMOSPHERE OF DISSIMULATION 72 THE CALAMITOUS VERDICT 78 FLIRTING WITH THE SHADOWS 82 THE ROAD TO RECOVERY 87 SUBCONSCIOUS HALLUCINATIONS 91 CONCLUSION 94 TO THE EIGHT DOCTORS AND NINE NURSES WHO ASSISTED, NOT IN WRITING, BUT IN MAKING THIS BOOK POSSIBLE PREFATORY NOTE By SAMUEL W. LAMBERT, M.D. It is an unusual privilege to look into the mind of a person afflicted with a serious illness and learn the point of view of a patient who, without losing confidence in his medical advisers, questions the when and the wherefore of his treatment. In this book Mr. Henry H. Harper presents a graphic and realistic picture to the reader. It contains the confessions of a patient to whom the fact is very palpable that his progress from illness to health was not all that he had been persuaded to expect when he entered upon his medical and surgical adventure.