Charles Dickens' painful secret
St Mark’s most famous patient was Charles Dickens.
The writer suffered from an anal fistula which he said was ‘the consequence of too much sitting at my desk.’
Dickens underwent surgery at home as a private patient.
“‘I suffered agonies, as they related all to me, and did violence to myself in keeping to my seat. I could scarcely bear it.”
It is hardly surprising as the procedure was carried out without anaesthesia by surgeon Frederick Salmon
Dickens gave Salmon several autographed copies of his latest work, The Pickwick Papers, and contributed 10 guineas to the hospital as a thank you gift.