Domino Lane

Judy: Appendix V., d.

2009-05-09T02:58:00.000-07:00

6. Nightgowns - Although not to be worn in a wheelchair, we have found hospital type gowns to be a great aid to night time comfort. Sold by this name in most department stores, they are made with a full back opening, have a tie string closing and come in many pretty styles, color and materials. Also very satisfactory is a regular nightgown, again a size larger, split up the back and bound same as for the dress.
7. Underclothing - To eliminate the possibility of binding or twisting when wearing both panties and a slip, we have found the happy compromise of a "panti-slip." These serve the purpose of panties but have an above-the-knee, wide, lace trimmed leg which looks like a slip if seen under the hem of a skirt. The ones we have found are put out by Olga, who also makes a matching camasole which gives a finished look when worn under transparent clothing.

(This concludes Judy's narrative.)

Judy: Appendix V., c.

2009-05-08T02:52:00.000-07:00

4. Poncho - Because a coat may be too bulky or cumbersome to arrange in public, we have found a poncho to be a very suitable alternative. Mine is really nothing more than a large square of closely woven, light-weight wool (such as a stadium blanket) with a jacket type zipper up the front and a draw-string hood. It goes on easily as a cape, allows maximum arm motion and when I arrive indoors, it can be unzipped and folded over the back of the wheelchair without my having to move. (See Appendix I, drawing 8)
5. Shoes - Because of poor muscle tone in my legs, any days my feet sweet making it difficult or even impossible to wear stiff "people" shoes. The solution we found to this problem is a soft, foldable travel shoe, about one size larger. They come in many styles and colors, so they look good while preventing the feet from getting pressure marks.

Judy: Appendix V, b.

2009-05-07T04:46:00.000-07:00

3. Slacks and shorts - We have found the pants make of stretchy material or Jersey with an elastic waistband to be the bet, preferably in a size slightly larger than normal to allow for muscle spread. They look better and are easier to put on. For someone like myself with a permanent Foley catheter, we find that opening the outside leg seam in slacks from a point mid-thigh to approximately knee level, allows the drainage tubing to pass through unobstructed and almost undetected. This opening can be faced with a Velcro zipper which enables the seam to be reclosed after the tubing is in place.

Judy: Appendix V, a.

2009-05-06T03:20:00.000-07:00

Clothing

The following are some suggestions for purchase and adaptations which we have found successful for comfortable and attractive wheelchair attire.

1. Dresses - These are purchased or made at least one size larger than my former size to allow freedom for shoulder movement and room for the bulky brace. I avoid fitted clothing and dresses with a waistline. All my dresses are split up the back (bound and reinforced), from the hem to approximately the waist level. This allows graceful draping and arranging for wheelchair sitting. (While this procedure works fine for me because I do not leave my wheelchair, it wold be unsatisfactory for someone who transfers from the chair in public.)

2. Blouses and tops - Knit tops, jerseys and sweaters seem to fit, look and feel better than regular cloth blouses. Because of developed shoulder and arm muscles along with loss of muscle tone elsewhere, I find a size larger than normal to be more comfortable.

Judy: Misc. 13

2009-05-05T02:25:00.000-07:00

Soups: Cream soups in excess of milk allowance, beans, lentils, split pea.
Sweets: Caramels, fudge, milk chocolate, molasses, dark brown sugar, nuts and peanut butter.
Vegetables: Dry beans - kidney, Lima, navy, pea, soybean; beetgreens, broccoli, chard, collards, chick peas, dandelion greens, mustard greens, okra, parsnips, peas - fresh and dried - rutabagas, soybean sprouts, spinach, turnip greens, watercress.

Judy: Misc. 12

2009-05-04T02:33:00.000-07:00

Desserts: Cake and cake mixes, doughnuts, custards, ice cream, junket, pies with cream filling or milk and eggs, mike puddings except when daily allowance is used.
Fats: Sweet and sour cream (unless in allowed amounts).
Fruit: Dried fruits in restricted amounts. All other dried fruits.
Meat, Fish and Fowl: Brains, heart, liver, kidney, sweetbreads. Game: pheasant, rabbit, deer, goose. Sardines, fish roe, salmon, shrimp, oysters, mackerel, lobster, crab, herring, clams.
Milk: (ed. note: nothing listed under "Foods to Avoid")

Judy: Misc. 11

2009-05-03T03:10:00.000-07:00

Foods to Avoid

Beverages: Chocolate, cocoa, carbonated beverages; beverage containing milk-power, brewers yeast.

Biscuits; breads: brown, corn, cracked wheat, raisin, rye, white with non-fat dry milk, whole wheat, rye wafers, muffins, pancakes, waffles.

Cereals and Cereal Products: Quick cooking cream of wheat, oatmeal, corn and soy grits, bran, bran flakes, wheat flakes, wheat germ, puffed wheat, rye flour, self-rising flour, whole wheat flour, brown and wild rice, soybean flour.

Cheese: All cheese except as noted in allowed foods in substitution for milk allowance.

Judy: Misc. 10

2009-05-02T03:18:00.000-07:00

Sweets: Sugar, syrups, jam, jelly, preserves, hard candy, marshmallows, mints without chocolate, gum drops.
Vegetables: Artichokes, asparagus, was and green beans (canned), frozen Brussels sprouts, beets, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, corn, cucumber, egg plant, escarole, lettuce (iceberg and Boston), mushrooms, green peppers, radishes, tomatoes, canned peas, potatoes - white and sweet, pumpkin, turnips.

Judy: Misc. 9

2009-05-01T02:48:00.000-07:00

Foods Allowed (Cont'd)
Fats: Butter, Oleomargarine, cooking oils and fats, lard, margarine, French dressing. Mayonnaise in limited quantities.
Fruit: All except dried fruits as follows: dates (3), prunes (2), raisins (1 tbsp.). Include 1 citrus fruit daily.
Meat, Fish and Fowl: 4 to 6 oz. daily of beef, ham, lamb, pork, veal, chicken, duck, turkey, bluefish, cod, haddock, halibut, scallops, shad, swordfish, canned tuna, frankfurter, cold cuts, bacon, sausage.
Milk: 1/2 cup daily.
Soups: Broth of allowed meats, consomme, vegetable, cream soups allowed milk.

Judy: Misc. 8

2009-04-30T03:02:00.000-07:00

Cereals and Cereal Products - Farina (not enriched), regular cream of wheat, corn grits, corn flakes, rice, rice flakes, puffed rice, macaroni, noodles, spaghetti, corn meal, cornstarch, tapioca, white flour.
Cheese - 1/2 oz. cheddar or Swiss cheese may be used instead of 1/2 cup milk.
Desserts - Angel cake (do not use commercial mix), white sugar cookies, gelatin, fruit pies (homemade), fruit tapioca, fruit whip, puddings with allowed milk and egg, shortbread, water ices.
Eggs - 1 whole. Whites as desired.

Judy: Misc. 7

2009-04-29T02:34:00.000-07:00

Appendix IV

Moderately Low Calcium and Low Phosphorus Diet

The following list of foods allowed and foods to avoid was prescribed for me to help prevent the build-up of stone-like deposits in either the joints or kidneys. Because of my immobility, these calculi deposits become a real possibility for causing problems. Also, in an attempt to control my weight level, I try to maintain a 1250 diet.

Foods Allowed

Beverages: Milk in allowed amounts (4 oz.); coffee, tea, sanka, Postum

Breads: French or Italian without added milk; pretzels, saltines, soda crackers, matzoh, water rolls.

Cereals and Cereal Products: Farina (not enriched), regular cream of wheat, corn grits, corn flakes, rice, rice flakes, puffed rice, macaroni, noodles, spaghetti, corn meal, cornstarch, tapioca, white flour.

Judy: Misc. 6

2009-04-28T02:48:00.000-07:00

5. Foot upright - Place hand around the heel, forearm against the ball of the foot. Applying pressure from the arm, bend foot up as far as possible into a standing position; lower and repeat.
6. Ankle rotation - Place hand firmly under the ball of foot. Raise foot first into upright position, then rotate slightly so sole faces inward; return to upright position, then rotate until sole is turned out. Return to upright position and repeat.
Both resistive and active range of motion exercises for my arms as well as passive finger exercises were also prescribed for me, but I feel these areas are too specialized to be mentioned here. (See Appendix I, drawing 7 for sandbag pattern for active range of motion exercises.)

Judy: Misc. 5

2009-04-27T02:28:00.000-07:00

Appendix III

Passive Range of Motion Exercises

The following exercises are to be done by someone else. Repeat each exercise 10 times on each leg.

1. Straight leg raise - Place one hand under ankle, the other above the knee. Raise the leg from the hip, keeping the knee straight; lower and repeat.

2. Knee Bend - Place one hand under knee, the other under the ankle. Bring knee to the chest with the knee fully bent; straighten out and repeat.

3. Walk out - Place one hand under the knee and the other under the ankle. Keeping the knee straight and level with the hip, walk leg sideways and back; repeat.

4. Leg Roll - Place one hand above the knee, the other above the ankle. Keeping the knee straight, roll the leg from the hip - first out, then inward so leg is rotating a full 180 degrees.

Judy: Misc. 4

2009-04-26T03:35:00.001-07:00

Here, Judy added "Appendix I, Drawings," which includes drawings and directions for a telephone "cuff" a poncho, and devices to allow her to hold a pencil, eating utensil, or similarly-shaped aid.
Next comes "Appendix II," which consists of photographs of Judy and her surroundings. It includes pictures of various aids she used at work, such as specially designed stands for an "electronic differential counter" and glass slides, as well as Judy herself at home and at work in the lab. (She was a medical technician at a hospital in Philadelphia, Pa.)

