MISHAPS

       You come into this world as a baby with no scars, blemishes, infections or diseases. But from the first day forward things begin to happen to you that both effects your health and also how you conduct your life. I can think of several things th at have come my way so will elaborate on a few of them.

       When I was in the fifth grade in the Nunica school chicken pox was making the rounds of all the kids in our room. One day the teacher asked for all who had not had the pox to raise their hand . Only two of us held our hand up. The next day the other boy stayed home with the chicken pox which left me as the last one to come down. A couple of days later one spot showed up on my forehead and another two on my body where they didn't show. My mother said you are not sick and you can't give the disease to any one else as they have all had it before you so you might as well continue going to school. I didn't even get one day out of school.

       Now nearly seventy years later the after math of the chicken pox has come out of hibernation in my body in the form of shingles. The doctors say that if your childhood bout with the chicken pox is light it easily triggers an onslaught at around seve nty years. It has laid dormant for all of those years. The shingles decided the left side of my face and forehead was the place to attack me. It was very uncomfortable and I was advised to see a doctor immediately . He confirmed the shingles but as it was effecting the eye he sent me to an eye specialist that very day. His examination revealed that it had not entered the eye, We had caught in time to prevent eye damage. Now four years later my onocologist says that it may have been the start of my bout with leukemia as the two diseases very often go hand in hand. I'm also told that the possibility of getting the shingles back at some future date is very high.

       The second story or episode happened when I was in the first year in high school. I was not feeling very good one week end so I stayed in the house all forenoon instead of going hunting as was the usual form of activity. After lunch I did take a walk to the woods . When a nature call came the urine was as red as blood. This scared me so the next day I went to Doctor. Stickley in Coopersville. He diagnosed yellow jaundice or hepatitis as it is called sometimes. He gave some pill s and told me to stay off sweets for a few days. He didn't say anything about staying out of school so I continued to go. It all passed away in about a week. I'll pick up on this after the next story.

       While in the army and getting ready to go overseas we had classes on various tropical diseases and how to minimize them or prevent them altogether. One of the infections was malaria. We were told that if it got into your system it would stay in your blood for the rest of your life . Even after you had overcame a bout at any time it could lay dormant until conditions were right for it to surface again. Sometime many years later.

       We took every precaution with the use of mosquitos nets and bug sprays . We were ordered to take an atta=brin tablet each day. The pill was not a preventive but it would Prevent the fever from coming out. They had strict penalties for y ou if you were caught not taking your pills. When discharged they gave us each a packet of the attabrin tablets in case we came down.

       It was about six weeks after my discharge that we were bailing some straw for a neighbor when the first attack of malaria came. We working in the barn where Copka's now live. I was getting extremely cold and started to shiver and shake I was taking my turn on the platform pushing the straw under the plunger of the baler. The shakes were getting pretty bad and I was losing concentration so bad that I was afraid I might fall under the plunger so I gave up and went over and l aid down in a pile of loose straw. At noon I went home and things were not getting any better. After lunch the chills turned to sweat . It felt so good after the chills all morning. After a few hours passed all went back to normal. Two days later it all happened over again. I took some of the tablets that the army gave me It put a stop to it for about a month it all started up again. A trip to the doctor confirmed what I already knew. He sent in a report to the veteran administration and they gave m e a partial pension for a year. The attacks have not returned but I wonder if the malaria has stayed in the blood as they told us it would. Can I expect it to return some time in the future?

       In the nineteen fifties I was asked to donate blood to the blood bank. In filling out the forms and questions I was asked about both the hepatitis and the malaria. When I answered positive to both of them , they rejected me as a donor. They said my name would be scratched off there rolls and I would never be contacted again. They never have.

      

Skating

       Skating was a favorite pastime in the winter up until I entered the army. If a pond of ice could be found that had skateble ice whether it was a mere puddle or the whole swamp we would put our skates on and enjoy the sport . Often the water would come up high and freeze, making good skating all the way around the swamp out to crockery Creek and down to the Grand River and along its banks until we found unsafe ice. I was alone one day . The water had been extremely high due to an ice jam in the river. It was bitter cold that day. My travels took me to the river where I went east up to the Hellmans Bayou and on up to Ottawa Center. On the way back my travels took me close to the edge of the hill , just below what is now the famous Alt House. I was skating at a pretty fast speed and didn't see that a current had caused the ice to be thin in one spot. I was on it before I could stop. The ice broke under me and as the water at that place was only about three feet deep my feet hit bottom and I fell forward ,going completely under. It was no problem to get out in the comparative shallow water but my clothes were completely soaked. The temperature was near zero and I was about two and a half miles of skating away from home. It was not long before may cloths were frozen completely solid. and I had to break the joints at the knees . I skated as fast as possible to keep my body temperature up. I could skate all the way home to the bottom of the hill just below wha t is now Philip's house. I didn't bother to remove the skates as I climbed the hill to the house. I removed the skates and frozen clothes. Before the dry ones could be put on the telephone rang asking me to go skating. Dick Gordon came over and within an hour from the time I got home I was back out skating again.

       Dick Gordon and I made many excursions up and down the river as far as safety would allow us to go. Indian Channel was as far west as we went and Ottawa Center was as far east as we went. One time we had planned to head for Ravenna the next day but a spring rain put a flood on top of the ice. some of our trips we carried our lunch with us and cooked hamburgs and made hot chocolate on the ice.

       I still have the skates but have not had them on for the last twenty years. I took the kids down to the ice back of the barn a few times when they were small. My skates have seen better days as they are coming apart in the seams. I should throw the m out but it is hard to dispose of something that has brought so much enjoyment in the past.