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Cape Town, south Africa --Viktor Yazykov was on the first leg of a sailboat race around the world. The Russian was alone in the Atlantic Ocean, 1000 miles from shore. He was in his element.
But he was concerned about his elbow, which he had injured earlier. Everyday it was getting redder and larger. He sent an e-mail message to race headquarters. "RIGHT ELBOW DOESN'T LOOK GOOD. IT FEELS DEAD." Dr. Dan Carlin in Boston was in charge of providing emergency care for the sailors via computer. "YOU HAVE GOT TO OPERATE ON YOUR ELBOW," he typed. He carefully laid out the steps of the surgery. "IT WILL BE PAINFUL," he warned.
In the middle of a violent storm, Yazykov began cutting his arm. He kept a stiff upper lip, following the doctor's instructions to the letter. Then something went wrong. Blood was all over the place, forming a large pool on the floor, rolling with the motion of the boat.??Yazykov knew that if he passed out, he'd die.??Using his good arm and his teeth, he tied two cords around his arm. The bleeding stopped, but his arm became cold and white, like a piece of rubber. "PLEASE, WHAT SHOULD I DO BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE?" he wrote to Dr. Carlin.
Carlin knew that Yazykov was killing his arm. "TAKE THE CORDS OFF IMMEDIATELY," he wrote back. But the doctor was confused. Why in the world was there so much blood? Suddenly, he put two and two together. Aspirin! Yazykov had been taking aspirin for weeks and it had made his blood thin. "STOP ALL ASPIRIN," he ordered. After an anxious ten hours, Dr. Carlin finally heard from Yazykov. He was out of the woods. "I AM OK. GETTING STRONGER. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP."
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