and a trip across town
August 6, 2009 (Thursday)
Yesterday’s blog about eyes brought to mind a type of clinic, the “Eye, Ear Nose and Throat Clinic.” There was one in an old house on Fannin Street in the south part of old Houston (circa 1942), and that’s where I had my tonsils surgically removed.
The medical consensus regarding my poor hearing and probably other problems I don’t remember was that my tonsils and adenoids (whatever they are) needed to come out. An appointment was made at the clinic for my surgery early one morning.
We lived on the other side of town and had no automobile. My grandfather woke me up before daylight. I got dressed and we walked down to the bus stop. We caught the bus to downtown, then transferred to another bus out to the clinic. We walked to the old house and they got me ready. They laid me on a slab (at least that’s what it felt like) and chattered around me with light conversation and a little about the operation. When they started giving me ether, they asked me to count to 100. I recall counting and then thinking that I was on a small craft zooming through black skies dotted with red sparkles. Then I realized where I was and understood I must have stopped counting, so I called out to the doctor and nurses, “I’m still awake!” Perish the thought that they would start carving on me before I was completely out. I remember all of them laughing and making cute remarks.
Next thing I remember was waking up in a bed with a nurse beside me rubbing my wrist, to stimulate blood flow and aid in waking up. “Would you like a Pepsi?” she asked. “Yes,” I said, thinking to myself, “This is great! A big glass of Pepsi Cola with a straw! Almost worth getting cut on.” Kids didn’t get many sodas in those days. They were always special treats.
When I was good and awake, I got dressed, and, with my grandfather, walked out of the clinic to the bus stop and rode back downtown, where we transferred to another bus and soon arrived at the nearest bus stop to home, to which we walked.
I was 11 years old, and remember drinking a lot of iron from a big square brown bottle. After my tonsils were removed, I grew fast and gained a lot of weight.
When I look down my throat in a mirror, I think I see tonsils, although I really don’t know what tonsils look like. Maybe they grew back. Some folks say they can do that.