Chapter 14

Twenty minutes is neither short nor long.

Especially when someone is by your side, asking questions one after another, and you can't kick them away... it really feels like a year.

Gret kept one eye on the child's throat and the other on the priest, gesturing wildly, almost out of breath. Finally, he heard someone shout, "It's red! It's red! A large circle is red!"

He leaned in, and the boy's left forearm was smooth and unblemished, with no issues. On the right forearm—where the fish meat water had dripped—there was a large red patch, raised, and clearly visible hives. Around the redness, there were thin, uneven red lines, resembling insect legs at a glance.

Redness with pseudopods and hives...

No doubt, it's an allergic reaction, and a very strong one!

Of course, such a strong reaction could also be because the fish meat water he prepared was not diluted at all...

Gret felt a bit guilty but maintained a confident appearance, clapping his hands together:

"It's confirmed! It's the cod that caused this!"

"What's next?"

"Next..."

Gret was at a loss for words.

After the skin test, the child's condition was determined to be an acute laryngeal edema caused by an allergy. He was very familiar with the emergency treatment, able to give orders with his eyes closed. Even as he gave the orders, the experienced emergency nurses had already prepared the medication:

0.1% adrenaline subcutaneous injection;

10ml of normal saline + 1mg of adrenaline + 10mg of dexamethasone, rinse the mouth for 3-5 minutes;

Immediately followed by 20-40ml of normal saline + 1-2mg of adrenaline + 10mg of dexamethasone, continuous nebulization.

But now, what did he have in his hands?

Nothing at all!

No adrenaline injection, no dexamethasone injection, not even normal saline—his homemade saline solution was definitely inaccurate in concentration, full of impurities, and far from sterile...

Damn!

This life is unbearable!

Fortunately, Gret had a plan. He pretended to think for a moment, then turned to the farmer with a calm demeanor:

"I saw lamb soup in the kitchen. Are the organs still there?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Farmer Edmund nodded vigorously. Gret breathed a sigh of relief: if they weren't there, he would have to negotiate with the farm workers to slaughter a sheep on the spot. He stood up and turned to the kitchen:

"Bring me the organs!"

This rescue effort had already established Gret's authority on the farm. His request was naturally followed, and soon a basin of bloody organs was brought in and placed in front of him with a thud.

Then, under everyone's watchful eyes, Gret squatted down, extended his hands, and began to rummage through the wooden basin without any hesitation...

The priest, who had been following Gret, also squatted down out of curiosity. After watching for a while, he couldn't help but ask:

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for an organ."

"Which one?"

The priest stretched his neck to get a closer look. Roman, the knight who had been following him and fulfilling his duty of protection, finally couldn't hold back. He stepped forward, bowed, and interjected:

"Sir, you are of high status, don't..."

"Hey!" The priest impatiently flicked his sleeve. He stretched his neck, looking left and right, and was suddenly hit by a mix of blood and stench, almost falling over. Thanks to Roman's support, he didn't fall. Still, he didn't lose his curiosity, pinching his nose and persistently asking:

"Which one are you looking for? Aren't they just organs? Why don't you let them find it?"

"They don't know."

Gret, without lifting his head, focused on his search, muttering: "Kidney... kidney... found it! And another one..."

"Oh, you're looking for the lamb kidneys!" The priest's head leaned in again. Gret, with his hands covered in lamb blood, made a motion to push him away:

"Stop it!"

A cold snort came from the left. Roman's sword was drawn, blocking Gret's hand. The cold blade made Gret jump, and the priest's head retreated, muttering:

"If you don't want to say, fine... I was just trying to help, and you don't appreciate it..."

Gret ignored him, fully focused on his search in the wooden basin. The anatomy of the slaughtered sheep was completely destroyed, so finding one kidney didn't guarantee finding the other. He searched for a while, finally finding both kidneys, and breathed a sigh of relief. He carried the clay bowl with the kidneys to the table and began to carefully peel them.

—From the beginning, what Gret needed was not the kidneys, but the adrenal glands.

Adrenaline constricts blood vessels, and dexamethasone reduces inflammation and inhibits allergies. Dexamethasone is a chemically synthesized drug, so it's out of the question, but adrenaline...

At least it can reduce laryngeal edema and allow the child to breathe normally. The chicken bone in the airway could also be removed more quickly.

Theoretically, adrenaline is a protein hormone and cannot be taken orally because it would be broken down by stomach enzymes. However, there are historical examples of oral adrenaline. Gret remembered reading about it in his previous life:

In the fall of 1893, British doctor George Oliver, who invented the sphygmomanometer, discovered that when subjects swallowed a substance extracted from goat adrenal glands, the sphygmomanometer could measure the contraction of the radial artery.

In later years, this experiment was considered the earliest significant evidence that adrenal extracts could raise blood pressure. However, to Gret, it meant something more important:

Adrenaline, or adrenal extracts, did indeed work when taken orally!

Of course, the child cannot swallow now. But Gret had another hope: in the adrenaline family, adrenaline and norepinephrine cannot be administered sublingually, but isoproterenol can be given sublingually!

So... adrenal extract... more precisely, crushed adrenal glands mixed with water... might have some effect... right?

Gret was so tense he didn't even have time to speak. In the dim light, he carefully peeled the membrane around the kidneys. Cutting, pulling, blunt dissection... the rough iron scissors in his hands flickered delicately, almost as skillfully as surgical scissors.

The adrenal glands are tiny, tightly attached to the top of the kidneys, and enclosed in the renal fascia. Human adrenal glands weigh only 5-7 grams, and goat adrenal glands are not much different. He had to be very careful to remove the adrenal glands intact without breaking them.

The effective components in the two adrenal glands are unknown, and even less is known about how much can be absorbed sublingually. He... had to be careful and not waste any...

Gret was fully focused, his movements cautious and gentle. The atmosphere he exuded unconsciously affected everyone, even the noisy priest fell silent, leaning on the table and watching without a word. The knight coughed, trying to say something, but was stopped by a wave of Gret's hand.

Only when Gret had completely peeled and separated the two adrenal glands, placed them in a clean bowl, cut and ground them, and added water for the child to rinse his mouth, did the priest let out a deep breath, jump up, and ask:

"Is this enough? Is everything okay now?"

"Let's wait and see..."

Gret stared intently at the boy's neck, ready to prevent the chicken bone from shifting. Fortunately, the child rinsed for one minute, two minutes, five minutes... the chicken bone remained in place, and the laryngeal edema gradually subsided, the sound of air passing through the vocal cords becoming more noticeable.

"Wow! It works! It really works!"

"Yes, it really works." Gret wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, removed the chicken bone, and smiled at the priest, somewhat tired:

"Next, please heal his wound..."

"No problem! Watch me!"

The priest eagerly pounced. After a night of折腾 (torture) with a child's illness, he finally had a chance to be useful, and his healing spell was particularly clean and efficient. After healing the wound, he straightened his robes, stood tall, and extended his right hand to Gret:

"Hello, young healer."

******

To write about adrenal extracts, I spent 20 minutes researching various British goats... their weights...

Romney sheep: adult males weigh 80 kg, adult females weigh 41 kg

Lincoln sheep: adult males weigh 73-93 kg, adult females weigh 55-70 kg

Southdown sheep: adult males weigh 80-88 kg, adult females weigh 60-88 kg

And so on...