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Show »T w The Peiping Union Medical College, Peiping, China. To Bergen's Friends:- On Nov. 20th Bergen was forced to bed. The second of his series of inocculations against typhoid had prostrated him; but he had persisted in getting up to meet his classes, followed by refereeing basket ball, and finally playing hand ball. It would have been wise beyond mortals to have babied his feelings and snoozed in bed. His temperature continued and efforts to differentiate and discover various kinds of germs were all futile. On Dec. 1st he was brought here from Yen Ching. He was unwilling his parents should be notified lest one of us return from our long trip among our country churches earlier than the proposed date, Dec. 16th. After a little the Yen Ghing doctor kindly wrote us and, also, our friend and neighbor physician at Tung Hsien kept us informed. He also counselled the continuance of our trip. The first diagnosis was endocarditis, but when we reached Peiping Dec. 16th and Elizabeth hastened to Bergen's side between trains we were cheered to know that the doctor considered the disease para-typhoid, For weeks the doctor strove to think that para-typhoid was running its course, but after the date for that disease was more than past, the fond doctor most reluctantly was compelled to accept again his original diagnosis of endocarditis. A confirming symptom also occurred. Slight pain in his spleen indicated that a particle of the bacteria had sloughed off from the heart and lodged-there. That soon passed and the doctor advised our taking Bergen to our home at Tung H3ien. At the same time the doctor explained to us that Bergen's disease was very serious and that only a very few recoveries occurred. Bergen was informed with all plainess of his real condition and he asked direct questions wholly enveloping such a case. He was absolutely unchanged in his good cheer, his penetrating friendliness and his bubbling humour. The mutual attachment between him and the doctors, nurses and orderlies ripened. Except for two or three doctors and one nurse, the chiefs, all were Chinese and Bergen"s meeting them in their own language left no barrier against the full flow of genuine comradeship and friendships. During a forty five minutes lecture to a medical class when Bergen was the object of demonstration he kept his eye on the house physician, a close comrade, who conscious of Bergen's glance and Bergen's mirth, did not dare look at Bergen lest he (the house physician) mar the decorum of the college function, Bergen's doctor and real friend lecturing with full enthusiasm closed with appropriate climax and then turned his attention to Bergen on his bed, before him with the natural but abrupt remark: "I ought to have told you to be shaved for this occasion"! The sudden descent from the erudite to the commonplace struck Bergen's comic vein and he burst out laughing. The restraint of the lecture was over and as Bergen's bed was rolled out of the room he continued to Ha-ha. A passing nurse felt constrained to caution him as he was being rolled along the corridor, pointing to the conspicuous sign on the wall "Silence". The episode was a characteristic page of the diary of Bergen's stay at the hospital. On Saturday Jan. 18 a few days before the planned home-coming of Bergen, I called on him in the morning. His mother was coming to Peiping in the early evening and was to spend Sunday morning with him. At nine P. M. the hospital phoned me that Bergen was in a critical condition. I telephoned his mother who was in Peiping and she went at once to his side and remained with him all night. I came in by the first morning train. Another sloughing off of bacteria from the valve of the heart had located |
