Externalization

Externalization is a pioneer medical technique performed only several times to date in the First Glass Hospital of Erwy. It relies on the ability to externalize the diseased organ so it can be directly subjected to the light therapy.

Conception

Externalization was devised by doctor Udo Lark, an experienced light therapist at the First Glass Hospital. He spent several years at the Erwy University prior to his current post, attending and performing many autopsies. There, he observed that in cases of prolonged disease the internal organs seem to decay when patients are still alive. Moreover, the organs often correlated to the particular external signs and causes of disease, for example linking the liver changes to alcoholism. When dr. Lark was provided with proper funding and a research team at the First Glass, he pursued the idea, that, perhaps if light therapy was to target the organ directly, the results would be more potent.

First trial

The road to a successful externalization was long. At first, dr. Lark and his team relied on prospective patients too far gone to be healed by conventional therapy. In their first study, they tried to preserve an organ after death of the patient. First, an autopsy was immediately performed, and margins of decay were marked on the liver. It was then submerged in a mixture of blood, herbs, and water in an attempt to stall the degradation of the organ. Finally, it was put under a variety of sefia-infused glass panes. The rates of decay were then compared, and to dr. Lark’s delight, some colors of light seemed to significantly delay the decomposition. Proof of the concept was here: the light worked on the organs. He now needed to find volunteers, and not ones already at the death’s door. He wanted to continue his work on the liver, so he tried to recruit the current hospital patients, mostly elderly Erwy noblemen. Unfortunately, he had little luck, so he devised a new plan.

A whole herd of patients

His told his team to buy a small flock of sheep and make half of them drink water mixed with alcohol. This did not help his reputation as a serious scientist, but delivered him a desperately needed patient group. The experiment took several months and exorbitant amounts of alcohol. In the meantime, dr. Lark had to solve the biggest issue: pain. Tying a sheep belly-up to a wooden frame quickly proved to be a futile task. Even if a mixture of herbs was used to put it to sleep, pain of being cut open was much more than enough to wake them back up. Fortunately, a substance freshly imported from Zea arrived just in time, called simply the Numb. It was a powder composed mostly of sulfur, coal, willow tree bark and sefia dust and was able to cut off a feeling from section of a body when applied. While not hard to manufacture, it was still relatively expensive. Moreover, the first few sheep unfortunately died of respiratory and cardiac arrests when the powder was applied internally. The next few, however, survived being opened, sawn back up and woken up just fine. The next part was where the alcoholic sheep came in. Dr. Lark’s team was able to observe distinct spots on the animal livers, absent in healthy individuals. They subjected the animals to externalization and realized an additional problem: the dryness. The solution, however, was simple. The externalized organ was laid on a thin metal sheet and water was being constantly and gently poured onto it. Then, the water flowed through a funnel to a barrel, from which an attendant was sourcing the water again and again with a jug, in a closed circle. The light therapy itself lasted four hours, after which the sheep were closed and woken up. The procedure had a 60% mortality rate, either on the table or shortly after. The surviving sheep were allowed only to drink water and the livers were analyzed again post-mortem. To everyone’s surprise, a single light session was enough to significantly reduce the extent of liver decay compared to sheep who were switched to drinking water at the same time, but with no procedure performed.

Reception and first human patient

When presented at the University of Erwy, those results caused an uproar in the academic society. Many demanded that dr. Lark is forbidden to ever experiment on animal in such a way, but an equal number called for better established experimental model and more data. Dr. Lark himself ended his lecture with an open invitation to anyone brave enough to undergo externalization. 110 AU was about to become another sheep-filled year, before the first patient finally presented herself. Atilda Norwood, wife of Palo Norwod and co-owner of the Norwod Company, was the first big success story of externalization. Fearing that her love of food and drink damaged her beyond repair, she reached out to the First Glass Hospital and was referred to dr. Lark. Atilda Norwod lived for many years after and often praised externalization and light therapy as the main contributor to her recovery.

Current state

Since then, five externalizations were performed. Three of them were successful, with patients reporting significant improvements to health, and two were fatal due to what is now called the opening syndrome. Dr. Lark believes that the unnatural state of being exposed to elements somehow contributes to the failures and added more precise rules for the opening cut and several cloth pieces covering the excess wound to the treatment protocol. The technique gained nationwide renown and a small cadre of future externalists is taught by dr. Lark to prepare for the inevitable expanse of the light therapy to the east of Dain and perhaps even Zea.