Petersburg High School - Missile Yearbook (Petersburg, VA)

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'H PETERSBURG HIGH SCHOOL Not so for me, however. I got in with the night nurse, who was a cripple, and after prayers I went back into the classroom falso called the oifice J and shook down forty thermometers for her every night. ' One night she heard a noise at the rear of the building, and fearing that some intruder was trying to enter, she woke me up and asked me to see if all the doors Were locked. I was just as scared as she was, but I didn't let her know it. Of course, there was nothing there, but it didn't hurt to make sure. My first examination at the Sanatorium was negative in every way, except for my temperature, but that came down be- fore long. My weight also climbed rapidly until it reached normal and then refused to go higher. I also grew three-quar- ters of an inch during the first week. I hate to think of what would have happened if I had continued to grow at that same rate, but as it is, I haven't grown a bit since then. Every patient, if large enough and well enough fthe ages ran from 6 to 161 made up his own bed. That was how I found out what made them so hard. A wooden frame separated the mattress Charder than the one I used at homej from the springs. This was used as an aid in making the body grow straight. An- other method was to sleep without a pillow. This is a habit which I still have. I quickly got use to all this and soon it was HO K H When it was ascertained that my condition was such as to permit it, they let up on my schedule a whole lot and gave me more privileges than the majority enjoyed. I got up a half- hour earlier in the morning to distribute and collect the boys' thermometers. Then I took the reports on the previous day's work to the staff officer before breakfast. After breakfast I went to the postoffice and store. I also took the same trips before supper. I was usually late getting back and had to eat by my- self. . The surrounding-,mountains always ,held a peculiar fascina- tion for me, and I never grew tiredof studying them through a telescope. The sanatorium itself 'was located at the base of one of these hills and slightly higher than the surrounding terri- tory. Most of the buildings were surrounded by trees, mine being the only one completely in the open. Sometimes, when the snow was on the ground, the building had the appearance of being in the middle of nowhere, but it was beautiful just the same. -29-

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-vbbi THE MISSILE ward-there were no private rooms-with nineteen other boys. The entire south wall was open, except for the screen wire, and the whistling of the wind through it at night was music to my ears--music that lulls one to sleep, although it is mournful. The general program fand this was practically the same throughout the sanatoriuml was as follows: At 6:30 in the morning each patient was awakened and his temperature and pulse recorded. After this he washed and dressed in a steam- heated dressing room, where each boy had a locker for all his possessions. Bed-making came next. At seven o'clock they all assembled in the classroom with an equal number of girls whose ward was on the opposite end of the building and sepa- rated from the boys' by the classroom and nurses' quarters. Breakfast was at 7 230 in a separate building behind the Gar- ret, as ours was called. No one was allowed to speak at the table during meal time, except to the orderly, who waited on the table. To get around this restriction there was a deaf and dumb finger code. I had no need for it QI was too busy eating to use ith and was considered dumb because I didn't learn it. After breakfast a form of opening exercises was held, in which all took part. This was led by either one of the patients or the superintendent, who was also the schoolteacher. After this, one-half of those present went out on the uncov- ered porches, clothed only in white trunks, to take sun cure fthis was compulsory for children, but not for adultsj, while the other half attended school. We took sun cure, regardless of the tem- perature and it didn't matter whether there was snow on the ground or not--but when the clouds covered the sun we shivered and prayed for it to come out again. Most of us were brown as Indians after a month or two of this and almost as tough. After the first group had gotten their share, they traded places with the second. All patients were required to spend one hour in bed before dinner. They were allowed to read and also to talk, if they didn't get too noisy. As a rule they did. After dinner came quiet hour. Bed again-for two hours, and no one was allowed to speak a word. Reading was permitted. One hour of sun cure followed this. Afterwards, those whose weight was up to standard and whose temperature was normal were allowed a certain amount of exercise. One hour was the maximum amount, and was usually taken out in walking. Supper-leisure time-bedtime at 8 P. M.-the day was over. -28-

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-libf THE M1ss11.1-J D49- There were several reasons for enjoying my stay at the sana- torium. On Thursdays and Sundays we had to eat ice cream. Can you imagine anything easier or sweeter than that? The friendships which I found I value more highly than any- thing else. The superintendent Was from my home town, and several of the patients had lived nearby. On Sunday morning We attended Sunday School in the Chapel. Some of the patients were teachers. At night an interdenomina- tional service was usually held by some visiting sky pilot. We always enjoyed having visitors, but some of them we almost loathed. Whenever we saw anyone spitting on the ground or walks-well, we couldn't stand it. We had been taught sani- tation day by day, and this was too much for us. The visitors were the only ones who did it. At one time during my stay they were responsible for a chicken pox epidemic. I left after six months vacation, and so strong was the bond that bound me to the sanatorium that I didn't want to leave, and I have returned as a visitor three times since then. When I look back over that period of my life, it is not with regret, but with a pleasure that I cannot express. Tuberculosis is a disease which can be prevented, which can be checked, but which can never be cured after reaching the advanced stage. Fresh air, sunshine, good food and plenty of it, with a peaceful and optimistic mind are the necessities for a tubercular patient, if he wishes to regain his health. So-why should a stigma be attached to the mere word tu- berculosisu? Just ignorance and stupidity--that's all. l XQ?J N L X411-5 ,X X 3 fr f, 130.-