Читать книгу Getting Out Alive: A Guide to Surviving Hospital - Michael Alexander - Страница 7

As a Kiwi from one of the largest farming areas of New Zealand, it may seem brave or even foolish of me to start talking about sheep, but there is a story about sheep well worth telling.

I first read the story in a book by the British celebrity vet, James Herriot. He was called in to a farm to see some sheep that were sick. After a thorough examination Herriot turned to the farmer, shaking his head, and explained that there was nothing he could do for them.

While the farmer didn’t want to lose his stock, he also didn’t want them to suffer. The sheep were too unwell and it was too late in their illness to do anything that might save them.

Herriot knew the sheep were destined for a painful death if left alone. So he did the kind thing and gave each of them a significant dose of sedative, to enable the sheep to drift off to sleep and die peacefully.

Some time later Herriot was called back to the farm to see some other livestock. When he arrived, he noticed some familiar looking sheep. Surprised, he asked the farmer if those were the same animals he’d attended to during his last visit.

The farmer replied that they were the very same sheep, which Mr Herriot had seen and cured.

Herriot couldn’t believe what he was seeing; he quite rightly believed he had put them to sleep … for good.

The farmer explained that the sleep had slept soundly for a long time, a good 48 hours.

Herriot came to realise that by relieving the sheep from pain with the sedative, he had had given their bodies the chance to rest and gather the strength needed to shake off their illness. Their own immune systems just needed a break to get on top of the infection.