A new line of work. About medicine and technology

Despite her age, Alla Ilyinichna still operates. And although senior surgeon her height is really a meter with a cap - 152 cm, and she looks fragile and weightless, but her eyes are tenacious, and her hands are strong and strong.

Alla Ilyinichna Levushkina is the oldest Soviet and Russian surgeon-proctologist with more than 67 years of experience. She was born in 1927 in the city of Ryazan. Alla's mother was a teacher, and then an accountant. My father worked as a forester. Alla Ilyichna had a poet brother, but he died. For all my interesting life Allah never married. She does not have kids. But a whole brigade of cats lives at home. She also has a nephew who is disabled. As a child, the doctor wanted to become a geologist. She was delighted with camping life, difficulties, obstacles. But after reading Veresaev's Notes of a Doctor, Alla nevertheless decided to study as a doctor.

In 1944, Alla Ilyichna was able to enter the 2nd Moscow medical institute them. Stalin at the Faculty of Medicine. She studied with Professor Alexander Nikolaevich Bakulev. She also attended the surgical circle of Academician Boris Vasilyevich Petrovsky. Started working in 1951. Levushkina practiced in Tuva for 3 years, and then entered the residency at the Ryazan Clinical Hospital. N. A. Semashko. 10 years after general practice, chose the specialization of a surgeon-proctologist. For more than 30 years, Alla Ilyichna worked in the air ambulance. And as the surgeon herself says, she really liked this work.

Proctology is one of the most difficult areas in surgery. Previously, proctologists were engaged in real jewelry work, since everything was done exclusively by hand, without special tools available today. There were not enough specialists, and such doctors in Russia could be counted on the fingers.

In 2001, Alla Levushkina began working at the City Clinical Hospital No. 11. And in 2014, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev presented Alla Ilyinichna with the All-Russian Award "Vocation" in the nomination "For Loyalty to the Profession".

Despite her age, Alla Ilyinichna still operates. And although the oldest surgeon is really a meter tall with a cap - 152 cm, and she looks fragile and weightless, her eyes are tenacious, and her hands are strong and strong. Alla Ilyichna performs 150 surgeries a year. She has performed over 10,000 surgeries throughout her life. Levushkina undertakes to operate even inoperable patients. And it is worth noting that the mortality of patients in Levushka is zero all the time. Just imagine - zero! It is not surprising that for young doctors Alla Levushkina is a real queen of surgery. Alla Ilyinichna helps in everything complex operations colleagues. Operational interventions discussed in advance at the conference. The opinion of Dr. Levushkina is decisive.

In general, Dr. Levushkina is a very simple and down to earth person. She was once an atheist. But today she goes to church, prays for her patients every morning. Now the closest person to Alla Ilyinichna is the rector of the Alexander Nevsky Church, Father Peter.

It is believed that the professional age of a practical surgeon is short-lived. Great physical and psychological stress during the operation, the accuracy of movements, the speed of reaction, on which the patient's life sometimes depends - all this worsens with age. An exception to this rule is the biography of the surgeon-proctologist Alla Ilyinichna Levushkina.

A petite (150 cm tall) thin woman will soon meet her ninetieth birthday and not only lead outpatient appointment, but also operates four times a week. Alla Ilyinichna has performed more than 10,000 surgeries in 67 years of her medical practice and has already surpassed the achievement of her teacher, the legendary surgeon Boris Petrovsky, who got on the operating table at the age of 88. Levushkina is officially the oldest active representative of the surgical profession not only in Russia but also abroad.

Alla was born in Ryazan, in the family of a forester and a teacher, later an accountant, and became the second child in the family after her brother Anatoly. The girl remembered the beginning of the war well - the day before, she and her classmates celebrated the end of the seven-year school, and her older brother received a school leaving certificate. When the Nazis approached Ryazan, Ilya Levushkin hid his family in settlements in the thicket of the forest. They lived in poverty and hunger, but the children continued to study at home, reading all the books that they managed to take with them. After their release, they returned to their usual activities. Anatoly became a student Literary Institute, subsequently published several poetry collections. Alla for a long time could not decide on the choice of profession. She was attracted by travel, the work of a geologist, but Veresaev's Notes of a Doctor, read literally overnight, decided everything.

