Outlander Book Club: Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone Chapter 111 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

The chapter starts with Claire walking around the house assessing and telling us where everyone is. Elspeth has remained in the surgery with her son, while Jamie sleeps in the Kitchen.

There’s a quiet moment between Claire and Jamie. He comments that she looks worse than him, but that’s not possible. Claire does let him know that she’s exhausted though. The work for her isn’t over, though.

Claire takes a look at the work that Fanny did on Jamie’s stitches. It’s good work, and Claire wonders whether Jamie told them how to do it or if Fanny managed it on her own. This is clearly a sign that Fanny is going to be a great assistant to Claire moving forward.

Then it all moves to the surgery. Elspeth is awake and reading the Merck manual. Claire didn’t have time to put that away, and of course, Elspeth has moved to looking at the parts about spinal surgery options. Claire manages to explain that Bree brought the book back from Scotland but that the Colonies don’t have the means for these surgeries. It’s enough of the truth for Claire to get away with it.

Claire now assesses her patient. The smell of something makes her think of Cunningham losing control of his bowel and bladder. She also notes that he doesn’t have any erectile function, but that could be the laudanum. It certainly looks like Cunningham is paralyzed.

Elspeth thinks about what it will be like to care for her son, and Claire notes that he will be able to feed himself. However, they’ll have to see what else can be done. She has seen patients like this, and each patient is different.