Scarlet and Memphis

Manager 1, let's see if we can figure this one out. I had spinal meningitis during the summer between my third and fourth grade year. That means I would have been 9. Is that right Donna?

I was sick when Mother and Daddy came home from work and Mother called back to the Cleveland Clinic (yes, Becky, the one downtown) to make sure a doctor was there and would stay there. I had a fever, a humongous headache, and a stiff neck. I could not bend my head and touch my chin on my chest. Dr. Russell stayed. He did a spinal tap and it was cloudy. He sent Daddy home to gather clothes and stuff and told them to go directly to Memphis without stopping and he felt we could get there faster in the car than waiting for an ambulance. In fact Daddy called someone he knew in the MHP (he knew so many people) and asked for an escort north because he was going to be hauling it. After the spinal tap, Dr. Russell gave me a penicillan shot--really strong, but not in the spine, just the butt.

When we got to the hospital, the doctors looked at the fluid from the spinal tap but it had settled and they needed to do another one. This time they pulled what they thought was a bug. And Donna is right, it was dead and they could not culture it. But I think I was there about ten days and could not have visitors because they thought I might be contagious. I remember a box of stuff (or armloads) that somebody brought. Somebody in Cleveland had put a box in the drugstore next door and people bought stuff and dropped it in the box or brought it in. I may have had lots of stuff but the time got boring. But I don't remember that I couldn't bring it home.

I remember Aunt Lilly coming by. She was one of Granny Powers's sisters who was a nurse and lived in Memphis.

I don't remember much about the remaining ten days. I do know I have since seen people who had spinal meningitis and I thank God for Dr. Russell who killed that bug early.

When we got to Memphis