Judy: Misc. 3

2009-04-24T03:02:00.000-07:00

5. Although I have never seen it, I have been told by a rehabilitation nursing instructor that the book Spinal Cord Injuries by Dr. Daniel Ruge (Chas. C. Thomas, Bannerstone House, 301 - 327 E. Lawrence Ave., Springfield, Ill.) contains a good section on rehabilitation.
6. A Mealtime Manual for the Aged and Handicapped is a unique, completely authoritative guide which clearly demonstrates how kitchen tasks can be streamlined to permit the aged and disabled to live active, self-sufficient lives. This manual includes sections pertaining to nutrition, menus, appliances and self-help devices. It also contains a comprehensive listing of organizations and agencies which offer information and help, along with sources for obtaining useful equipment. This little gem is published by Essandess Special Editions, a division of Simon and Schuster, INc., and comiled by the Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, New York University Medical Center. Their publication department, 400 E. 34th Street, New York, N.Y. 10016, also has other excellent pamphlets, etc., at minimal charges.

Judy: Misc., 2

2009-04-23T03:17:00.000-07:00

3. An excellent publication for the handicapped, their family and friends as well as professional people dealing with the handicapped is Accent on Living, which is an authoritative clearing house for problems confronting handicapped people. One of their projects is Accent on Information, a computerized data file which covers and answers specific questions on every aspect of handicapped life. Their address is - P.O. Box 726 Gillum Road and High Drive, Bloomington, Ill. 61701.
4. Clothing and some self-help devices are available through a catalogue published by Fashionable - Clothing for Handicapped Women, Rocky Hill, N.J. 08553.

Judy: Misc. I

2009-04-22T03:43:00.000-07:00

Miscellaneous

Because a continuing disability, such as mine, calls for the output of much time, energy, and money, it is foolish to realistically expect that anyone can contribute indefinitely without some help. Therefore, may I suggest a few areas worth of investigation for partial solutions and information.

1. Social Security Disability Compensation - Young adults involved in a catastrophic accident, who have worked a specified amount of time, should investigate their eligibility for disability payments and Medicare.

2. Montgomery County Homemakers furnish a limited, but very valuable service through their Home Health Aides.

Judy: Part IV

2009-04-21T02:33:00.000-07:00

PART IV

1 A.M. to 9 A.M. - Sleeping and turning

A. Once ready for sleep, we remove the wedge pillow and I am turned to my left side, using the huck drawsheet to position my hips comfortable and foam pillows behind my back, between my knees and under my head.

1. Although the normal practice dictates turning ever two hours, I have found through experience and the fact that I am using this Alternating Pressure Pad, that I can safely tolerate approximately three hours per side.

2. At the proper time, remove pillows and again using the huck drawsheet, turn to my back.

3. Later, final turn to the right side using pillows as before.

4. Return to back to begin the morning's work.

B. GOOD MORNING! As you can see, my care has spanned the full twenty-four hours of the day, but there is no question that I have benefitted from this routine.

Judy: Part III, b.

2009-04-20T02:43:00.000-07:00

B. Because I still have my daily quota of drinking to finish, evening pills and final serving of fruit to consume, I am arranged with my bedside table in front of me and the wedge foam pillow again behind me.
1. Frankly, this is the first time I have had to myself all day for quiet thinking, planning and just being myself.
2. When I feel like it, this is the time that I devote to relaxing, reading for pleasure, studying, listening to radio or records or watching TV.

Judy: Part III, a.

2009-04-17T02:50:00.000-07:00

Part III
9 P.M. to 1 A.M. - Evening Care
A. Once back in bed and undressed, evening care never varies. It always includes:
1. A thorough inspection of the skin of the hips, buttocks, heels, etc. for any signs of red or white spots. In the event one is found, it is rubbed with ointment or powder until the color approaches normal.
2. A thorough washing, rinsing and patting dry of all strategic areas. We use abundant Desetin powder in the rear folds and a coating of vaseline from a plastic tube in the front folds of the thighs. (We use the type type vaseline because it remains untouched until used. We apply it to the groin area because we have found this delicate skin to be inclined to slough and split and have been very pleased with the results of this precaution.)
3. Nightgown on, face and hands washed and the ritual is completed.

Judy: II, l. (End of Part II)

2009-04-16T03:43:00.000-07:00

2). In the interest of productivity and to a degree, self-discipline, I try to follow my own rule of always having a project going to keep me occupied. Because it is too easy a habit to slip into, this rules out daytime TV or reading for pleasure.
3). While I realize the editorial nature of the proceeding comments, I feel that these areas have added measurably to my attempt at being a functioning, contributing, involved person.
b. Again, generous fluid intake is just as important on this day as it was previously - so I continue to keep my kidneys working overtime.

Judy: II, k.

2009-04-15T08:09:00.000-07:00

2. At Home Day
a. These afternoons follow much the same routine as a work day, with the exception of getting into the wheelchair and car. They are usually quite full and often include friends who offer their hands for secretarial work and note taking, purely social visits, keeping up to date with a large correspondence and lecture notes and monthly appointments with the hairdresser, social worker and priest.
1). To help us remain interested in others, we have a very special friend who aids us all in keeping life manageable by listening to us vent our fears and frustrations. She is a social worker from the Family Service of Montgomery County who reinforces our judgements and realistically encourages us to live as normal a life as possible. Fortunately, we already have a very close family relationship, so her talents in helping achieve this goal are not used as fully as they otherwise might be.

Judy: II, j.

2009-04-14T02:27:00.000-07:00

6. Though not for me, hand controls for operating a car and available and many handicapped are capable of using them.
7. Thanks to the added mobility given me by the car, work at the hospital, visiting, shopping, dining out, etc. are all made possible.
c. The hours remaining after dinner and before bedtime are also spent in a variety of activities, such as preparing for class, entertaining, working on my latch hook rug or needlepoint (done with my teeth), typing and occasionally TV.
d. Keep drinking!
* * * * *

Judy: II, i.

2009-04-13T03:07:00.000-07:00

B. As with the morning program and governed by it, my afternoon also follows two basic patterns:
1. Work Day
a. Once up and able to function slightly more on my own, I can brush my own teeth, feed myself lunch and begin to drink the first of my five large containers of fluid. (Capacity for this quantity of fluid - about five quarts daily - comes from long practice and is not recommended for beginners.)
b. Later, strapped securely into my wheelchair, I am ready to get into my special car which is a Checker Cab converted to include:
1). Extra wide doors which open 180 degrees.
2). Portable ramps for getting into and out of the car.
3). A raised roof to accommodate my wheelchair while I am still sitting in it.
4). Wheel wells in the floor into which the chair wheels are firmly secured.
5). A head rest attached to the back of the wheelchair, completes the transportation picture.

Judy: II, h.

2009-04-12T02:43:00.000-07:00

g. Inexpensive book holders, which prop a book open on a table for easy reading, can be found in variety or stationary stores.
1). "Books-by-Mail" is a state funded program made available to shut-ins, through which homebound persons can order library books and have them delivered by mail. Books arrive accompanied by a pre-addressed return label and stamps for return postage. A "patient" can be declared eligible by any doctor, visiting nurse, therapist, home-health-aide, etc. Also made available through local libraries are record and tape libraries. Although I do not use these myself, I understand they are a very enjoyable way of "reading" a book. A record player for listening to these in provided by the Society for the Blind as a service for the visually handicapped.
2). Also available are filmed libraries, which project pre-filmed books onto a wall or ceiling for direct reading. Pages are turned forward or backward by pushing a button. Projector and films are supplied on indefinite loan through local libraries and the titles cover a wide range of topics.
* * * * *

Judy: Part II, g.

2009-04-11T03:52:00.000-07:00

f. For typing, I use a portable, manual typewriter and find that the strength and range of motion required is an added source of arm therapy.
1). For actually striking the keys, a second cuff made of Velcro, holding a pencil stub - eraser end down, works very well with the strength applied by both hands.
2). Because my letters are usually fairly short, I frequently use note paper which doubles as an envelope when folded and sealed with its own sticker. These are very attractive and hopefully take the sting out of the brevity of the message.
3). For longer projects or whenever more paper is required, we found continuous teletype paper, either in a roll or folded with perforations (Standard Register Co., York, Penna by the name "continuous letterhead - 9 x 11") to be another aid to my independence, since I do not have to keep asking someone for more paper.
4). Also, self-stick labels which come on a roll have been a great time and effort saver when addressing many envelopes, especially for the Christmas card list.

Judy: Part II, f.

2009-04-10T02:53:00.000-07:00

1). To make my writing darker and more legible than with a normal pen, I use a felt tip pen such as the Flair by Paper-mate.
2). A regular desk blotter with gummed photo holders arranged at varying intervals, forms a very simple holder to make writing on small pieces of paper, such as checks or envelopes, a little less difficult. I find it sufficient to secure only the top two corners of the envelope, etc. while writing.
3). A book of crossword puzzles used as a warm-up exercise before printing or writing something important, is a handy and painless way of getting the proper muscles co-ordinated.

Judy: Part II, e.