In 1944, the girl graduated from high school with honors and went to the capital. There she learned with chagrin that her "golden" certificate gives her the right to enter many specialties, but only applicants with a Moscow residence permit are accepted to the Second Medical Institute. Alla returned home, and, after talking with her parents, became a student at the Ryazan Pedagogical Institute. The following summer, she repeated her attempt, and this time fate was favorable - the girl was not only admitted to the institute, but also received a place in the hostel, which was a great success in those days.

Alla recalls her student years as constant feeling hunger. The girls in the hostel put all the products sent from home into a common cauldron. The potatoes sent by the elder Levushkins were distributed among everyone, and Alla Ilyinichna still remembers the huge bream, which the students stretched out for almost a week. The biggest help was alcohol, given to medical students once a month, half a liter of which was exchanged for a loaf of bread. However, Alla studied a lot and hard, was fond of classical philosophy, participated in all social events. When in the third year a surgical circle was organized, headed by the famous cardiologist B.V. Petrovsky, who had just arrived from Budapest, Alla became one of its most active participants, and soon she was already assisting the professor. At the very first operation, the patient's blood splashed on the girl's face, and Petrovsky noticed that she was now baptized for surgery.

By the time she graduated from the institute, Levushkina had already performed several successful operations to remove appendicitis and hernia. Petrovsky recommended that she stay at the department, but the graduate, who had not yet forgotten her dream of traveling, chose distant Tuva as her place of work. She constantly had to go on calls to distant villages, where she could only get on horseback, to operate in the most inappropriate conditions.

Three years later, having worked out the term set for the distribution, Alla returned home. She completed her residency at clinical hospital No. 10 and began working as a general surgeon. A young mobile woman was attached to an air ambulance detachment, and the surgeon Levushkina began to fly by helicopter to remote villages. Regional specialists were called only when the district physicians could not cope with the problem. Alla Ilyinichna had to operate on both the heart and lungs, find a replacement for the missing equipment, and even provide surgical care open air.

In 1961, the hospital received an invitation to the courses of surgical proctologists. Alla Ilyinichna thought about the possibility of more narrow specialization However, family circumstances prevented this. Her father died, and her mother was seriously ill and needed care and support. After some time, Levushkina was surprised to learn that there were no people who wanted to study at the courses - despite the fact that at that time there was not a single proctologist in the region. This work was considered unprestigious, special equipment and there were no instruments for it in hospitals. In addition, false modesty in relation to proctological problems led to the fact that patients were admitted with advanced forms of the disease that were difficult to treat. Alla applied for the courses, and even laughed at her colleague, who said that with her height, only "there" and operate. In order to reach the operating area, the surgeon Levushkina always had to stand on a special stand - and over time, this stand became a real pedestal of fame for her. Word of mouth spread information about Alla Ilyinichna and her successful operations throughout the region. There were many patients, and Levushkina learned to cope even with very advanced forms of diseases. At the same time, she did not receive any awards and titles, and even with receiving the highest category delayed for a long time, referring to the lack of time for paperwork. Soon she had students, and Alla Ilyinichna herself became the head of the proctology department of the 11th Ryazan hospital.

Retirement age has changed little in the life of the surgeon Levushkina. She resigned from the position of head of the department, and instead of two rates, she began to work at one. Reception of patients in the morning, examination of postoperative patients in the afternoon, four times a week - planned operations- she calls herself a "racing horse" and is not going to rest.

In 2014, Alla Ilyinichna received her first award - the "Vocation" award (nomination "For Loyalty to the Profession"). According to Levushkina herself, at her age it is indecent to worry about such occasions, and at the ceremony she was only worried about how not to drop a heavy statuette and a metal diploma. With this problem, the former chief sanitary doctor G. Onishchenko helped her to cope, who saw Anna Ilyinichna to the thunder of applause from the audience rising from their seats.

