Last weekend I got to take a fun trip to the hospital again and explore the world of kidney stones!!!  At least I had a clean ER, and a nice morphine drip to get me through (and now that I’m home, lots of cranberry juice and a pile of Jane Austen DVDs to take my mind off it all!).  I decided to take a look at what it was like to pass a kidney stone in the olden days.  Much as I suspected, it was not much fun, but I have a lot of company, going back to ancient Egyptian mummies….

Sir Arthur Sullivan of Gilbert-and-Sullivan fame suffered from stones for years, which I am sure explains the scene in one of my favorite movies Topsy Turvy where he is screaming, falling down, injecting himself with morphine, and still insisting on climbing up on the podium to conduct.  Michelangelo suffered from stones, and may have died from the obstruction.  Composer Giovanni Gabrieli also died from the ailment in 1612.  Napoleon III of France was distracted from the Franco-Prussian War by stones, and Napoleon I was at the Battle of Borodino in September of 1812 (one source says “This condition may help explain his unoriginal tactics during this battle”).

Michel de Montaigne wrote “I am at grips with the worst of all maladies, the most sudden, the most painful, the most mortal, and the most irremidiable.”  James I was found to have stones in his bladder and kidneys after death, as did Samuel Pepys, who famously underwent pre-anaesthesia surgery and then carried around the stone with him to show anyone who would look (his post-mortem found “a nest of no less than seven stones” in one kidney).  Peter the Great suffered from them in 1725, and Empress Anna of Russia in 1740.  George IV had them (which is no surprise–what illness did the guy not have??), and probably Henry VIII.  So did George Eliot.

Oliver Cromwell, his doctor wrote, “being much troubled with the stone, he used sometimes to swill down several sorts of liquor, and then stir his body by some violent motion…that by such agitation he might disburden his bladder.”  (Drinking copious amounts of alcohol seems to have been the number one treatment, along with “blistering with cantharides”.  I was tempted to down some vodka to make it feel better, but blasting the stones into sand-like bits then washing them out with a saline drip seemed to work better…)

Erasmus, Caesar, and Pilgrim Myles Standish (who died “in dolorous pain”) also had stones.  And, famously, there was a Dutch blacksmith named Jan de Doot who had his portrait painted in 1651 with a stone he removed from his own perineum with a kitchen knife.  Ugh.

Now that I have made myself feel so much better with this research (not!) I am going to watch some more Pride and Prejudice and drink my lemon water.  RWA is coming up in just a couple of weeks, after all, and I need to feel 100%!  What is your favorite historical surgery story?  Any kidney stone prevention tips I can use in the future?

Last weekend, I had a great time attending the Netherfield Ball hosted by the JASNA North Texas chapter!  Over 200 people, plus real, live musicians, celebrated the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice with tea sandwiches, cakes, beautiful gowns, and dancing….

(Here is their website for more info on the event…)

I seldom make it to dance practice here (they have classes two days a month, and I always seem to miss them!), but I was able to dance some of the easier sets and enjoyed watching the rest, fanning myself from a chair on the sidelines and pretending I had just been snubbed by Mr. Darcy.  I knew I had watched many of the movie adaptations too often, since I recognized the steps from several of the dance scenes.  Like Mr. Beveridge’s Maggot, from Emma and P&P:

Some more Emma:

Some Becoming Jane (I had forgotten DS Hathaway from the Inspector Lewis mysteries was in this one!  Poor guy…)

Some waltzing from Young Victoria (wrong period, I know!  I just love this gown so much):

I had a wonderful time, and hope they will hold another ball next year!  (I had to keep resisting pulling a Lydia and running around squealing “I long for a ball!!”).  Wearing the gowns, doing the dance steps, and talking to other people who love the period is always a great inspiration for writing.  Plus a ton of fun!

Do you dance?  What is your favorite style??  What would you wear to the Netherfield Ball?

 

I am running out the door to a hair appointment, and then diving back into copy edits, but I wanted to mark the 198th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo today.  When I was in high school, I thought about becoming an archaeologist, and I’m still fascinated with the profession!  A few months ago I read an article in “Archaeology” magazine about an unknown soldier’s skeleton found on the battlefield in Belgium, still with the musket ball that killed him in his ribs.  It was an amazing story (and it seems the search for the soldier’s ID is still going on).  Here are a few articles about the find:

From the Daily Mail (“Early analysis suggests the remains are of a 20-year-old man, who was 5ft 1in tall with teeth worn by biting open gunpowder tubes.”)

From the Huffington Post

From the History Blog

And a soldier’s letter from the battle at the British Library….

I wasn’t able to find any info on whether they had identified this man yet or not–if you know anything else, let me know!

What are some of your favorite events and mysteries from history???

I feel sort of silly following Diane’s lovely post on the “Threads of Feeling” exhibit (which sounds wonderful and heartbreaking!) with a frivolous pic-heavy meringue, but I am on vacation and haven’t much time!!  (plus I do love a wedding, especially a royal one…)  Last weekend Princess Madeleine of Sweden (who really has had a sad, romance novel-heroine-ish life before) married NYC banker Christopher O’Neill, and there were tiaras and gowns aplenty.  Let’s take a look and judge!  (and for more info and images, this is a great blog….)

First, the beautiful bride in her Valentino gown!

I think she looks lovely/ethereal/summery/princessy!  I have to be a bit judge-y on that weird dust ruffle thing on the bottom (which was totally unnecessary!), and I was kinda hoping to see the stunning Cameo tiara (which once belonged to Empress Josephine!), but instead we got her everyday fringe tiara.  (I wish I had an everyday tiara…).  But really pretty.  And I will take those earrings now, ok, thx.

For me the day was stolen by Crown Princess Victoria (older sister of the bride) and her stunning lavender-ish gown and Princess Lilian’s tiara.  (for more about Princess Lilian’s bittersweet, romantic story, this is a good place to look)  Plus I squee with happiness every time I see that little Princess Estelle.

What do you think about Madeleine’s gown??  How does it compare to your all-time favorite royal wedding looks?  (My all-time greats would be Princess Margaret, Crown Princess Victoria, maybe Kate…)