2009-04-09T03:15:00.001-07:00

c). Since I use a tape recorder in my work as a medical technologist, we purchased as record, having a remote control switch on the microphone for which my father built a stand incorporating a lever around the switch. With this beside my work area, I can bump the lever on and off a will, dictating comments whenever necessary. (See Appendix I, drawing 4)
d. A timer switch gives me some degree of independence in T.V. viewing or with other appliances. These come in models to turn one or more electrical appliances both on and off or only off, at pre - set times. (Again, Radio Shack)
e. And elastic ankle-wrist athletic cuff with two extra holes cut for inserting a pen, makes a simple device to hold the pen or pencil in a relatively normal position for writing. (Mine is by Baka Mfg. Co., Sharon, Mass. - model #301.) (See Appendix I, drawing 5)

Judy: Part II, d.

2009-04-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

2). For holding the receiver while placing calls and talking at greater lengths, I use a commercially sold shoulder-rest on another phone.
3). We also have a phone amplifier which allows a normal home phone to be used as an executive or conference phone. (Available at the Radio Shack - an electronics store with nationwide branches.)
b. A plug-and-talk intercom system is a convenient addition, especially for night time "sick room" monitoring. Plugged into any two household or electrical outlets it gives clear room-to-room, upstairs-downstairs, indoor-outdoor, etc. communications. (Also available at Radio Shack.)

Judy: Part II, c.

2009-04-07T03:08:00.000-07:00

3. Since most of my productivity and relaxation during the day depends upon the field of communictions in one way or another, we have found or devised much adaptive equipment to aid my independence in this area.
a. In order that I might make telephone calls, we have converted to the pushbutton type phone, which while slightly clumsy for everyday calls, at least enables me to push the "0" button for help in case of an emergency.
1.) For picking up the receiver and answering the phone, I have a "C" cuff of orthoplast taped to the back into which I can slip my hand. Any pliable material, light weight but rigid (such as aluminum) could be used for this. (See Appendix I, drawing 3)

Judy: Part II, b.

2009-04-06T03:39:00.000-07:00

2. To allow me as much independence as possible, I also use:
a. A universal cuff, made of Velcro, that can be used to hold such articles as a toothbrush, eating utensil or possibly a comb. (See Appendix I, drawing 2)
b. A special adjustable handle which can be fitted onto a glass and hooked over the hand for drinking. This works best with a tall thermo-plastic tumbler.
c. However, because I drink large quantities of fluid each day, a homemade "drinker" is much handier than consuming one glass at a time. This is nothing more than a quart-sized plastic refrigerator container with a hole in the lid through which is placed an elongated straw. (Two plastic straws with ends telescoped and taped together.)

Judy: Part II, a.

2009-04-05T04:16:00.000-07:00

Part II
1 p.m. to 9 p.m. - Living
A. Once situated in the wheelchair or chaise lounge for the day, I need many special devices, adaptations and household arrangements to make any routine activity possible. Before describing my afternoon's schedule, I will try to list and explain most of the self-help equipment involved.
1. Within the house, for my convenience, we have included:
a. A low level light switch on the wall which is easy to reach from a wheelchair.
b. A sink, located next to a door for easy access, which includes an individual control faucet rather than the dual control type. This make is possible for me ot ride to the side of the sink and control the flow and temperature of water with the pressure from only one. hand.
c. A desk, which is elevated on blocks for easy access from a wheelchair and is used for reading, writing and typing projects.
d. A large elevated dining counter, with plenty of leg room underneath, is for mealtimes and some of my more ambitious projects.
e. Slow grade ramps replace any outdoor steps and lead to doors amply wide for a wheelchair.

Judy: 1, r.*End of Part I)

2009-04-04T03:38:00.000-07:00

c). a metal pitcher, an oblong, pliable plastic dish basin and a cup for scooping water over the head.
d). patient is placed at an angle in the bed with head extended over the side into the basin. My hair is short and lends itself to this treatment. While not the best method, I thought it was a delight for many months.
d. Chest colds - Because of my inability to cough, any chest congestion is cause for concern. My method of coping with this problem is, first, to be helped into a sitting position, then lower myself until my head touches my knees. This applies enough gentle pressure on the diaphragm to allow m to cough and clear my chest.

Judy:1, q.

2009-04-03T02:32:00.000-07:00

c. Besides shampooing in the tub, we have evolved two alternate methods for accomplishing this activity:
1). When I am in the wheelchair it is possible, by using a special shampoo tray with suction cups to wash my hair in a sink equipped with an extension spray house. We use a sheet of plastic pinned around my neck to protect both the wheelchair and myself from suds and spray.
2). During those few times when I was unable to get out of bed, we managed to shampoo my hair satisfactorily, if somewhat primitively, while I was still flat on my back. We used:
a). the flannel lined plastic table cloth to protect the bed and several towels for mopping wet hair.
b). the bedside table lowered to bed height and placed as close as possible to the side of the bed.

Judy: 1, p.

2009-04-02T04:53:00.000-07:00

5.) Once dressed, care must be taken to keep underpants from constricting the catheter in the crotch area.
6.) Because I do not use a leg bag for urine collection, a larger, more noticeable drainage bag is attached securely to the side of my wheelchair. It is important to make sure that the tubing does not become tangled in the wheels. To make this arrangement less conspicuous, we use a zippered plastic attache case as a cover-up.
b. Menstrual Period - Because of so many h ours spent in the wheelchair, with no possibility of changing the pad, I find the following to be best for me:
1). One-fourth of an extra absorbent birds-eye diaper, folding in sixths, makes a soft, non-abrasive, easily placed pad. This should be situated in such a way that it is smooth, not binding and away from the catheter. (It is because of the catheter that a belt cannot be used.)
2). For slower days, mini-pads are small enough to be used safely.
3). Some might find Tampax satisfactory, but I have never been daring enough to try them with the catheter.

Judy: 1, o.

2009-04-01T03:49:00.000-07:00

a). Using approximately six inches of non-allergenic Dermicel silk tape, fold the middle three inches in half, stick sides together. This leaves approximately one and one-half inches at each end for sticking onto the leg.
b). Using the non-sticky portion (middle) of the tape, form a loop loosely around the catheter tube on the inner, upper thigh area. When properly positioned, secure both sticky ends to the leg. These in turn are secured by Dermicel clear tape at right angles to the silk tape. (See Appendix I, drawing 6)
4). Due to a greatly reduced bladder capacity, I cannot clamp off my catheter during the trip to the bath tub. Instead, we have another string and hook suspended from the side of the tub for hanging the drainage bag while I am bathing.

Judy: 1, n.

2009-03-31T03:10:00.000-07:00

2). My catheter changing routine at home is identical to that used in any hospital, that is, sterile. For this we provide the nurse with a commercially prepared sterile kit containing gloves, drape, lubricant, cleansing solution, cotton balls, sterile water and syringe, along with a new catheter and drainage bag. Needless to say, care is taken to prevent damaging the wrapping of these kits. We keep a supply of both kits and catheters on hand in case the new catheter inadvertently becomes contaminated during insertion.
3). Because my legs must be moved for therapy and sitting, we have devised a way of taping the catheter securely, which allows freedom of movement and yet puts no stress on my urethra. Rather than plastering the catheter immovably to my leg, we use the following procedure:

Judy: 1, m.

2009-03-30T05:25:00.000-07:00

3. Miscellaneous
a. Foley Catheter
1. During the past several years we have used a variety of catheters and procedures for their care. I will try to explain how we have progressed through these various stages:
a. 1968 - used latex catheter with added opening to allow for insertion of continuous antibiotic irrigation (saline plus neosporin).
b. 1969 - used normal latex catheter, which we irrigated manually with a sterile water solution. Thankfully, this procedure was discontinued immediately upon discovery that it was causing bladder spasms which were refluxing bacteria-laden urine toward my kidneys. As I regularly drink 5000 cc. daily of any non-alcoholic liquid, it was felt that this internal irrigation was every bit as effective and for me, less dangerous than the manual irrigation.
c. 1970 - changed to the then new type Foley Silastic catheter. This is a latex catheter coated with a layer of silicon which is intended to reduce the body's normal rejection mechanism.
d. 1972 - changed to an all Silicon catheter, which claims an even longer life with far less sediment build-up and irritation than even the previous Silastic type.

Judy: 1, l.

2009-03-27T03:24:00.000-07:00

1.) An alternative to doing this during the morning routine, s to insert the suppository upon retiring in the evening. Action takes place while patient sleeps on side with Chux strategically placed and can be tied up before turning. (Night time turning will be described in Part IV.)
g. Begin bathing this day from the rear (rolling out soiled Chux), then front - following with particular care the rule of never returning a soiled wash cloth to the bath pail. Scrupulous white glove treatment of all creases of the perineal area insures protection of the skin.
h. Sit up for remainder of bed bath or prepare for tub bath.
i. Dress, arrange Hoyer sling, etc. as described previously. (Because of the above mentioned bowel impaction, have found it better for me not to use the brace this day; therefore, rather than the wheelchair, the chaise lounge is brought into service.
* * * * *

Juldy: 1, k.

2009-03-26T02:01:00.000-07:00

b. Insert Dulcolax suppository as first step in program, using a well lubricated rubber glove. (We wrap and save the glove for use later in this routine.)
c. Spread underpad (Chux). This is necessary in my case, as I cannot be placed on a bedpan or commode for a variety of reasons 0 the main one being to prevent undue prolonged pressure to critical spots on my skin.
d. Breakfast is fed to me this morning while I am still flat on my back. (Hot coffee stimulates action of the suppository.)
e. Range of motion exercises. These also aid action of the Dulcolax. (See Appendix III)
f. Finish program by using the well lubricated rubber glove for gentle stimulation of the rectum, which pretty well insures two day free from accidents. Using the middle finger for this procedure is also a good way of detecting an impaction. (An enameled porcelain container lined with paper towels is used for collecting refuse and toilet paper which is then flushed into toilet. Lysol is used liberally as a disinfectant during the process of cleaning up this container. Needless to say, all this involves much hand washing - we still use pHisohex.)