Surgeon Levushkina rarely gets sick, her hand is still firm, and young colleagues admit that they still need to grow to her level. Anna Ilyinichna never had children and a husband. She takes care of her disabled nephew and seven cats, reconsidered the atheistic views of her youth and is now a deeply religious woman, like her mother was.

On the one hand, she's amazing. and on the other hand ... it is a pity that her female fate did not work out.

Alla Ilyinichna has been faithful to her profession for 63 years.

Levushkina works as a proctologist surgeon.
“By the way, proctology is one of the most difficult areas in surgery,” says Levushkina. “Now there are a lot of tools, but before everything was done by hand, it was jewelry work. "to courses in proctology. "Send me!" - I say to the bosses. And they also arranged a meeting, they doubted, despite the fact that there was not a single proctologist surgeon in the Ryazan region. But then one doctor put forward an argument: "Look, Levushkina suitable height: one and a half meters. She only proctology and deal with.
Alla Ilyinichna is still operating - in the clinic there is a queue for an examination, and in the 11th city hospital of Ryazan at the staff's queue, everyone - to Levushkina.
Assistant surgeon Vladimir Dobrynin says: - You do not look how old Alla Ilyinichna is. Her hand is still strong. And we do 150 operations a year with her. This year and last year, the mortality rate is zero. "In proctology, indications for surgical intervention are often quite running cases, often associated with oncology, and "zero mortality" is an excellent indicator.

Why am I still working?

Firstly, it is very interesting: to win, to cure. I have had miraculous healings. A young woman, I remember, with a tumor of the rectum was - everything, inoperable. But I'm brave, and no one but me took it. I operated on her, and she went on the mend - how, why? Many years have already passed, this patient lives, her children have already grown up ... And I also have to work to feed my family. I have no children, I have never been married, but I have a disabled nephew - I support him, and he has seven more cats in his care, and I have seven more of my own.

She lists the pets: "Gosh, Son, Paw, Lada, Chernyshka, Dymka ... old cat just now she gave birth to one kitten, and I prescribed enhanced nutrition to her. In the morning I give everyone pollock with noodles, when I leave, I cut small doctor's sausage - they don't eat another. I buy special bags for them with food, canned food, filler. Only cats spend 200-300 rubles a day. But I also feed yard cats, dogs... So you ask how to keep active in such years. And I have no other choice, I will earn money for the rest of my life. There are birds outside the window - I see that they are hungry, the feeder is empty again in the morning, which means we need to buy food, which means we need money again.
She smiles, and it immediately becomes clear what she looked like as a child. "Is it possible to feed all the birds in the world?" - we ask, and she, continuing to smile, quite philosophically answers: "But you can try." (With)

"I was recently told about some exhibition where there were photographs famous people from Ryazan. Tsiolkovsky, Yesenin and I were standing nearby. You can breathe!"

Alla Ilyinichna Lyovushkina turned 91 in May. Of these, she has been operating on people for more than 66 years. In 2014, she was awarded the "Vocation" medical award in the "For loyalty to the profession" nomination.

Alla Ilyinichna grew up in Ryazan, studied in Moscow, but returned to native city. She is a proctologist. How many operations she had in her life, Lyovushkina can’t even count. The doctor is still working. “I’m so tired today. I spent time in the clinic from 9.30 to 11.00,” she says. “They come to me both efficient and idle. operation…"

Alla Ilyinichna takes a taxi to work: "I think I deserved it at 91." And once she loved hiking and walked half the country with a backpack over her shoulders. This backpack often outweighed her: she always had a maximum of 55-56 kg. She is so fragile that her male friends broke her ribs twice just by holding her tightly. And she is a little over a meter and a half tall. So during operations, she always has to climb onto a stand, which colleagues call the "carriage". “Do you see how I walk?” asks Alla Ilyinichna, who really walks with difficulty. “But my hands work. And my head too.”

About the entrance exam and Lermontov

I write poorly. When I was studying, I sent letters to my mother, she was a teacher. I come home, my letters are on the table, and the errors are underlined in red pencil. As if I were writing a dictation. At first I was indignant, then I became funny.

