Читать книгу The Baby’s Cross: A Tuberculosis Survivor’s Memoir - C. Gale Perkins - Страница 9

Admitted to Lakeville State Sanatorium

On October 5, 1936 I was taken from North Reading and brought to Lakeville State Sanatorium. I was crying, kicking and begging, not wanting to leave Ginnie at North Reading State Sanatorium. After arriving at Lakeville I was put in a ward with nine other children under the age of six. My first experience was being brought to a building where I was put on a cold table, where they told me they were going to take my picture. After many pictures they moved me into another room that had a terrible smell to it. I was placed on a table that supported my head, buttocks and feet, and dressed in a body stocking. They told me I would feel a warm, wet feeling as they were going to put me in a plaster cast that would keep my body nice and straight. Once they started with the plaster, I knew why the room smelled so badly. When they started to put on layers of plaster around my body, they suggested that I pop my tummy up as far as I could to give me some extra room inside the cast. They put an iron bar about two inches above my knees, then plastered around that to keep my legs separated. Then they cut the stocking casing and turned it up around the edges of the cast, and when it was all done they said I looked beautiful. When the plaster was dry, they picked me up by the top of the cast under my neck and the bar between my legs, placed me on the gurney and brought me to the children’s ward. They put me in a pair of denim bloomers over the cast and a white Johnny (a hospital gown that tied at the neck and back) and then put the apron strap around me and tied me in the crib.

The daily routine of the babies’ ward was breakfast each morning at seven thirty. This was brought to us on metal trays; we had a cover to lay down on the sheet first so the tray would not leave marks. After breakfast they would bring a basin of water for us to wash our face, and we would brush our teeth and have our hair combed. There were two hair styles; the staff decided how our hair was to be combed. Some had a Dutch clip, while the rest had a braid on one side. At nine in the morning they would move us out on a long cement porch with open sides. The open portion was for the girls from ages six to fifteen who were in the big girls ward; the roofed portion was for the younger children. Around ten in the morning they would bring us tomato juice and water, and then at eleven we would go back in the ward and wait for lunch. We could have a book to read or a doll to play with during this time. After lunch we would be moved out onto the porch from one to three. This was time for us to take a nap. Each of us had the cloth cover that we put down under our metal trays when we ate and would fold them and put them over our eyes to keep the light out to make it easier for us to fall asleep. I really didn’t like this part of the routine, as I was always curious and wanted to know what was going on every minute. At three we would have tomato juice and water and our cribs would be moved back inside the ward. We would play and talk and wait for supper which was at five. From six to seven, we were prepared for the night routine. Faces washed and teeth brushed, we settled in for the night. Some of the children would cry a lot before they went to sleep. The ages ranged from six months to six years. They would be crying for their moms and dads. For me the nights were the hardest.