Judy:1, j.

2009-03-25T04:44:00.000-07:00

2. Bowel Program Day - The aim of this day is to get me up and functioning in much the same manner as we previously described for a work day, but with some necessary variations in procedure as dictated by this day's priority - the bowel program.
a. Preparation for the success of this function has been incorporated into our daily life style, i.e., diet, medication, etc.
1. Medication - Uricoline (a smooth muscle relaxer) which was prescribed for me as a result of an earlier bowel impaction and Colace (a stool softener).
2. Large quantities of fluid - I drink approximately five quarts daily. This serves the dual purpose of thoroughly flushing the urinary system.
3. At least three servings of fruit and fruit juice daily - I prefer to use a small jar of strained baby fruit as one serving and dried apricots or my allowance of dried prunes as a second serving. Fruit or vegetable juice makes the third serving. (Appendix IV)
4. A salad or fresh vegetable is included in at least one meal daily for bulk.

Judy: 1, i

2009-03-24T05:04:00.000-07:00

g. Begin dressing which includes:
1.) Surgical elastic stockings with flared thigh. (Mine are by Kenlon and are quite expensive, $35.00 a pair, but they last about a year.) Their function is to prevent blood from pooling in my feet and legs and to permit me the security of sitting with my feet lowered without fainting.
2.) Hoke Polio Sitting Corset with rigid metal uprights. This glamours looking garment of sturdy canvas is custom made with metal uprights shaped ot fit my spinal curves. Its purpose is to make breathing easier and to add stability to my sitting position in the wheelchair - I must sit at a slightly reclined angle.
3.) the remainder of dressing includes a bra, panties, dress, etc. (See Appendix V)
h. Even though most of the above procedure is accomplished with me in a prone position, it does not require as much brute strength as would seem likely. The necessary turning is done by using body leverage which enables the nurse to accomplish her tasks without undue tugging and pulling on my arms and legs.
i. Arrange the nylon Hoyer sling with patient carefully centered to insure a comfortable sitting position and proper balance. Time and practice in the use of the hoist gives confidence, but we usually have an extra person present for learners. Hurrah! Hours later, I am up in the wheelchair and ready to go.
* * * * *

Judy: 1, h.

2009-03-23T05:16:00.001-07:00

e. Begin the bed bath, using he equipment previously described here - teacart, two-sided pail, etc. This portion of my bath includes face, hands, arms, abdomen, back and shoulders and is done while I am still in a sitting position. We rub Jean Nate liberally on my back and shoulders as a skin toner.
f. Lower the bed, change the water in the pail and begin the most important part of daily care - a thorough careful washing of the creases in the groin, vaginal and catheter areas. We use a procedure of gentle soaping, then several clear rinses, using thin wash cloths for both washing and drying. This delicate skin needs to be patted (not rubbed) thoroughly dry to keep it from deteriorating and sloughing away. The same process is following from the rear, including the back part of the catheter area. Once sure the folds of flesh are no longer damp, we use Desitin powder freely, being sure to protect the vaginal opening. (The reasoning behind using the thinner wash cloths, rather than a towel, is that they maneuver better in close quarters.) An alternative here, rather than the complete bed bath, is to get in to the bath tub after the catheter area has been cleaned.

Judy: 1, g

2009-03-22T04:51:00.000-07:00

B. The actual morning's work breaks down into two distinct programs which occur on alternate days.
1. Work day - My goal on this day is to be mobile in my motorized wheelchair and usually this is a day when I go to work. To accomplish this we use a routine similar to the following:
a. Count the day's medication into individual pill cups to prevent any later mix-up.
b. Coat feet and ankles moderately with Dermassage, stroking (never messaging) lightly upwards from the toes to the calf. This is to keep the skin from drying or cracking as we do not bathe my feet and legs daily.
c. Do passive range of motion exercises on legs. (See Appendix III) The purpose of these is to keep my tendons and muscles limber, but they also have a very relaxing effect on my back and help to unwind any muscle tension that may have built up overnight.
d. Sit up in bed for breakfast, using a foam rubber wedge pillow behind my back. This upright position is a refreshing relief after lying down all night, but it also serves the purpose of stabilizing my blood pressure, as I am often quite dizzy when I first sit up. In this position, gravity allows me to feed myself from a bedside table which is placed in front of me. Feeding myself breakfast on this day is my only active participation in the entire morning's schedule. (See Appendix IV)

Judy 1, f.

2009-03-21T02:33:00.000-07:00

8. Once finally out of bed, I sit on the flotation pad in a motorized wheelchair, which comes with its own battery charger - or - we have found a thick cushioned, outdoor type chaise lounge to be a comfortable alternative. This lends itself to being towed throughout the house or outdoors Incorporated in the lounge is a padded footboard to support my feet in an upright and flat position. Seated as usual on my flotation pad, I can relax snugly and work or read easily at a table which my father made to fit over the lounge. (When using this chaise, an additional wedge of foam rubber is abutted to the flotation pad to prevent shearing my skin.)
9. All of the preceding equipment, as well as any necessary supplies (extra pillows, sweaters, shoes, lingerie, shampoo, etc.) are contained within a combination laundry-storage room adjacent to my bedroom. We solved the problem of storage space by using shelves concealed behind white window shades, rather than expensive, cumbersome cabinets. My experience has been that a well organized storage space allows a new person to be introduced to our routine without undue confusion. This organization also extends to a file cabinet which contains most of my personal effects and projects, thus allowing me to direct someone else to locate any item easily.
* * * * *

Judy: 1, e.

2009-03-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

c. Another possible addition to the tub is a contoured plastic or fiber-glass chair with suction cups to hold it in place. Personally, I prefer to sit on a folded bath towel with a second one folded and place behind my back.
d. To prevent the room from becoming hopelessly wet as I transfer in the lift from the tub, we have devised a very successful routine.
1). While I am being bathed, the bed linen is changed and covered completely with a large, flannel-lined plastic table cloth - flannel side up.
2). This in turn is covered with a large terry cloth beach towel. We made our own from three yards of 36" terry toweling.
3.) When I am ready to transfer back to bed, we re-attach and raise the lift and, while I am suspended over the tub, wrap a second beach towel around my back and seat. With all excess water blotted dry by the time I reach bed, the remaining process of rolling off the protective covering is neat and easy.
e. Extra shower rods over the tub for hanging the wet towels and sling complete t he entire set-up and a folding screen painted to match the walls hides it all form view when not in use. This screen also gives privacy by covering the doorway when I am in the tub.
f. An alternative to the bath tub, especially for a hospital or nursing home patient, is a ledge-less hospital type stall shower used with a special shower chair or a blanket covered hospital stretcher. I used this latter method like a "car wash" - feet end wheeled in first, then reverse for upper end and shampoo. After four months of nothing but bed baths, the running water felt marvelous!

Judy: 1, d.

2009-03-19T04:50:00.000-07:00

7. Every third or fourth morning includes a trip into my bath tub in lieu of the bed bath. My father installed a small tub i my bedroom on an elevated platform. (See Appendix I, drawing 1). This enables the legs of the Hoyer Lifter, which I use to transfer from the bed into the tub, to glide smoothly under the tub allowing me to be lowered safely into it. (For safety and security, this should be a two person operation.) For this trip, I use a second Moyer sling, which we keep separate just for splashing days. Included in the tub are several extra features for both safety and comfort:
a. A grab bar on the wall, well within the reach of my are - and no-skid strips on the bottom of the tub (mine are adhesive backed rubber flowers), I feel are very necessary.
b. In place of the standard shower head, we ordered from Sear's catalogue an adjustable, hand-held shower head with a five foot long metal hose. This turns and sitting bath and shampoo into a shower and works just beautifully.

Judy: I, c.

2009-03-18T02:24:00.000-07:00

c. Top sheets folded in half, rather than cut, and used double also help to eliminate bulk.
d. A huck drawn sheet fashioned from a two and one-half yard length of the toweling folding in half and stitched securely, makes minor adjustments in my position easier for the nurse.
6. Most mornings include a sponge bath in bed and for this we have found:
a. A two-sided plastic water pail works very well with one side used for soaping and the other side for clear rinsing.
b. During the past five years we have amassed quite a supply of bath linen, which includes more than sixty wash cloths and about a dozen each hand and bath towels. This is really not as extravagant as it seems, because a bad day can wipe out the entire supply. (A soiled wash cloth is never returned to the pail, to prevent contaminating the bath water. Pursuing this topic of contamination, any linen which is dropped or touches the e floor, goes directly into that day's laundry - unused.) Pillow case, bottom sheet and nightgown are all laundered daily along with each morning's accumulation of bath linen. A bacteriostatic fabric softener is always used in the laundry rinse water. All of this may seem over scrupulous, but it has proven effective in maintaining healthy skin.
7. A metal tea cart can be a great help in the daily bath, by wheeling bath water, soap, linen, powder, cologne, Dermassage, etc. right up to the bedside, so everything is within reach. Ours includes an electrical outlet into which a razor or other appliance may be plugged.

Judy: I, b..