And at the introductory essay, Lermontov saved me. I have loved him since childhood, I read a lot about him, and there was just a topic about him. I got this essay! They told me: "You wrote with errors, but your content is so good that we are forced to give you a four."

So I entered the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute. Stalin.

About college students and soy cakes

As students, we lived hand to mouth, but life improved over the years. I remember when soy cakes came out. They cost 40 kopecks - the same as the fare. And the scholarship was 118 rubles. You buy a cake, you eat it, you eat it like a hare. We were caught, they said: "When are you going to eat these cakes?" But everyone understood that we were hungry. And they let go.

About "baptism into surgeons"

At the final exam, I received a "troika" in surgery. Despite the fact that she was engaged in it from the third year, and from the sixth she operated. I have been a dreamer all my life. When I went to medical school, I wanted to work with lepers. Then in the suburbs there was a leper colony. I have read books about them. But as soon as I tried surgery, as they say, I sniffed the blood, I didn’t leave it anymore.

We are on the course general surgery the famous Boris Petrovsky taught, he later became the Minister of Health of the USSR. Of course, we all wanted to work with him. I'm standing - small, albeit in heels, but then high heels not worn yet. I have a cap, not a single hair is visible, and a dressing gown with rolled up sleeves. He looked at our company like that and said: "You will assist me." During the operation, blood splattered right into my face. He says: "Consider, I christened you surgeons."

Many years later he came to us in the Ryazan hospital. He looked at me and said: "Well, I was right, I said that you would become a surgeon?" I was absolutely blown away! And then I realized: we were his first students. And remember the first.

About "geese" in Tuva and Ryazan wolves

After graduation, my friend Olya and I went to Tuva. There were stupid girls. Her father worked at the Medical Institute, offered to stay at the Department of Pathophysiology. We: "No, we'll go as surgeons!" He said, "Goose! So go." We were 24. Olga wanted to go to Altai, I - to the Far East. Olga and I approached the map, we look - Tuva: both are close, and the other.

A few years later I returned to Ryazan. She worked in the air ambulance, flew a lot. Somehow the pilot circled for a long time, did not land at all. Says: "There are wolves." And I: "So what?" Wolves, in my opinion, are very pleasant animals. I always feel sorry for them - they are killed for nothing.

About specialty and prophecy

I already worked as a residency, I had a specialization in thyroid gland. And somehow she spoke at a conference, she had to say "at the patient large goiter". And instead of "z" she said "g". Everyone laughs ... And after a while I went to proctology. Colleagues decided that that reservation was a prophecy.

At that time no one was engaged in proctology in the Ryazan region, they did not know how to treat elementary things. And then came a ticket to courses in proctology. I volunteered.

About Stalin and Faith

My mother was from a very religious family, she baptized me as a child. But no one brought us up in the faith. I came to God when I was already under 60. My mother began to take me to church.

And in childhood we were raised in the Soviet spirit. When they were accepted in October, they pinned the badge. Autumn, I go home in an open coat. Mom to me: "Button up, it's cold!" And I wanted the icon to be visible. And when I became a pioneer, we had this joke: "Answer for the tie!" "Do not touch the working blood, when you remove it, then you will take it." I don't know what that meant.

We loved Stalin very much. When he died, a portrait of him appeared in our house. Although my uncle was on trial. For nonsense, he told some anecdote. And still he never scolded Stalin. He said: "He is the leader. The real one."

I was a Komsomol member, but refused to join the party. It was under Brezhnev. And it was no longer a Stalinist party. I was told: "Well, then you can't be the head of the department." But then they did it anyway.

Even now, if I see a portrait of Stalin in a newspaper, I don’t throw that newspaper away. I save.

About the first steps and 12 cats

In my childhood, we had a dog, Nelka. I crawled up to her, hugged her neck, she got up ... And so I gradually began to walk. So I took the first steps not with people, but with a dog. Why be surprised that I love animals? I have 12 cats at home. Outside the window is a bird feeder.

