First of all, Hi! Long time fan of the Deryni novels, I think started reading KK's stories back in 80 or 81.
I understand that Deryni healers couldn't heal disease or chronic conditions, but like with modern medicine (which also can't necessarily cure everything), could they have treated the symptoms and eased a sick persons suffering so that they would be more likely to survive?
Healers like Rhys would surely have known medicines to use to bring down fevers and otherwise ease suffering, but could they have used their deryni powers in any way to directly treat some of the symptoms of various plagues and diseases?
Hi and welcome!
I don't actually know the answer to your questions, although your conclusions sound logical. After all, Camber, who wasn't even a Healer, could lower his body temperature for personal comfort reasons (I think in Saint Camber, when he was being consecrated as a bishop in his Alister guise).
You are welcome to come to chat on Sunday and ask KK herself. :) Usually, Sunday chat is at 7pm Eastern, but this week because it's the first Sunday of the month, we're doing it at 5pm Eastern to accommodate the fans in the UK and Europe for whom 7pm Eastern is midnight or later.
Even non-Healer Deryni were able to help themselves and others with pain relief, if I'm remembering correctly, so that would be another means by which a Healer could help alleviate a patient's symptoms.
(Oh, and welcome to the Forum! :) )
Thanks for the welcome and the quick responses. That's a good point about pain relief, that alone would go a long way toward helping people be comfortable and therefore get more rest, which in turn would allow their bodies to cope with the sickness better. That would definitely lead to a higher survival rate.
In the modern context of health care. I believe the most valuable place for the healer would be in the surgical suite as closers. They needn't be the surgeons, but they could come in as the surgery was being completed and heal the wound completely. No more risk of infections, bleeding, or long healing times. Imagine every knee surgery healing perfectly, or instant healing on any type of surgery. That would cut back on a huge percent of hospital stays and people's pain during recovery.
My understanding is that the Healer essentially provides energy to accelerate the body's natural healing abilities--which is why a Healer can't re-grow a severed appendage (although sometimes he might be able to re-attach one). For example, a Healer wouldn't be able to make a diabetic's pancreas start producing insulin again (although he might be able to stimulate a Type II or Borderline Diabetic's to produce more.)