2009-03-17T02:21:00.000-07:00

4. Also in use daily is a Hoyer Lifter (Ted Hoyer & Co., Oshkosh, Wisc.), which enables one person to transfer almost anyone from a bed into a wheelchair, chaise lounge or bath tub and back again. A one piece nylon sling serves as a seat and remains under the patient during the day.
5. From daily use we have found:
a. Extra long (39" x 80") contour bottom sheets fit a hospital mattress much better than the regular ones.
b. Blankets cut in half width-wise and bound, cause much less bulk than whole ones, especially when the side rails are raised. To prevent my feet from pronating and to allow excess body heat to escape, we do not tuck the blankets at the bottom, but leave them free and folded back with most of the weight on my shins.

Judy: I, a.

2009-03-16T05:02:00.000-07:00

Part I
9 A.M. to 1 P.M. - Morning Care
A. Since the entire morning's work is actually bedside care, I will begin with an inventory of all items involved:
1. A hospital type bed is a great help to the "nurse" for bedside care; bathing, dressing and physical therapy are all much easier when the "patient" is at a convenient height. My bed had full length guard rails on both sides, which make turning and lying on my side much safer. It also have a standard I.V. pole attached to the footboard from which we hang a string to suspend the catheter drainage bag below mattress level.
2. In addition to the regular mattress on the bed, I use an Alternating Pressure Pad Unit (Grant Airmass Corp., Vanderbilt, Mich.) to help prevent pressure sores.
3. Also for this purpose, I have a Stryker Flotation Pad (Stryker Corp., Kalamazoo, Mich.) and/or a Jobst Flotation Pad (Jobst Institute, Inc., Toledo, Ohio) which are both made of a jelly-like substance and used as a seat cushion in my wheelchair or chaise lounge by day and under my heels by night. Available in conjunction with either of these flotation pads is a foam leveling mattress, made to surround the pad on the bed. We have been pleased to have mine during electrical power failures, when the alternating air pad was not working.
(Note: Judy underlined the words that appear in italics above. As the computer doesn't seem to have an underlining capacity, I'll follow the italics mode throughout.)

Judy: Intro Continued

2009-03-15T03:56:00.000-07:00

For want of a better way to present this information, I will describe a typical day's schedule, listing whatever seems appropriate, equipment, special details and our reasons for proceeding as we do. Although I know it need not be stressed, I should mention that all physical therapy, medications and diet restrictions have been suggested for my particular condition and should have a doctor's approval before being used in another case.
I am a twenty-eight year old, basically healthy, female quadriplegic. Since September 1967, when my spinal cord was crushed at the C-5,6 level, I have been paralyzed and without feeling from the shoulders down, which has necessitated the use of a Foley catheter and an organized bowel routine. To allow me to lead as normal and active a life as possible, our goal two days a week is preparing me to leave the house for several hours in the afternoon to work in the lab at Sacred Heart Hospital. Other afternoons are spent visiting with friends, either in person or by phone, shopping at our nearby mall, studying and preparing for work, dining out and keeping up with my correspondence and avocations.
In the interest of clarity, details will be presented in four segments:
Part I - 9 A.M. to 1 P.M. (Morning care)
Part II - 1 P.M. to 9 P.M. (Living)
Part III - 9 P.M. to 1 A.M. (Evening care)
Part IV - 1 A.M. to 9 A.M. (Sleeping and turning)
Judith Byrne
1819 Gravers Road
Norristown, Penna.
19401
(Note: I omitted the next page, as it is an index that repeats the section titles and seems unnecessary here.)

Judy: Introduction

2009-03-14T03:31:00.000-07:00

These pages were not written with the intention of being a "How-to-do-it" for the handicapped, but merely to share with others the results of our endeavors. Professional aid and much family co-operation have made it possible for us to cope with the many problems of a quadriplegic living at home.
While I do not presume to tell the nurse how to do her work, I feel this is an area where a nurse's role as a teacher should be emphasized. She is needed to guide the patient and family through the awesome transition from hospital care, where all services are provided (diet kitchen, laundry, housekeeping , physical and occupational therapy, counseling and of course, nursing), to home care, where imagination and ingenuity are required to perform all these duties which now fall upon the untrained family.
Things that may seem logical and second nature in the areas of hygiene, skin care, organization and routine to someone with medical training, are a frightening mystery to the family newly accepting these responsibilities. It is my hope that you nurses might draw from our ideas, hopefully enlarge upon them and pass all or parts of them on to others who share problems similar to mine.

"The Handicapped At Home": Foreword

2009-03-13T15:36:00.000-07:00

Foreword
After a year-long hiatus, I'm adding to "Uncle Frank's Farm" or "Domino Lane." (I honestly don't know the official name of this blog--but no matter.) Here's the reason:
I recently received a copy of a manuscript written by my dear cousin, Judy, in 1981. Judy was the daughter of my Uncle Frank and Aunt Claire, both of whom she predeceased. As noted earlier, she was the author of a textbook for medical technology students, of which I have a copy.
This paper concerns her personal situation and is called "The Handicapped At Home/revised for medical personnel." It details the care Judy received after the accident that left her paralyzed from the shoulders down (C-5,6) at the age of 22.
It's painful to realize how difficult it must have been for her to put these thirty-plus pages together. In Judy's later years, she used a computer, but they were not common 28 years ago. By means of a dowel fastened by Velcro on her right hand, she laboriously typed this letter by letter on a manual typewriter. The manuscript includes diagrams and photographs, but on my copy, the latter show up poorly, as it was duplicated on a black and white copier. That isn't too important, though, as Judy's words--calm, measured, and clear--tell the whole story. With great dignity and no self-pity, she outlines the incredible amount of time and effort it took to care for her. Even for non-medical personnel, it's enthralling.
And harrowing.
I will try to add some of the manuscript, at least a few times a week, if not every day; I will leave it exactly as written. I think the Byrne relatives who actually are "medical personnel," will find it interesting, but I believe laypeople, as I am, will, too.
I was privileged to know Judy. I visited her as often as I could and we corresponded via e-mail in between. I saw her a few days before her death. Our family was richer because of her and I think she would be pleased to know that her manuscript--and her person--have not been forgotten.

Aunt Claire's Death

2008-02-12T16:38:00.000-08:00

Aunt Claire died five days ago. She had celebrated her ninety-seventh birthday on January 11. The funeral was at St. Anthony of Padua Church, in Ambler, Pa--a viewing, then mass, then Aunt Claire was whisked away to be cremated.
She always had a sense of style and she looked very nice in her coffin. Her wavy white hair was freshly washed, her nails were polished, and she wore a pretty pink suit. With a skirt.
On the lapel was a rhinestone pin, the kind of rather garish ornament a child would select. A child had: Judy had given it to Aunt Claire years before, when she was a little girl. The pin said, "Mother," but there was no little girl to mourn her.
Life is a bitch sometimes.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs, Chapter 2, XVIII

2006-11-20T05:07:00.000-08:00

My sister, Rose, married John Ryan in January, 1938. We were living in Baltimore at the time and drove up early in the morning, leaving our five children at Grandmother Renz's while we attended the wedding.
Joe married Betty Knox of Germantown in September, 1940, and the following year, Edmond and Frances Kearns were married in West Philadelphia. November, 1942, Frank and Claire Spratt were married at Holy Cross Church, Mount Airy. Claire had always been a family friend and was a classmate of Rose's.
Betty had spent some time in the Army Nurse Corps in England during World War II, then returned to hospital duty in Washington, D.C. Here she met Ed Hitt from Alexandria, Virginia and they married in May, 1946 and made their home in Rockville, Maryland.
All the family were married and the Byrne Estate was sold to the City of Philadelphia for the purpose of building an incinerator. Final settlement was made in 1956.

End of Chapter Two
(Note: There is no Chapter Three; Aunt Mary's narrative ends here.)

Aunt Mary's Memoirs, Chapter Two: XVII

2006-11-19T03:32:00.000-08:00

The property on Domino Lane was rented, the houses as dwellings. The pasture was blasted for rock and became a stone quarry; the city of Philadelphia paid for dumping trash on another section. Frank had moved the livestock and machinery to a farm in Lansdale. Ed and myself and our young family lived on the Byrne estate for a few years trying our hand at the chicken business. Moneywise, this was a failure, but our kiddies did benefit from plenty of fresh vegetables and lots of clean country air. This was the time of the Great Depression.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs, Chapter 2: XVI

2006-11-18T03:58:00.000-08:00

My mother had continued living on the farm on Domino Lane after my father's death. Frank was the farmer and he made this his life's work. Jim had graduated from Villanova University and married. Joe learned the carpenter trade and worked in Germantown and later was a policeman. Edmond helped on the farm while attending evening classes as Drexel Institute for Engineering. Rose had a bookkeeping position and later was a hairdresser. Betty went into nursing at St. Agnes Hospital in Philadelphia.
As Mother became very ill, Rose gave up her position and stayed home to take care of her. Mother suffered for over a year with cancer and died in January, 1931.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs, Chapter 2: XV

2006-11-17T05:21:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, November 25, 1925, was our wedding day. The day before Thanksgiving we were married at Holy Family Church and a reception for relatives and close friends was held at home. We then went off for a four-day honeymoon. Expecting some trick by my brothers, we were hurrying out when I slipped on a wet icy spot as there had been a light snow that morning. I fell and got a hole in my stocking and so it was we left for New York City to start off our life together. After returning, we lived with Ed's mother, father, and two younger sisters, Elizabeth and Marion, until we bought a home of our own in Germantown the following year.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs, Chapter 2: XIV