About medicine and technology

Medicine has certainly improved over the years. Technologies and surveys have appeared that we never dreamed of. But old methods often return to it.

I haven't learned to use a computer and don't want to. Yes, and no time. Here is a book - another thing: you hold it in your hands, it smells ... Before, before each operation, I looked into the anatomical atlas. Not that I'm preparing, but I'll take it and see.

About the patients and the case

We had a doctor who came up to a dying patient and said: "Yes, you are very good! You will get up soon!" The patient will shine, smile, and die in a day or two. Patients need to be encouraged. Although now they say that you need to cut the truth-womb.

I took patients that my colleagues considered inoperable. One of these patients now has two children.

You have to love what you are doing. And you also need to love people. Although I always thought that I like animals better. But I love my patients. Everyone.

Bella Volkova, Olga Makhmutova

I am from Ryazan, my parents are from Ryazan. My mother was a teacher and then an accountant. She was a very religious person, so when they began to remove crosses from children in Soviet times, she switched to counting work. Then she became an accountant and an accountant.

And my father is a forester. Graduated from the Forest Institute. He worked in Ryazan, we also traveled to other cities.

I also had a brother who died. He would be a poet, he published a collection of poems. He lived in Ryazan, then in Arkhangelsk.

I remember we lived very well together. I also had a cousin. They bullied me as a girl, of course, in my childhood. But that's how they always lived together. They loved animals - he had a cat, I have a cat.

We were generally raised freely. We did what we wanted and did nothing wrong. We lived on the Volga, went swimming, and everything was always fine. Besides, they didn't really follow us.

And the way we studied was also not particularly followed. Everyone for himself, doing what he wanted. And there were graduation parties, and they came late. We were given every opportunity: as we wanted, so we lived.

About War and Victory

I remember the declaration of war. We just had the twenty-second of June prom. I was then finishing the seventh grade, and my brother was the tenth. And so the girls and I walked for a very long time, I came home at twelve o'clock - by one. And my brother returned almost in the morning.

And so I came, and my mother knew that we were walking, and she said: “Come on, go to bed.” I lay down and fell asleep. And suddenly in the morning I hear - declare war. I got so scared. I was very scared.

Then Anatoly came, he also walked for a very long time. But they had already heard about the war, they came so excited. We were going to go to war even now, that was the mood.

We were not evacuated, we lived in Ryazan, we just left for the forest. There my father was a forester, and when the Germans were already approaching Ryazan, he took us away.

We lived there, starving, of course. They were very hungry. But we studied, and studied during the war, I graduated from the tenth grade with honors during the war.

I remember Victory Day, how. The year before, I hadn't been able to get into medical school. I lost a year, I entered the pedagogical. My brother also studied at Ryazan University.

And so we rested and slept. For some reason, my brother was also at home, I don’t remember. Mom flies in: “What are you sleeping? Victory!" We were so happy. And everyone ran to the institute. Actually, it was a total joy. They kissed, they sang, they had fun. Then they already gathered there, then we sat at the table ...

About admission to medical

In general, I have a stubborn character. And I also read Veresaev's Notes of a Doctor, which pushed me. I remember reading all night.

And then, when we graduated from school, they told us: “Go to Moscow and do it.” I went and began to walk around the institutes.

I came to the exploration department, they told me: "Submit documents, you will be a geologist." "Okay, I'll think about it," I say. Then I went to university at the Faculty of Biology. They also said: "Submit documents." Then I ended up in the Second Moscow Medical School. And they say: "No, we do not accept without a Moscow residence permit." And then my torment began - I only wanted to go to the medical one.

Then she registered and entered, but already in the forty-fifth year.

About teachers and "baptism into surgeons"

I remember teachers. But we had very old doctors. Popov - forensic medical examination. Then, God forbid, Sinai - microbiology. Physiology is normal, I don’t know, I forgot already. We must see.

And from the third year I began to practice surgery, go to the surgical circle. Yes, Petrovsky taught with us, he came from the war. Then he became a minister. And before the war, he headed the Department of General Surgery. He led a surgical circle, we all went to his circle.

