I celebrate the human touch, the loving hands at home.
But I was reading some childhood memories my maternal grandmother typed up a number of years ago. She was born in 1905 and lived on a farm in Saranac, New York.
She wrote:
My tonsillectomy was on the dining room table. Mother administered the ether; the country doctor was the surgeon. Fee $5.00
That’s taking “hands at home” too far even for my taste!
Wow I prefer my Grandpa’s remedy of whiskey, hot water & sugar for all ills that ranged from tooth ache right through to pneumonia :-)
Yes, that sounds much more sensible to me! But that generation of my family would NEVER have touched whiskey. I’m making up for lost time. ;-)
Grandpa would only ever touch “the drink” in a medical crisis, I never saw him with a drink in his hand until his 60th wedding anniversary, his comments on champagne were uncomplimentary to say the least, yet he must have had the need for “medical” assistance now and again or the remedy wouldn’t a family tradition
I love it!
Both of my parents were born at home…I can not imagine such a thing.
Oh, I know! My grandparents were born at home but, but by the time my parents were born, the transition had been made.
Roald Dahl’s book ‘Boy’ describes the operation on his broken nose when he was a small boy, right on the dining table. I always wondered whether that was true or not…now I know;0) But on second thought, it might have cleaner at home than at a hospital with all those sick people together and sterilization still not a common practice! That is a part of history one does not get nostalgic about;0)
The part that gets me is that her mother was responsible for administering the anesthesia!! Can you imagine the fear that must’ve struck in her?
That sure does take self-sufficiency to a whole new level! ☺️
Doesn’t it? And, yet, the old girl lived to 95 and was hardly ever sick until the very end!
Not something I would want on my kitchen table but I agree with Flora Poste; probably much better to do something like that at home in those days.
My grandmother was almost proud of this–she told the story often.
I am not surprised; not something one would forget in a hurry.
I used to listen to the stories my Grandmother told me of how life was back then. Her first several children were delivered by her husband. They came too fast for the Doctor to deliver them. My second child was born at home (by choice). May I never need the use of a hospital. I’ll take my surgery at home please.
I’m so lucky–never spent a day in a hospital in my life! Watch, now I’ve jinxed myself . . .
Hopefully you have not jinxed yourself but if you are generally a healthy person than why worry. keep healthy avoid hospitals. Though I should talk. I just made no bake cookies.
Wow, it seems so extreme but I agree with the other comments that it was probably cleaner at home than the hospital.
I wonder. It was a farm, after all. But my grandmother lived a very long, very healthy life so I guess had an amazing immune system!
Goodness me! What a great piece of family history though. A real insight :)
I’m thrilled to have. My grandmother loved genealogy and life details so I have lots of stuff from her along these lines.
my mother was a country nurse in northern Canada. when there wasn’t family available I was taken along on emergency house calls. good thing I was too young to really understand what was going on, and I became a nurse,too!
The things your mother must’ve seen! Well, and you, too–I imagine health care professional in any era see it all.
Whew, it’s difficult to imagine doing surgery like this at a home. Some things sure have changed in the last hundred years or so.
Yes! My favorite part of my grandmother’s story is that her own mother acted as anesthesiologist! Can you imagine having to administer ether to your own child?!