in need of a disease ... please

[AussieBilly]

I find myself in need of a disease ... in my story an elderly man is in jail waiting for the state's official hangman to arrive to send him on his way. He is visited by the "girl" and she finds him suffering from ????. Pleading with the judge for mercy, the old man is allowed out of the jail and confined at the doctor's house. After all, he's sick so he can't escape. Anyway, he's too sick to hang ... gotta get well first.

The problem is, in the first draft the old man is consumptive ... that works for me, but not the lit agent. She says if he's suffering from consumption he's too ill to move, hang or any of the other things I have him do.

So, what other illness can I have him have? The story is set in the mid-1850s and the nearest doctor is also the nearest veterinarian.

Hmmmm, I wonder if I can make him an alcoholic? Unless someone has a better idea, that old timer is deep in the sauce.

Thanks ...

[Shwebb]

You could--alcoholics can have a variety of problems. Delirium tremens from withdrawal, esophogeal varices (varicose veins of the esophagus that can break open and bleed--you can die from that) and he'd be vomiting blood.

Not to mention the run-of-the-mill liver problems. He could turn yellow, especially about the eyes, his abdomen could bloat up with fluid (ascites) from his liver being so toxic.

Does this info help you?

[wyntermoon]

Blech. I shouldn't have read this before breakfast.

[PattiTheWicked]

I always like a good dose of typhoid, myself.

[wyntermoon]

Cholera. It's what's for dinner.

[DeleyanLee]

IThe problem is, in the first draft the old man is consumptive ... that works for me, but not the lit agent. She says if he's suffering from consumption he's too ill to move, hang or any of the other things I have him do.

Is your agent aware that Doc Holliday functioned through many, many years of fighting consumption? Just wondering.

[Festus]

AussieBilly: Influenza, typhoid fever, chlorea, yellow fever, were all killers. In additon, you may want to check out this site: http://malaysia.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070726134126AAVFrby

[scarletpeaches]

Septic halitosis.

[C.bronco]

My favorites are Rickets and Scurvy. They're just fun to say.

[SHBueche]

I've never visited this particular subject area of the forums before, let's see, diseases ... how about infectious disease? Influenza, small pox, measles. This is fun, maybe I should try my hand at fiction some day.

[SHBueche]

How about tetanus from a rusty nail in the jail cell?

[cray]

gout, man.
when in doubt
go with gout




eta; you could tie that in with the alcoholism with ease

[wyntermoon]

How about a nice case of syphilis? They could go mad~~ always fun.

[dpaterso]

Rot gut and bloody bowels'll lay a man low every time. Shouldn't have drunk from that water barrel with the green scum on top, nossir.

-Derek

[AussieBilly]

What a scurvy bunch of ideas ... makes me want to write more diseases in my stories. Thank you one and all ...

I guess I should have told you this man is the girl's uncle, a warm, well-liked elderly man who is a friend of many in the community. Not, I'm afraid, one who would ever have "a nice case of syphilis" or succumb to "Rot gut and bloody bowels" or even "Septic halitosis" as juicy as that sounds. Now "gout" might work, except I have visions of an inability to walk, and we can't have him in actual pain. Plus, as the girl visits him regularly, he can't be contagious ... or at least not overly so.

But my deepest thanks to all ... and the winner is --
Is your agent aware that Doc Holliday functioned through many, many years of fighting consumption? Just wondering.

Ain't writing fun?

[Cav Guy]

Consumption (or TB) was pretty common on the frontier, and didn't necessarily kill quickly (Doc is but one example of this, btw). People with it could be active for some time, especially if it went into remission. Gout is a nasty, nasty thing (very painful and incapacitating when it hits full-bore) but it's not likely to kill someone. Sounds like your agent needs to do some homework herself...;)

Of course, he could also have a very nasty cold that gets mis-diagnosed as consumption....

[Bmwhtly]

the old man is allowed out of the jail and confined at the doctor's house. After all, he's sick so he can't escape.

Plus, as the girl visits him regularly, he can't be contagious ... or at least not overly so.
How about Influenza (or something not too lethal) misdiagnosed as Smallpox.

I should say contagion would be better justification for moving him out the hoosgah. To prevent the spread.

But, as you see, I don't know.

[JeanneTGC]

Influenza was (and remains) a huge killer, and there was nothing for it.