I remember the first operation: he took me as an assistant, and I did it with him. Well, that is, he did, I helped him. I was just happy.

Just the first operation was very interesting. Breast cancer, and there the bleeding started. Blood splashed in my face, and he says: “Well, here, I christened you surgeons.”

Then Petrovsky became a minister, and we met when I was already a doctor. There was a conference. I approached him and said: “Ah, I remember your circle.” After all, he had just returned from the army when he began teaching with us. And, in my opinion, I was in Budapest before that.

Ovchinnikov was in surgery. That's what I remember, of course.

About the first operations

And then in surgery I had a case, but it happened somehow. I worked for a very long time in Ryazan as an air ambulance surgeon. And so I was called to the crossbow. This is not one of the first operations, I have operated on this for a long time.

We've come for a shootout. There in the shed lay a sick man with a torn chest. We arrived with an anesthesiologist, but practically nothing could be done. And we sewed it up almost without anesthesia. Both heart and lungs. And then it was transported. I do not remember his fate.

And, my very first operation was in Tuva - intestinal obstruction. I remember, I must.

About the sick and faith in God

You always have a completely different contact with your patient. When I begin to treat a person, for me personally, he already becomes close. I'm already worried about him.

But I never take full responsibility. And for very seriously ill patients, I now order a prayer service without even telling them about it. And to everyone, when they thank me, I say: “You thank God.” I always say this to patients.

Over the years, many people have passed through my hands. Many, of course, remember, congratulate, even when you walk down the street.

There are a lot of people in my church. I am a believer, I constantly go to church, observe all the holidays, fasts, everything is as it should be. Now here great post.

Yes, I did not come to faith right away, I was an avid atheist. My mother was a very religious person, and I am an atheist. And I always had conflicts with her. She had tuberculosis and still fasted during Lent. And it had some effect on me, but I fought.

And then I met such a priest, Father Peter, now he is the rector in our church. And he suffered with me for two years. I went to his house and met his family. And so we all talked with him, talked, then he said: “That's enough, you have to go and take communion.” And communed me.

Father Peter said that my mother prayed for me. She prayed for me all the time, and her sisters were believers. And my brother was relatively a believer. I even went to receive communion at the Yelokhov Church when I studied at the Institute of Writers.

And now I am so grateful that I became a believer. Life has a completely different color. I don't fight, of course. But it helps a lot.

About favorite philosophers and incomprehensible Marx

I was the only such atheist in my family, because I loved philosophy very much. I studied philosophy almost from the seventh or eighth grade. I have an anthology of world philosophy, only I don't read now, I don't have time to read.

Favorite philosophers were, yes. I had Kant. For a long time I could not understand the “thing in itself”, but then it finally dawned on me. I loved Hegel, even though I was a materialist. But I really liked Engels, "The Origin of Species" - this is his work, when I was interested, I read. But I could not stand Marx, he is terrible.

"Capital" is a nightmare in general ... We studied "Capital", but it ended with the fact that I threw the book almost at the door, said: "He wrote incomprehensibly." And Engels wrote very well.

On the reform of medicine, the doctor's duty and love

I believe that now I live only thanks to God. Who gave me so many opportunities to live and work at the age of eighty-seven, and still operate?

I say that I am like a racehorse. I enter the operating room, and immediately strength and vigor appear, and I begin to operate. And so I walk like a horse.

Medical reform at my job? Well, of course it does! Medicines have become more expensive, patients have less money, all this is reflected. And so I try to take as little from the patients as possible and give them as much as possible. In general, I live according to the Christian principle: what you give is yours.

Talk to patients? You know, I don't have time to talk to them. If I have great reception, then - faster, faster, faster. I am limited by time. And still I talk sometimes - on religious topics and on everyday ones. Normal, like everyone else.

In the work of a doctor, the most important thing, I think, is knowledge and love for people. And love should be shown normally. Effectively. Don't be sorry when they scream that they're in pain. We must try not to hurt. We must do our duty.