Thursday, December 22, 2016

THROWBACK THURSDAY

The big day is drawing nigh, which takes me back to a miserable Christmas I spent in the year 1952.

I was 12 years old and recovering from an emergency
surgery after my appendix ruptured.

I had spent a week in the hospital (things were done differently in those days) and was now at home but still an invalid.

My bedroom was upstairs in our house and I had to be carried downstairs and settled in on the couch for Christmas morning.


Surrounding me in this picture were my uncle Zenas from San Francisco, my mother, my grandfather and my dad.

Mom wrote on the back of the picture "Doesn't Bruce look pale?"

As you can see the house had been gaily decorated to cheer me up.

I don't look very cheerful though, do I?

16 comments:

  1. Interesting. I was born in '52 and my appendix burst twelve years later. You don't look all that happy but I imagine if you laughed or moved about too much it caused pain.

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  2. Given the time, you're lucky you didn't develop peritonitis and severe systemic issues. Penicillin was about it back then, I think Erythromycin was in testing.

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  3. |You survived, that is what counts.

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  4. That sounds crazy. Glad to see you are still posting!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by, Fijufic. Always good to make a new friend.

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  5. You were frail, pale and probably sad to see Harry Truman preparing to leave the White House. Did you like Ike?

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    1. I hadn't developed an interest in politics at that point. My dad was for Taft. Mom hated Truman for "getting us into another war, in Korea." Actually the whole family was GOP and had no use for any Democrat.

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  6. Think of the Pity Presents you must have got boosted with!

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  7. You look a little happier than grandpa.

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    Replies
    1. Gramp never smiled for a camera, at least as far as I can remember.

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  8. I've never been sick at Christmas but when I was 6 I was really sick at Halloween and I always remember that I couldn't go out trick & treating but the corner store sent a whole box of Kit hat chocolate bars for me! They are still one of my favorite candies!

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  9. This is eerie! I had almost the same experience with appendicitis back in the early 40s in Willmar, Minnesota. I remember laying on the couch, parents and relatives hovering about. Sheesh! Maybe we're related?

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    1. I was living in Stanley, North Dakota back then so probably not. But maybe. No. Yes. Shall we compare DNA?

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  10. I had to spend the night before in hospital when I had my tonsils out. Cold and lonely and miserable. Today, parents bring kid in, and they are on their way home in a couple of hours.

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  11. It's hard to be cheerful when you're under the weather.

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