2006-11-16T02:48:00.000-08:00

Here we grew up, enjoying farm life, attending church and school in Manayunk, and making friends. Walking home from Sodality on Tuesday evenings my girlfriend and I would be joined by some of the local boys; this is how I met Ed Renz. He was sixteen years old at the time and lived at Ridge and Fairthorne Avenues. We began to date. He took me to see plays in Germantown and walks on Sunday afternoons. This lasted a year or so, then we went our separate ways. After many friends, parties, dances, and social affairs, five or six years later we started to go out again. One August evening after a swimming date, he surprised me by asking if I would marry him.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs, Chapter 2: XIII

2006-11-15T04:16:00.000-08:00

Uncle Joe married a girl from St. Johns' parish, Manayunk, and they also lived in Gladwyne. Uncle Jim had moved to Wise Mill Road, Roxborough, so the three young families visited one another often by horse and carriage. Grandmother Keating Byrne was getting up in years and lived with Aunt Mary and Uncle John Hughes in South Philadelphia, but came frequently to spend a few days at our house, so I was told. I was not yet three years old so have no remembrance of her. She died early in the year 1905. It was about this time my father bought a farm on Domino Lane and we moved to Roxborough. In July, 1905, brother Joe was born.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs, Chapter 2: VII

2006-11-14T06:05:00.000-08:00

The young couple lived on the farm in Bala, and my brothers, Tom and John, were born there. Jim was born after the family moved to Hollow and Mill Creek Road, Lower Merion Township. It was on the day he was christened that a lad, fifteen years old, fresh from the Ould Country came to the farm and asked for work. My father hired him and he stayed with the family until his death at aged seventy. This was "Mike" Sheeran.
Soon after this, at the turn of the century, my mother's youngest sister, Maggie, came to live with them. She was only sixteen years old. When I was born in May, 1902, Aunt Maggie was my godmother along with mother's brother, Patrick, who had also come from Ireland and lived in Atlantic City, N.J.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs, Chapter 2: VI

2006-11-13T03:56:00.000-08:00

About this time a young Irishman named John Hughes was the bartender for my father's sister, Fannie, and her husband. When my Aunt Mary met this handsome lad they promptly fell in love. As John had promised his younger sister, Lizzie, when he left Ireland, that same day he would send for her. He now did so and when my father met the pretty Irish colleen he lost his heart and asked her to be his wife.
My mother had spent her childhood in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Ireland. Her father was a farmer but also worked as a carpenter. He had married Mary Ann McElkenny, the daughter of a tailor who lived nearby, and they had seven children. John was the oldest son; Lizzie was ten years younger. She was 22 years old when she became my father's bride. He was thirty-two.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs, Chapter 2: VI

2006-11-12T02:46:00.000-08:00

Pop's oldest sister, Margaret, entered the Convent of the Good Shepherd. Fanny married Daniel Kelly, a twenty-year-older man who owned a saloon. The oldest brother, Jim, married early and kept a shoe store. Willie married and was a huckster. Henry went out west to seek his fortune and was lost track of.
My father was ten years old when his father died. Grandmother Byrne was a strong willed woman and reared her family well, along with her two nephews, the Dempseys who were orphaned in Ireland. It was in 1882 that she sold the farm on Stonehouse Lane, South Philadelphia to her oldest son, who now had a growing family. She started my father on a farm on Falls Road, Bala, Pa., with his sister Mary to keep house for him. Then she set up the youngest son, Joe, on a farm in Gladwyne and she lived with him until his marriage. Uncle Joe served milk to the people of Manayunk; my father's route was the Falls of Schuylkill.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs, Chapter 2: V

2006-11-11T03:39:00.000-08:00

My father's Aunt Margaret Byrne Flanagan had a grocery store at 42nd and Market Streets. It was with this aunt that his sister Rose took refuge from gossiping neighbors when she was jilted by her young man, practically at the altar.
A cousin, John Duffy, was a cattle dealer and when I was a small child he would come to our house to see about buying or selling cows. He was stout, had white hair and a mustache, and smoked big cigars. I always knew he was visiting when I smelled that pleasant aroma as I came home from school.
Other cousins of my father were the Deerings of South Philadelphia whose entire family was murdered by a disgruntled farmhand. The story of this gruesome deed never failed to thrill me.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs, Chapter 2: IV

2006-11-10T03:18:00.000-08:00

As my grandfather grew to manhood in Dunlavin, County Wicklow, in the early 1800's, he was instilled with an appreciation of his heritage and pride in his forebearers and he passed this down to his children. He was the son of a surveyor and a land-measurer; he fell in love with Mary Keating from County Kildare. After their marriage they came to America, settled on a farm in South Philadelphia, and were blessed with many children, my father being third to the youngest.
My grandmother's parents, brothers and sisters, also emigrated to this country, as did some of grandfather's relatives. There are records in the Journal of the Early American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia of a Mrs. Mary Byrne O'Toole, who died at the age of 105 years and is buried in Old Saint Mary's Graveyard, 4th & Spruce Strs., Philadelphia, Pa,

Aunt Mary's Memoirs, Chapter 2: III

2006-11-09T03:27:00.000-08:00

I learned that most families felt their own particular lineage was superior to all others; and of course it is, and everyone should feel this way.
However, there was just cause to be proud of the Byrne family. We are descendants of a brave and courageous ancestry. Many stores are told in Irish history of the dauntless courage and glorious valor of the O'Byrne clan as early as the twelfth century. The title of the chief was Lord of Ranelagh and the family seat was Ballinacor, in Glenmaure. The lands known as O'Byrne Country were situated among the Wicklow Mountains and many battles were fought and won there. Over the years the "O" had to be dropped from the family name when the British government seized their lands and possessions and forced them to come under English rule.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: Chapter 2: II

2006-11-08T07:10:00.000-08:00

Papa's two sisters we saw frequently: Aunt Rose had never married; Aunt Mary married my mother's brother and they had no offspring of their own. This was a disappointment to them with the result they took a great interest in all the nephew and nieces. The oldest brother had eleven children; the youngest brother had three girls; and there were two boys and a girl of another brother, besides our large family. Aunt Mary and Aunt Rose gave parties and although we were younger than our cousins, we were often invited to these gatherings in the pretty parlor in South Philadelphia to play games and enjoy the good eats. The older boy cousins brought their lady friends and as they married, the brides would then be included into the groups.
No Byrne ever married into another family but rather he brought his wife into our Clan and must meet with the proper approval by the elders. It was not until I was long married and with children of my own, and most of the aunts and uncles had passed on, that I felt free to be myself.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs, Chapter 2: I

2006-11-07T03:04:00.000-08:00

As a young girl I had heard aunts, uncles and older cousins speak of the Byrne family as something special. Indeed, as I recall, being a Byrne was almost on a par with being a Catholic. Listening to grown-ups' conversations, I sometimes detected a different set of rules for the family than for those outside the clan. What was a misdemenor or wrongdoing by a cousin was often laughed off in the telling as a prank and excusable, wheras the same act by somebody else would surely bring criticism and condemnation.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: XXV

2006-11-06T04:03:00.000-08:00

In the spring of 1924, Papa died. There had been a late heavy snow and he had shoveled paths from the house to the milkhouse and barn, piling it three feet high on either side. He caught a cold, pneumonia developed, and he died within a week.
I had been away at a party at a girlfriend's house on Saturday night and had stayed over Sunday with her. When I came home and learned my father was so ill I immediately went to his room. He was always proud of being a Byrne, and now told me to never forget who I was and to take pride in my family heritage. I was a young lady at this time and worked as a secretary in an insurance office in Philadelphia and had several young men courting me.
End of Chapter One

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: XXIV

2006-11-05T03:26:00.000-08:00

I sometimes feel that I was more or less favored, being the first girl after three boys: I was given music lessons, practicing on the big square piano in the cold parlor. Later that parlor served for our dancing and Sunday night parties when my brother Jim and his friends and my friends would get together. I would make a cake in the afternoon and with tea or cocoa, many a good time we had. Tom would occasionally stay and join us, but usually he was too grown up for our little affairs. In the summertime we would set a long table outside on the lawn and sometimes had as many as twenty or thirty young people present.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: XXIII

2006-11-04T02:45:00.000-08:00

Mother wore high-necked shirtwaists and long, flowing skirts with high button shoes, as this was the fashion of the day. I had large bows of ribbon for my hair and wide silk scarves or sashes around my chubby waist or slightly below. The style of bathing suit for a trip to the seashore was more like a dress with full bloomers underneath, worn with stockings, shoes and a cap, of course, to hold our long hair.
One birthday I was given a pretty parasol, white with huge pink roses and green leaves. Ladies carried these for protection from the sun. Another cherished gift, at Christmas, was a knitted wool cap and scarf. When I wore this with my fur muff which was lined with silk and had a small purse embedded in it, I felt proud as I could be.
There was a beautiful velvet bonnet which was very becoming to me, it was said. It had been a hand-me-down from a cousin, as was the good red chinchilla coat with the bright brass buttons. I received many good clothes from this cousin, who was a few years older. As my cousin outgrew these pretty things, Mother was only too happy to have them for me.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: XXII

2006-11-03T03:16:00.000-08:00

One thing I remember: I was usually in charge of the younger ones during Mother's absence and she always brought home some goodie. Her last errand in town before boarding the homemade trolley was to stop at Hanscom's Baking Shop and buy some cinnamon buns, tarts or cupcakes. She would come down the lane at the end of the day carrying a few packages, the rest to be delivered in a day or so, tired but satisfied she had accomplished a lot and enjoyed a day out for a change. I learned many years later to know that same feeling myself, and my mind would go back to those early years of Mother coming home with the "treat" for her kiddies, having had a tiring but pleasant day herself as a break from the daily chore of tending her large brood.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: XXI

2006-11-02T03:50:00.000-08:00

Living so far out in the country, away from the city streets, it was surprising the number of tramps, beggars and peddlers who would walk back the lane: brush salesmen, coffee and tea men, and also spice and ointment dealers found their way there to sell to the farmers' wives. As Pop went out every day he usually brought home the meat and extras we needed, and growing our own crops we were more or less self-sufficient. Mother shopped for some of our clothing in Manayunk at Fosters or Proppers department stores and she made most of the clothes for us girls herself. For larger items like coats, hats, a good dress, or shoes, and suits for the boys she would take a trolley from Manayunk and ride into town. She liked Strawbridges and Gimbels, and had good taste in her selections, with the result that she always dressed neatly and so did her children. We didn't get too many clothes but when we got new things they were good and were made to last.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: XX

2006-11-01T04:52:00.000-08:00

I can remember going with Jim after confession on a Saturday afternoon to the library on Green Lane. After going over many books and making our selections we came out into the late autumn afternoon or evening air and found it quite dark, which meant a long walk home through the woods and long lanes with the expectation of goblins lurking behind every tree. We kept up a continuous conversation all the way just to boost our courage. How welcome the lights in the kitchen looked as we came in sight of the house. After a good warm supper which Mother had kept waiting for us, we sat down to enjoy the new adventures in the books we had chosen...Deerslayer, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn...

