Читать книгу The Baby’s Cross: A Tuberculosis Survivor’s Memoir - C. Gale Perkins - Страница 8

Birth to Three Years of Age

On November 14, 1933 I came into this world two months premature and weighing in at just a little less than two pounds. In those days they didn’t have the technology of today to keep babies alive, and I was sent home to die. My journey towards survival began when I left Boston City Hospital in Massachusetts shortly after birth and went to my grandparent’s home in Dorchester, Massachusetts.

My parents were Marjorie Leona (Logan) Mitchell and Joseph Archibald Mitchell. My mom was living with my grandparents at the time as she and my dad had separated. My grandparents, Mary Francis Crowley (Logan) and McGrady Lang Logan, along with my Mom did everything they knew how to keep me alive. They tried different formulas as my Mom was unable to breastfeed, yet I continued to reject whatever they put together. I was losing weight fast. They would keep me warm by setting me in a box close to the wood stove and wrapping me in many blankets. My mom did not know what to do and was losing hope. One day she was sitting with me wrapped in a blanket, rocking me and singing to me when a knock came on the door. The neighbor from down the street had recently given birth and was blessed with an abundance of breast milk. She had heard that I was not thriving and was rejecting all formula. She told my mom that she was blessed with an abundance of breast milk and wanted to share it with them for me. My mom and grandparents were willing to try anything at this point. They carefully put some milk in a bottle and began feeding me. An hour later I was sleeping and had not rejected the breast milk. What a wonderful and exciting day for the home on Cedar Street. I had no problem keeping the milk down. I slept for two hours and woke up, and they fed me some more.

My grandmother walked up the street and reported the good news to Mrs. Coakley, who then gave her more milk and told her that she could have as much as she needed. My grandmother Molly sat at the kitchen table with my mom, and they tearfully yet joyfully thanked God for this miracle. I continued to flourish and gain weight much to the delight of not only my family but the whole neighborhood. When it was time for my christening, my mom asked Mrs. Coakley’s son John to be my godfather; Aunty Eunice was to be my godmother.

When I was six months old my mom and dad were divorced. My grandmother and grandfather talked about adopting me. My grandfather received a small pension from the government due to an injury in the war; his children also received a pension until they were twenty one. He felt it would be helpful to my mom if they adopted me; this would allow me to receive the same monies and it would also help my mom. The adoption took place when I was 2 years old. My grandparents became my parents, my aunts became my sisters, and my uncle Paul became my brother. My mom was in the status of a sister but was still my mom. The big change was my name. I was now Cynthia Gale Logan but was called Gale, except by the Ford family whose son Donald called me Baby Gale because the families were always telling him to be nice to Baby Gale. It always tickeled me later in years when the song I’m my own Grandpa was written; I could relate to it.

The household I lived in was filled with love. I became the focus of everyone. My survival was a miracle and to this very religious, Catholic family it surely was a gift from God. Ginnie, the youngest daughter of Molly and Mac was twelve and would spend a lot of time with me, helping her mom and my mom Marjie take care of me. She told me later in life how she would take me to the park and comb and brush my beautiful, black curly hair and dress me in all the beautiful dresses that had been bought for me and also made by my great-grandmother in Chicago who owned her own millinery shop. Ginnie told me later on in years that to her I was like a live doll.

Mollie spoiled me and would tell everyone in the house that whatever the baby wanted she should have. I really loved tomatoes, and when she would buy them at the store and bring them home, she would tie a towel around my neck, put me up on a chair by the sink, and let me eat as many as I wanted. I still love tomatoes; they are one of my favorite foods.

I did not like going to sleep at night. I kept getting up and calling out for whoever would come up and pick me up out of the crib. They would then bring me downstairs, and I would be taken in the car, and they would ride around the block until I fell asleep; then they would bring me back and put me in my crib. I had really captured the heart of this household and at a young age knew how to get them to respond to me.

Molly owned a lot of rental properties and did most of her renting from the house. Ginnie would go with her and bring me along to collect the rents. Sometimes Molly would go by herself and Ginnie would be left to take care of me. One day when she was caring for me, I was wearing a pair of her high heeled shoes. I started to go down the cellar stairs with her, then tripped and fell. Ginnie immediately picked me up and tried to get me to stop crying. I eventually did but not until she read me several books and gave me as much candy as I wanted. I was two years old at this time and Ginnie never told anyone about my fall as I appeared to be okay.

The year 1935 brought many changes to the home on Cedar Street. My grandfather (Mac) was to die. A lot of sadness filled the house; Ginnie was depressed and was not singing and dancing like she did when her dad was alive. She spent a lot of time just sitting around. My grandmother (Molly) was a strong woman, and although she missed Mac very much, she continued to run the household and tend to her rental business. She depended more on Ginnie for help in collecting the rent and doing other errands for her. I was always able to go with Ginnie when she was collecting the rent, which I enjoyed. My mom began to date a man named Ernest Wilson; she married him and in 1935, and they had their daughter Elaine, who is my half sister. They moved out into their own place.

One day when Ginnie was babysitting me, she bought me a new book. I loved the book so much that I would ask Ginnie to read it to me over and over. The book was titled A Child’s Garden of Verses, and to this day it is still one of my favorites. Excited about the book, I went downstairs to show it to my grandmother. When I went to the dining room, she was on the floor. I sat beside her and showed her the book, but she wasn’t talking to me. I called her name several times, then called to Ginnie and she came down and reached for a ring of keys that was lying on the dining room table and placed them on the back of my grandmother’s neck. Molly would sometimes suffer from high blood pressure and pass out; pressing the cold keys against the back of her neck would usually revive her. Eunice came home in the meantime and realized that my grandmother was not breathing. I just remember a whole lot of excitement and crying going on in the house. The next thing I remember is my grandmother lying in a tall bed of satin, surrounded by lots of flowers. Many people were coming in and out of the house, everyone sad and crying. Then my grandmother was gone. Aunty Catherine took over managing the household, and caring for Ginnie and me.

The year before my grandmother died, she had taken in a boarder who was a good friend of the family. He was a very frail and sickly man who appeared to have a very bad cold. My grandmother would make chicken soup for him. He stayed with the family for a short time and then left. Shortly after her arrival, Aunty Catherine realized that everyone seemed to be pale and had a cough. She called a doctor and it was suggested that we all had been infected by the new and most dreaded disease, called consumption or tuberculosis. As a result, we were all scattered around. My mom (who had a new baby) and Eunice were sent to Rutland State Sanatorium in Rutland, Massachusetts. The baby Elaine was sent to her grandmother’s; Ginnie and I were sent to North Reading State Sanatorium in North Reading, Massachusetts. My uncle Paul went to Boston City Hospital. Aunty Catherine was left with the task of cleaning out the house and getting rid of everything or trying to sell it. This was a task that was difficult as not many wanted anything to do with anything that they felt was contaminated. I was kept in observation in North Reading for one month. While they found no signs of tuberculosis in my lungs, they did discover that I had a bone standing out in the middle of my back and by x-raying my back saw that it was diseased. Tuberculosis struck not only the lungs, where it was highly contagious, but also struck many other parts of the body, particularly bones, eyes, ears, glands, kidneys. It was only contagious when in the lungs so we could all be in together and not isolated.

Again I had to say goodbye to a loved one. I had grown much attached to Ginnie, and for me to have to say goodbye even at three was very hard. I cried until I had nothing left in me and fell asleep on the ride from Reading to Lakeville where I would spend the next twelve years of my life.