Memory Monday # 40

      For this week, my memory is about the next year of school.. the fifth grade...a very interesting year.  For a couple of years, I had been victim of many bouts of strep throat. Back in the 50's the usual solution to any childhood ills was to yank out ones' tonsils.  But the doctor never seemed to feel I was in good enough health to do the surgery.  Then as I entered the fifth grade, I was suspected of more than lethargy...I was running a persistent low fever and lacking in energy. So our local doctor sent me to a specialist in a nearby city to get checked out.
      It turned out that I was diagnosed with rheumatic fever.  Now, again,  this is not a disease you ever hear about now, but then it was considered to be a real scary thing to have.  Without proper care, it could lead to a heart murmur, a defect in the chambers of the heart which could lead to even more complications!  Needless to say, my parents did everything they could to make sure I was well taken care of.  The prescribed treatment was total bed rest!  So I attended the first six weeks, then was withdrawn and put to bed. My parents set up room #4 on my floor plan...my bed was placed in the upper right corner, right by the bathroom door.  When I say bed rest, that is what I mean!!  My mom would not let me move an unnecessary muscle!  The only time I was allowed out of bed was to use the bathroom!  She brought all my meals to me; she bathed me; she was totally dedicated to making sure I got well!!!

The downstairs floor plan to my childhood home from age seven through high school.

      If you recall in my last memory, my baby brother was born just the previous year...so while my mom was nursing me back to health, home schooling me, and seeing to all the other household management, she was mothering a one year old baby!  What a gal!!  I remember her sitting up his playpen in the area where the open double doorway is.  He and I became very close because of spending all this time together.

      Keeping a 10 year old child occupied had to have been quite a challenge!  This was also before we had television...no DVD's; Game Boys; etc. So the entertainment came in the form of reading, drawing (fortunately I loved to draw), listening to the radio, and a whole lot of game playing...quiet games!

My little corner of the world...for six months of my life!!

      I remember even having a new pet!  I had a goldfish!  And I was very taken with the Wizard of Oz Series...I read them ALL!!!  And I created a whole portfolio of fashion.  I loved drawing models and wardrobes for them.  I also liked to write...I fantasized a whole world of characters..illustrated yet!!