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The Reluctant healer – William J Macmillan

I was on the lawn playing with the children. A white-faced maid came running to fetch me. Ruth wanted me at once. I rushed into the sun room. There was Ruth sitting in a chair obviously fighting for control. She had spilled burning grease down her left leg. I must do something to help her at once. My first reaction was an absolute refusal. I knew nothing about burns, but it was only too clear this was a very serious one. I asked if the doctor had been sent for. Ruth replied no, that she could not bear the pain for the length of time it would take him to reach the house. Again she insisted I must act.

I couldn't bear to watch her suffering. Almost before I realized how frightened I was I had begun to treat. It was a repetition of the two previous experiments. Though the wound was deep she did not feel more than a slight discomfort as I touched the raw flesh. By the time the treatment was finished new skin had formed over the wound. This began to appear while I was doing the passes. Afterwards she went up to her room to rest. But she felt no great discomfort again, and in a few days the burn had healed without leaving a trace of scar.

When Thomas returned from London that evening he was almost speechless with disappointment that he had not been present to watch the cure. He made both Ruth and I repeat the story endlessly. For days he would not be comforted that he should have missed watching the treatment.