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: XIX

2006-10-31T03:49:00.000-08:00

At the extreme end of Domino Lane was the river and here were the locks of the Manayunk canal, which Mr. Giles would operate to let the boats pass. Mules pulled the boats and barges along the canal bank. Umbria Street was later cut through the end of our property leaving a persimmon grove on the far side. These trees were so tall that no one could ever climb them to get the fruit, so we waited until the ripened persimmons fell to the ground. From such a height they were consequently smashed and we usually ate them dirt and all if we wanted to taste their unusual goodness.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: XVIII

2006-10-30T06:51:00.000-08:00

We had gasoline lamps on our lane. Mornings and evenings we would see the old lamplighter carrying his ladder and torch from lamppost to lamppost, always with a happy greeting on his dark Italian face, very much like Robert Louis Stevenson's poem "The Old Lamplighter."
Sometimes we took long walks, my brothers and I, with the dog "Rover" running ahead to discover all the new and exciting scents and scenes. It was just a joy to be young and eager and explore all the goodness of the great outdoors. On the 4th of July there was a church picnic held at the foot of our farm on Umbria Street. This was always an event.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: XVII

2006-10-29T13:59:00.000-08:00

As a school girl, I was taken to my Aunt Mary and Uncle John's house in South Philadelphia for three days vacation every summer. I looked forward to this, and Mother made me new dresses because usually I was taken by my aunt to the zoo or the seashore, or visiting, so must look nice. But from the very first evening I was terribly homesick. While there, I had to sit decorously on the front marble steps, primly washed and dressed, amusing myself with a book. At home, I would have been busy racing around the yard playing games with the rest of them.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: XVI

2006-10-28T04:14:00.000-07:00

Occasionally we played in the barn. Hay was stacked high; there was an opening or chute by which the feed was thrown down to the cattle below and this formed a ladder-like structure. We could climb up this and jump in the soft straw. Of course, this was not allowed because it was dangerous but we did sneak a few hours of fun now and then.
My father would never allow tramps to spend the night in the barn as he knew of too many fires resulting from granting this privilege where the stables, barns, livestock and sometimes the houses of farmers were totally destroyed by a carelessly lighted pipe or cigarette. He would send these hoboes to the house for a hot meal and then they must be on their way.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: XV

2006-10-27T04:07:00.000-07:00

The boys minded the cows on summer afternoons. About eleven o'clock, together with one or two of the younger children, I was allowed to take them a little snack. We sat and enjoyed our picnic and could see the hill on the other side of the Schuylkill River. There we watched the railroad trains come along the track, disappear into Flat Rock Tunnel and come out the other side. As the Manayunk mills blew the noontime whistle we knew it was time to drive the cows home.
There was a swimming hole in the creek in the back pasture. The water was clear and cold. One time a city cousin spent a few weeks with us and he helped to dig the pond. He cut his toe very badly with the shovel. I was forbidden to go along with my brothers in this adventure as Mother tried very hard to make a lady of me and although I begged loudly I could never gain her consent.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: XIV

2006-10-26T04:14:00.000-07:00

There was one day every spring when we would all sit in the outer sheds cutting seed potatoes, leaving an "eye" or two in each chunk so it would sprout when planted. These pieces were dropped into holes in the ploughed field. Soon strong green plants grew. Late in the summer or early autumn, as the previous year's supply of this vegetable ran out, Mother would send one of the older boys to dig up a few matured vines and there on the roots were young "spuds." When washed thoroughly, boiled in their skins, and sprinkled with salt, they were the best eating ever.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: XIII

2006-10-25T05:12:00.000-07:00

Long walks to and from school sometimes meant breaking through a hard crust of snow, sinking knee-deep into the cold white stuff. Winters were more severe then and at times, the boys would wear spiked cleats on their shoes to enable them to walk on the ice. We wore leggings, long underwear, and I learned early to knit pulse-warmers, to wear around the wrists to keep the freezing wind from blowing up the coat sleeve.
Sldding in the winter was great: The hills of the pasture lent themselves to long rides, gaining speed until we reached the bottom. When the moon was bright and the snow crisp, my brothers laughing as we pulled our sleds to the top again, it was a thrill to be alive. Many times some of the neighbor boys would be present and when everyone was chilled and exhausted we would return to the house, make hot chocolate or tea, and possibly there were some cookies or just good bread, butter and jelly and that was a feast.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: XII

2006-10-24T03:35:00.000-07:00

Growing up on the farm was fun. In the summers the boys picked apples, blackberries and wild strawberries to be made into sauce, jelly, pies and all kinds of goodies. Mother's "roly-poly" was a combination of biscuit dough, sugar, spices and berries placed in muslin bags and boiled, served with rich milk thickened with cornstarch. Sweetened and flavored with vanilla and nutmeg, it was something to enjoy and remember by hungry children.
Tomatoes from the garden, as well as cherries, peaches and pears were preserved for the coming winter. Some apples and pears were wrapped in newspaper and buried in straw in a deep barrel. These provided good eating during the cold months Walnuts were stored to give variety to cakes or just to crack and eat. Potatoes were put in the cellar and so were onions.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: XI

2006-10-23T03:34:00.000-07:00

Another memory of my dad in early childhood is of the treat it was in the evenings when supper was over, dishes washed and the older children busy around the table with their books and studies. The pre-school little one would climb into the big rocking chair to have Pop pull it into the kitchen beside the stove where he would sit near the lamp and read the daily paper, The Public Ledger. Mike would soon come in and together the two men would discuss the news of the day. That privilege of riding in the rocking chair was reserved for the toddler of the family only and must be relinquished when the next baby became old enough to establish claim.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: X

2006-10-22T02:59:00.000-07:00

I must have loved my father, too, but as he was a quiet man I may have felt his silence as sternness. Although I can never remember that he scolded me, neither can I recall actually chatting with him, discussing problems or telling him my little stories of the day's events. I do remember the pleasure it gave me to be allowed to walk up the country lane a square or so, around noontime, to wait for him to come along in the yellow farm wagon. He would stop the horse, pretend to be surprised at finding me so far from home, then help me up into the seat beside him for that delightful ride back into the yard to the stable and wagon shed.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: IX

2006-10-21T05:05:00.000-07:00

Mother's sense of humor was always present--that pleasant Irish acceptance of everyday happenings and the gift to see the funny side. What a comfort to have such a wise counselor. Her conversation was bright and she knew how to be friendly, making people feel at ease. Her life was dedicated to her husband and children. Never did she miss church on Sundays or holy days, often leaving home in the dark of early morning, trudging through deep snow to get to first Mass. Over the years, I have had people who remembered Mother with fondness say she was a saint. She herself would have laughed at this exaggeration but she was truly a warm and God-fearing gentle woman.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: VIII

2006-10-20T02:34:00.000-07:00

Mother to me has always been the most wonderful person I ever knew. How can one describe anyone like that? In those days she had fair skin and rosy cheeks and her jet black hair fell in little ringlets around her neck as the strands escaped from the bone hairpins she used to hold the knot on the back of her her head. Occasionally she would allow me to comb her hair and curl the tendrils around my finger. Her eyes were hazel, neither brown nor green--wise and warm as she looked straight at you. She could be very firm, but always loving. More the once I felt the sting of the little switch on my legs as punishment of some naughtiness. Most often she did not need to punish as we never cared to go against her wishes. She was that kind of person.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: VII

2006-10-19T02:30:00.000-07:00

The boys usually kept the woodbox filled and carried the scuttles of coal from the cellar for the fires. There was no heat in the house but the coal stoves, and we studied by the light of a kerosene lamp. Baths were in the large washtub placed on the linoleum floor in the kitchen, filled with hot water, then carried out and emptied after bathing. The privy was outdoors a short walk, and in the wintertime we must put on a coat to run out and back.
The kitchen always smelled good--a meal in progress or bread just baked. Mother would mix up a batch of dough almost every night just before retiring and the next day would bake it in the old coal-heated oven. She also made fresh butter from the churn smeared over a slice of still hot bread taken from the oven.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: VI

