Barbara Redden

Bob encouraged me to write about something that happened to us back in 1957. I can hardly remember from one minute to the next right now, so it seems rather strange that I can remember every detail that happened 41 years ago. There are so many details, in fact, that Sally may have to put it into two issues of the SCORE

There are several reasons I would like to tell you our 1957 story. One is that Dot Raymond said that there are a lot of angels at St. Nicholas. I told her if we're angels, we're probably wearing crooked halos. We had a chicken dinner and took some of it over to Dot. A lot of other people have taken meals over to her and to others who have been sick. Well, she was so appreciative that I told her I like to share meals with people, because of Millie Plumbly. Millie was a nurse, who was a neighbor when we lived outside of Dover. She appeared on our doorstep one blustery night with a meatloaf dinner. I will never forget Millie, because we were in such a mess I didn't think we were going to live through it.

Bobby was born on December 19^th. He had problems with projectile vomiting. The doctor told us he had pyloric stenosis, which we had never heard of. He said he'd have to go to St. Christopher's Hospital in Philadelphia to have an operation to remove a blockage between his stomach and his intestine. Our priest suggested that he should come over to our house to baptize our baby, then Bob wrapped him up and took him into Kent General Hospital, where Dr. Forest gave him 19 shots of saline solution in the back. I stayed at home with Carol, who was only 13 months old. That was a memorable Christmas night.

The next day we drove him up to Philadelphia. My mother made one of her many trips up from Milford to take care of our other little one.

Bobby had the operation, and we thought it would fix everything, but he still continued to vomit and have diarrhea. He went from 7lbs., 11 oz. down to 4 lbs. They told us not to come up every day, since we lived in Dover. They thought it would be best to call to see how things were going and to come up on the weekends. He was in the hospital six weeks, and we were scared to death we were going to lose him. I remember looking through a glass window at Bobby, who was in an Isolette (that was a new invention) Since the veins in his arms were too small, they had to put needles in his head. It was just awful  and we couldn't even hold him. It was a sorry looking sight. Bob had his arm around me, and we were peering through the window with tears streaming down our faces, when a doctor came over, put his arm around us, and said, "prayer helps." I thought he was right. I always felt God could move mountains, but He didn't move one when my father was sick, and He didn't seem to be moving one now; so, frankly, I became a little scared about the whole thing. I was afraid if I didn't say the right words when I prayed, Bobby would be snatched away from us. However, I didn't lack total good common sense, because I grabbed the prayer book, and decided the prayers for the sick would be safe to use!!! I also knew the prayer group at church was saying prayers for us, and that was comforting. Another thing that was comforting was that Ruby, a nurse's aide, sat in a rocking chair and rocked him.

At last they told us we could bring him home. They said he still wasn't right, but he'd be better off at home with his own family. The surgeon said, "Goodbye" and told us that we should treat him as a newborn infant. We were thrilled to finally get him back home, but there was a big blizzard that night and the electricity went off. Then we were even more desperate. Bob says, "Just when you think things are really bad, they can get even worse." Here we were with an infant still vomiting, and with diarrhea, no disposable diapers, and no water. I melted ice cubes to make his formula. Poor Carol, it must have been hard for her too.

it was about that time that Millie Plumbly appeared at our front door with her wonderful dinner. I was so grateful to her, and I thought if I could take a meal to someone who was sick it would make me very happy. Oh, by the way, Dr. Forest knew what he was doing. The formula must have been loaded with vitamins, because Bobby started gaining weight. He crawled at eight months and shocked everyone, including the people at the hospital, by walking before we expected him to.

Did you find all the angels in this story who helped get us through this crisis? ? ?