The Injury

The accident happened on Ridge Pike near Spring Mill Road at about eight fifteen in the morning. They were taken by emergency ambulance to Sacred Heart Hospital. When Claire and I arrived, we were told that Judy would probably be paralyzed if she recovered.
Around noon I went home while Claire stayed. I took with me Judy's bloody clothing but I didn't know what to do with it and finally I took it to Weber's and asked Marcelene, our neighbor, to hold it for us. I returned to work in the afternoon but could not concentrate on anything so I went back to the hospital and found that Judy was in a private room on the second floor and she was in traction for a broken back. This was a device called a Stryker frame. Small holes were drilled in her head to accommodate thongs at the end of a nylon cord. This in turn passed through a pulley and a weight kept a constant pull on her spine for the next eight weeks while the broken bone mended.
The litter on which she lay was narrow and made so that another litter was fastened over her and she could be turned every two hours. In that way, she lay face down half the time for the next eight weeks while the bone mended.