2006-10-18T03:26:00.000-07:00

Besides the nine children and my father, there was "Mike," the Irish hired man who had come to live with us. Aunt Maggie had returned to Ireland to take care of her aging mother soon after Rose was born. We children helped with the housework and the boys did chores around the stables, milking and helping with the haying, garden work, and the chickens. I dusted on Saturday mornings; the tufted black horsehair sofa and chairs in the parlor were my greatest aversion, but it was a joy to do the big sideboard with all the glassware on it. These celery holders, relish dishes, etc., were used only for special dinners like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter or christenings. As I grew older, I learned to sweep the floor with a broom, sprinkling the carpet first with a little water to keep down the dust.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: V

2006-10-17T05:25:00.000-07:00

The stork came quite frequently to our little home on Domino Lane and often the first inkling I would have of the advent of a new brother or sister was the cry of an infant in the wee hours of the morning. Soon Frank, Rose, Edmond and Betty joined the family It was my special assignment to rock the babies or take them for a ride in the big yellow wicker coach along the paths around the stables and barns. I was almost fifteen years old when Mother's last baby was expected. It was Palm Sunday and she was very ill. The doctor had been there early in the morning and came back again in the afternoon. Babies were born at home in those days and it was usual to arrange to have a woman in for a few weeks to help out while the mother was confined. I do not know whether this woman could not come when expected or if the baby was coming ahead of time but it fell to me to take care of the house and prepare meals for the rest of the family for a few days until she did show up. After many hours, Mother's ordeal was over, but the infant lived only fifteen minutes. Our good neighbor, Mrs. Matthew Fox, who lived up the lane, came to offer her assistance and it was she who baptized our youngest brother and he was named William. The next day my father bought a burial lot and I can remember the little white casket being carried out of the house. My Aunt Mary and Uncle John were also present and accompanied the small body to Holy Sepulcher Cemetery. He was laid in one-half the grave and years later, the baby daughter of brother Jim was to be buried in the other half.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: IV

2006-10-16T11:06:00.000-07:00

At school, the boys' play area was divided from the girls' by a high board fence. I did not like to be separated from my brothers, especially Jim, who was my champion and protector. He tried to make me understand why I could not be with him at recess time.
In the classroom, we sat two pupils to a seat and shared a desk together. There was a shelf for our slates and pencils and an inkwell on top. We children who lived far from school carried our lunches and my father would leave a small bottle of milk for me every morning, which I gave to another little girl who would drink it. I would carry home the empty bottle to be washed.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: III

2006-10-15T04:53:00.000-07:00

Another memory is of one warm summer day making mud-pies. My brother Joe was not too interested in this pastime as he was only two or three years old and I tried to explain how he must help me. Just at this time, Dr. David Custer drove his horse and buggy down the lane and we were both called into the house to be vaccinated. Later we proudly showed off the little bandages on our arms to our older brothers when they came home from school.
It was soon after this that I started to go to school myself. It was a long walk, at least a mile to Holy Family, which at that time was just a four-room building.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: II

2006-10-14T03:36:00.000-07:00

My personal little haven that morning was the ledge about a foot or so wide outside the fence where a retaining wall had been built separating the yard from the lower roadway. My three older brothers, Tom, John and Jim, were at school and the baby, Joe, was still too young to accompany me outdoors at play. Mother was busy in the house; after washing the breakfast dishes and putting them away, caring for the baby and making the beds, she would carefully wash her face and comb her hair. I thought she was very pretty. Her sister Maggie also lived with us at this time, but I cannot recall her too well in those early years, just my Mother.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: I

2006-10-13T03:40:00.000-07:00

Was it March or April that early spring morning nearly seventy years ago? I played in the warm sunshine sheltered from the wind behind the picket fence outside our yard. There was a protected spot where we could sit cozily together, the big grey housecat and me. The skies were very blue, white clouds floated by, and I looked out across the road past the springhouse to the hill beyond and the distant woods. This is my oldest memory.
Our small farmhouse was surrounded by a yard enclosed with a fence, and two very large trees stood in the front towering high above the road. There had been three of those butterball trees at one time, Mother told me, but the third had ben struck by lightning and so was cut down leaving a two-foot high stump which she had hollowed out and filled with earth and planted with geraniums, petunias, or portulaca.

Aunt Mary's Memoirs: Intro

2006-10-12T12:32:00.000-07:00

This memoir, written by my Aunt Mary (Mary Elizabeth Byrne Renz), my father's sister, is another wonderful addendum to "Uncle Frank's Farm." Aunt Mary died some years ago when she was almost 90. I remember her as a beautiful woman and she and her husband, Ed Renz, as a handsome couple. I have my grandparents' wedding picture and can see that Aunt Mary resembled her mother--my grandmother--strongly. As all my grandparents did, my grandmother died before I was born, so I never saw that sweet face. Reading Aunt Mary's loving description of her, I felt a pang of loss for the first time.
The writing styles of Uncle Frank and Aunt Mary differ and so do their points of view. One narrative complements the other and readers can ferret out little hints and clues about life on Domino Lane. I've gone to Roxborough and many of the places mentioned, including Holy Family church and school in nearby Manayunk, which the Byrne family attended. I've also visited Villanova College (now University). My father graduated from there eighty-eight years ago.
"O lost and by the wind grieved/Ghost, come back again..." Thomas Wolfe wrote that in Look Homeward, Angel, and it ran through my mind as I visited the old places. I was in search of the ghost of a way of life and my father's ghost, and maybe the legion of ghosts that made me what I am.
Rosemary Byrne Molloy, 2006

Uncle Ed's Memoirs: III

2006-10-10T06:02:00.000-07:00

There are two houses on the farm. The lower house where we were all raised is a small, white-washed stone house. Then there's the upper house, a much larger double house to which we moved in 1921 after Aunt Rose died. The milkhouse, barn and stables stretched beyond the lower house. Then there is the barnyard and pasture, about ten acres, not nearly enough for the twenty cows we had.
This is 1929 and my name is Edmond Francis Byrne. I just graduated from Roman Catholic High School, following the footsteps of Tom, Jim and Frank. I have the world by the tail.
--End--
Reluctant to come away from my father's generation, I am going to add to this narrative my Aunt Mary's memoirs.

Uncle Ed's Memoirs: II

2006-10-09T05:15:00.000-07:00

Up at "the Ridge" was the Adams' mansion on one corner and Edmund's on the other; down farther were the Riggle boys and then the Fox place, which by this time (1929) was occupied by the Barrs, an ever-increasing family. The oldest was Bob Barr, a couple of years my junior, who became my teenage companion.
Then, finally there was our farm which extended down to Umbria Street. Our property stretched down to the railroad but we never tried to farm that section, since it was cut off by Umbria Street.
By this time, Tom, Jim and Mary have married and moved away and poor John in in Norristown State Hospital. That left Joe, Frank, Rose and Betty, besides Mom and myself, and of course, Mike, a de facto member of the family. Pop died in 1924 and now the farm in carried on by Frank and Mike, helped now and then by Joe and myself.

Uncle Ed's Memoirs: I

2006-10-08T07:23:00.000-07:00

Would you like to go back home, sweet home/Where the world and your friends are true/And down the lane to stroll again/Where mother waits for you?
I suppose each of us had that wish at one time or another, but that's another story. Anyhow, Domino Lane wasn't much of a lane: a rocky dirt road, maybe three quarters of a mile from Ridge Avenue down to Umbria Street. Long before my time, it ran down to the Schuylkill Canal at a place near the locks where the boatmen would gather and play dominos while waiting for the lockkeeper to let them pass through. Anyhow, that's what the older folks told me.

Afterword IV: A Short Intro

2006-10-07T03:20:00.000-07:00

I am going to add to this narrative a memoir by Uncle Edmond, my father's and Uncle Frank's younger brother. Edmond died on June 23, 2001, three days after his and his wife's 60th anniversary. That left Frank the only Byrne sibling still living; he lived another two years, until 2003 when he was 95.

Afterword III: Judy

2006-10-06T03:32:00.000-07:00

On September 8, 2000, Frank and Claire lost their darling daughter.
Judy was fifty-six years old.
In the last ten years of her life, I was privileged to become friends with my cousin, yet I can't possibly do justice to her unique and compelling persona.
To say she was bright is inadequate to describe her fine intelligence, her keen reason, her quick intuition. She was supremely comfortable in the world of the mind.
To say she was fun-loving doesn't capture the wit, the amused lift of her eyebrow, the radiant smile, the full-throated laugh.
To say she was spiritual trivializes her intense relationship with her God and her religion. She never displayed her piety; she simply knew herself as His handmaiden.
To say she was the rock on which her parents leaned doesn't illustrate her powers of organization, her managerial bent, her skills at planning and implementing that largely kept the household--and her own care--going.
To say she was courageous can't begin to suggest what must have been a constant struggle to rise above the despair that threatened her.
But the accident that trapped her in paralysis when she was a lovely and vibrant twenty-two was not the defining event of Judy's life.
The bond between her and her parents defined her. Her encompassing humanity defined her. How own glowing inner powers defined her.
I loved you, Judy, and I miss you so much. When I think of you, you're not immobile in your old affliction. You're walking along a shady path on a farm in the country, laughing and talking, turning this way and that, leading a little group of companions into the light.

Afterword II: Dogs and Photos

2006-10-05T03:24:00.000-07:00

Uncle Frank doesn't mention the domestic animals that were as much a part of farm living as cows and horses. Mom remembered a dog called "Hey You, Scram" because that's what he was greeted with when he first came around. In the old Byrne photo album I have, there's a picture of a dog, but with no identification.
All the photos in the album are, of course, in black and white, and all the early snapshots (as opposed to studio pictures) are very small, about two to three inches. Many are not captioned and the people and places they depict are simply lost in time.