Carrier 23 Last Stand by Keith Douglass

Author:Keith Douglass
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Kakureta Island 22 July

0915 Hours

The suiraitei boat, with its engine chugging, sat at the dock waiting for the passengers scheduled for a twenty-four-hour voyage to Japan. A few minutes passed before the small Mitsubishi van that served as the island's only ambulance pulled up and parked at the head of the wharf, The driver quickly jumped out and rushed around to the passenger side, opening the door. Hikui Zunsuno stepped out and turned to watch as the back was opened, and two men emerged. Her husband Gomme, sitting in a wheelchair, was taken from the interior and gently lowered to the ground. The driver gestured toward the boat, indicating that was where everyone was to go. One of the medical orderlies carefully pushed the patient onto the wharf as Hikui walked at their side. The other orderly followed, carrying two suitcases.

The feeble old man was picked up and carried aboard the vessel by two waiting crewmen. Hikui was helped off the dock and onto the deck. She waited until Gomme was carried into the cabin, then she followed, carefully watching her step in the unfamiliar environs of the boat. Almost immediately, the master barked his orders, and the stern and bow lines were cast off. The vessel moved out into the harbor and turned toward the open sea.

Medical care on Kakureta Island was outdated at best and rudimentary at worst. The last physician with a valid M.D. degree from an accredited medical school died in 1992. Not a single young man sent to Japan for an education in medicine ever returned to establish a practice on the island. The amount of money to be made on the mainland proved too much of an enticement to remain. After three such defections, no more potential doctors were sent abroad.

At that point, ten-year medical apprenticeships were established in which the remaining M.D.'s on Kakureta gave on-the-job training to their surgery assistants. When these older physicians eventually passed way, the new healthcare givers took over all medical care and training. They taught others in basic classes on diagnosis, pharmacology, and simple surgery such as setting broken bones, appendectomies, and other procedures that could be done with the simplest of instruments. The best that could be done for acutely ill patients was to administer narcotics to make their last days as comfortable as possible. Only those of great importance and trust were transferred to Japan for proper treatment.

Dr. Gomme Zunsuno and his wife Hikui had decided to take advantage of this situation. Even though he was in his early eighties and only worked part-time in the laboratory, Zunsuno was still considered a respected member of the Kaigun Samurai community. The old couple reasoned that if he could convince one of the journeymen medics that he was seriously ill, the authorities would not hesitate to send him to the homeland for whatever modern medical treatment would save his life. They also knew that Hikui would be permitted to accompany him.

Once they were in Japan, they

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.