Browse:Doctor Cooperates with Doctor (Volume 1, entries 923)
Doctor Cooperates with Doctor
Volume 1, entries 923. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → Consultation Technique. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 923
Now mah wife, I an' her wus togethah heah year befo' last. We separated Christmas gone a year ago. Ah reckon we lived heah three months ago. Now, she wus fixed, although she's impregnant - understand. Sometimes she would grow out an' den sometimes she would go back in. Ah could lay mah han's on her stomach an' I could feel somepin knockin' lak dat - jes knockin'. Well, ah tried doctors - de doctors stayin' in town heah now - Dr. Fields, Dr. Olson, Dr. Roach. She wus workin' in de Georgia Power an' Light Company. So she came home an tole me, she say, "Well, now," says, "ah don't feel no bettah." She say, "Ah jes' have de fainting spells, ah don't feel no bettah atall." Well, dose peoples next do' to us would come ovah an' he'p do fo' her. Well, ah wus a man an' ah had no business doin' all those things fo' her. Some things I could do an' some things ah wouldn't do, although ah wus her husband. Well, dey would come ovah an' dey would do fo' her. So ah tole 'er one day, ah said, "Say, listen, whut de doctor say?" Ah say, "Did yo' went to him?" She say, "Yes, ah went to him." She say, "Dr. Fields say an' also Dr. Walker say I was impregnant. She say, "Well, ah tried Dr. Whitman, an' he say de same identical thing," she say, ''but ah can't understand it, ah'm not impregnant." Well, ah say, "Ah don't know - dis way is funny - mahself - but," ah say, "de blame is on yo' - ah don't know." She went like that fo' seven months an' she come out well. Well, she had to be operated on fo' first of October - Dr. Louis told her she had to be operated on de first of October, also Dr. Whitman, an' wus operated on. So ah tried an' tried an' tried an' tried an' at de main time dat de chile Wus supposed to be born, if it wus a chile; but it wusn't no chile, wusn't nuthin. So ah goes to a fellah - de fellah's in town now. Ah goes to him an' ah walk to de do' an' look round. He say, "Hello there." [I] say, "Hello." [He] say, "How yo' feelin'?" [I say] "All right." He says, "Well, yo' comin' tuh see about chure wife?" "Yes, ' ah say, - "Yessuh, '' [I] say, "she's come with a little condition." Ah say, "Well, from whut ah kin learn, ah can't understand de matter she's in, can't understand de sickness." He say, "Her sickness is not nach'ral," say, "she wus run home - dat's where [when] she got her dose - yore wife is a woman dat she loves tuh run round" - well now, he wus tellin' me wit dis on cards. He says, "Yore wife loves to run round," he says, "she's not a woman true to one man, she wants yo' an' fo' or five or six men." An' he say, "She messed wit a man's wife up dere an' jumped on de woman about her husband an' de woman had her fixed like dat. Now, she's fixed an' perhaps she is pregnant." Well, ah know de girl - tell yo' de truth, Boss, she nevah come in de house [came home] at all. He said, "But chew go back to de house an' yo' go up under about three feet," he say, "under de do'step." He say, "Go up under de house an' stop, dig jes about dat deep." He says, "Dat's where de mess lays - all messed up." He say, "Can't chew smell somebody's chamber lye all round yore house?" Ah tole him, "Yes sir." He say, "All right, den yo' go back to yore house an' git dis." He give me some kinda thing like vaseline, but it wasn't vaseline 'cause ah smelled it - it wasn't vaseline. It was greasy - to keep de misery from comin on me, yo' see. [This thing like vaseline was to protect him, especially his hands, while digging up the mess.] He said, "Yo' git this an' yo' bring it to me." He said, "Yo' go in de woods an' git me three," he say, "git me three piece of cedar-tree root, jes' about dat long," he say, "an' bring dem back to me. Ah tole him, "All right, sir." He say, "Co'se ah won't have it fixed fo' yo' till tomorrow," see, "sometime," he say, "but tonight at twelve a'clock zactly, yo' go out chure back gate, come all round de streets dat chew come in de front do' an'," he say, "have yo' some salt an' some red peppah." He say, "Sprinkle dat salt all de way through yore house from de gate on out to back an' back round de house again." He say, "Make a round ring," he say, "an' den put some dat peppah de same identical way." He say, "Now, dese people will go to yore home tomorrow to git a match. In case yo' don't let dem have de match, dey gon'a be back ovah dere to borrah some lard." Ah tole him, "All right." He say, "Now, yo' have to give me chance - tomorrow ah'll have her all right." He say, "Co'se she gon'a be operated" - she wusn't operated on den. He say, "Co'se, she got'a be operated on - operation do her good, but still ah do somepin an' let somebody else [the surgeon] do something fo' her, or," he says, "she'll be in a terrible condition till she die."
[This is my only example of cooperation between doctor and doctor.]
An' ah went back an' got dis stuff from under de house an' carried it back tuh dis man, an' dis man fixed it. Now, what he put in it - ah don't know whut he put in de stuff. But ah tell yo' whut was in de stuff dat wus fixed fo' her. Dey had a piece of her hair. Dey had some of dis heah cut from de seat of her underclothes. Somebody had eithah slipped in de house an' got dat stuff - see, she wouldn't let nobody do washin' or anything - co'se dey prob'bly had a chance tuh cut it off de line out dere while it hangin' up on de line dryin'.
(The seat of her underwear?)
Dat's right, an' dey got a piece of her underskirt - right up undah heah [demonstrates].
(Under her arm?)
Dat's right, dat wus in dis mess - now, ah'm tellin' you whut ah seen in dis mess. Dat wus inside dis mess whut dey had fix fo' her. An' a little somepin - ah don't know whether it wus tomatoes or don't know whether it was some of her ministration or whut, but hit wus inside a little rag, it wasn't in no bottle, it was in a rag. An' ah carried it on back ovah dere an' gave it tuh him. So after ah gave it tuh him, he say, "Well, now, don't chew git uneasy," he say, "in a few days she'll be all right." An' so - well, it wus on a Friday when ah had taken it back ovah dere to him. An' dat Sunday, she got 'long jest as - nevah been sick no mo'. (Do you know what he did with those three pieces of cedar root that you took to him?) Ah don't know, suh. He wouldn't even tell me whut he did wit it. After ah'd taken her back dere wit me, he wouldn't even let me come in de room whilst she's in dere. When ah got de cedar tree root ah give it tuh her. Yo' see, ah went back ovah dere wit dem all right but ah give it to her, an' him an' her went in a room, like yo' in heah now [and no one else in the room], an' he wouldn't let me come in dere at de time he fixin' dat fo' her. An' he tole her tuh wear dat. Cause she's living now - ah reckon, if she's not daid - but ah haven't seen her in 'bout a year an' three months, cause I an' her separated.