Small pox would put him under quarantine, but Influenza might, a well.

Consumption (TB) is still a great one; pity your editor has a lack of information about it.

[Ziljon]

How about Goiter: a swelling in the neck (just below Adam's apple or larynx) due to an enlarged thyroid gland.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Kone_med_stor_struma.jpg

[Laurawrites]

I find myself in need of a disease ... in my story an elderly man is in jail waiting for the state's official hangman to arrive to send him on his way. He is visited by the "girl" and she finds him suffering from ????. Pleading with the judge for mercy, the old man is allowed out of the jail and confined at the doctor's house. After all, he's sick so he can't escape. Anyway, he's too sick to hang ... gotta get well first.

The problem is, in the first draft the old man is consumptive ... that works for me, but not the lit agent. She says if he's suffering from consumption he's too ill to move, hang or any of the other things I have him do.

So, what other illness can I have him have? The story is set in the mid-1850s and the nearest doctor is also the nearest veterinarian.

Hmmmm, I wonder if I can make him an alcoholic? Unless someone has a better idea, that old timer is deep in the sauce.

Thanks ...

I think you don't really need a second disease. I just finished a lengthy research period on consumption (tuberculosis) for a book. That was the most vicious disease I know of. I think the worst quality was its evasiveness and seemingly "sneaky" quality.

Some people could carry it and never show symptoms, some people carried it, grew sick, but didn't die from it. Others would be bedridden with it, survive, and have another lethal outbreak from it fifty years later. Then, you had those who caught it and died within weeks. It was completely contagious and animals could catch it as well as carry it. People drinking milk from cows with TB could catch it.

On the same note, some people died slowly. It was called consumption because it honestly acted like it ate your body. Everyone who had it grew incredibly pale, lost weight, physically it looked like they were being consumed. You could get sores and a whole bunch of nasty stuff. It was simply romanticized during the Victorian period because so many people had it. Artists of that era were prone, for some reason, to contract it. It was far, far worse than the simple cough-into-a-handkercheif when it emerged.

He could very well be bedridden and not die from it. Perhaps your agent thinks that it was an automatic death sentence? It wasn't, but that was what scared so many people. It wasn't buebonic plague, but it could very well seem like it, sores and all.

It became known in the late 1800s that quarentine helped stop the spread. Also, it was then discovered that fresh air and lots of food could help a victim recover. It never healed, though. There was no cure at all. You could be in fine physical form and in a few years find you had it all over again.

Hope this helps!

[johnnysannie]

Consumption (or TB) was pretty common on the frontier, and didn't necessarily kill quickly (Doc is but one example of this, btw). People with it could be active for some time, especially if it went into remission. Gout is a nasty, nasty thing (very painful and incapacitating when it hits full-bore) but it's not likely to kill someone. Sounds like your agent needs to do some homework herself...;)

Of course, he could also have a very nasty cold that gets mis-diagnosed as consumption....


Two of my uncles had consumption (modern name is tuberculosis) in the
1960's and although both went to a sanitarium, it was not for the most part a debilating disease but a slow progression. Of course, both were cured and returned home to lead normal lives but I've also done a lot of family history and not until the very last stages would a consumptive be too ill to hang.

Mercy was not exactly a virtue common to lawmen of the Old West and I doubt that they would postpone a hanging because someone was ill - unless they were contagious in which case the earlier suggestion of cholera would work.

[Bo Sullivan]

What about the plague making a reintroduction into the penal system; pustules and boils of his dark swollen flesh are evident for the prison guards to see. The flies are all over him. The rats carrying the disease are everywhere in the prison he inhabits. He can still walk but he is having difficulties due to his pain and anguish. The poisonous pustules are about to erupt, when suddenly a doctor arrives on the scene.

Barbara

[AussieBilly]

Good grief! Everyone take note ... whatever the problem, there's a solution and all you gotta do is ask on AbsoluteWrite. Wow ... how great it is. Thank you one and all.

billy

P.S. I'm gonna stick with consumption and enclose the Doc Holiday bio for that agent's edification ... oh, and so you won't think I'm terrible for giving the old man such a disease, I'll tell you, he's too nice a guy to for me to give him gout, a goiter or even measles. He's so nice that towards the end I let him die in bed and the hangman gets shot.