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The MANY PERILS of EVA |
| Dec 1946 | Pneumonia | "I was back in the hospital with abcesses in both breasts and a staph infection which after two surgeries turned into pneumonia which almost killed me if it hadn't been for penicillin". |
| 1959 | Nail | Stepped on a nail and it was off to the hospital. |
| 21 Aug 1961 | Cut thumb | Mom woke me up at 6:40AM with her thumb cut from a bowl. I gauzzed it and applied a turnique - a policeman comes to patch it up. |
| 1969 | Heat Stroke | "...was at Lake Tahoe on my honeymoon, where I almost died". |
| May 1970 | Kidney | "I have been emotionally unable to communicate with anyone for a long time now. There was no desire to write about trivial and everyday things. I just barely existed from day-to-day in a state of illness, kidney malfunctions and other diverse discomforts, let alone the mental anguish I suffered. |
| Oct 1971 | Thyroid | Pain for three months. "Over functioning tumor of the thyroid gland". Trying to find a treatment that will work, so an operation won't be required. |
| 23 Nov 1971 | Hypoglycema | "At 4AM I woke up with what I thought was a heart attack. Rapid heartbeat, cold sweat, all my limbs fallen asleep, sick to my stomache. Went to get a glass of water, passed out by frig. Came to at 4:30AM laying on the cold floor freezing and sweating. Crawled back in bed and fell asleep. Woke up in the morning feeling great. Called Dr. O. and the next day he ran a 6 hour blood test on me. Result: Low Blood Sugar". ... "So now I am on a strict diet and getting pills for my thyroid. No alcohol ever, no sugar, no flour, no corn, no potatoes. Also no more stress or strain". |
| May 1972 | Tornado | "Saturday went up to Milacs and got caught in a tornado on the lake, there for a while I thought you would have to come home from Fiji real quick for a double funeral. We finally made it to shore 2 miles from where we wanted to be (if we had a bigger motor we would have been swamped for sure). So now I have a bad cold because for 15 minutes I sat in that boat in my bra and panties and bare feet and a lifejacket in the rain at about 50°F just in case I had to try and swim for it". |
| July 1972 | Car Crash | "Chris and I are being sued for $110,000 so my attorney says if they come after us, Chris and I will have to file bankruptcy immediately, which will cost $225 a piece and $25 to keep it out of the paper. And when that happens I must sell what's left of my car or they will take it away". |
| Sept 1972 | Eye Sight | "I can't see so good these days, my eyes are failing rapidly, soon it will be goodbye driving. |
| Nov 1972 | Thyroid | My doctor won't operate so he increases the dosage of thyroid extract to 2mg. And now I have to have an electro cardiogram once a week to see how it affects the heart. |
| Mar 1973 | Fire | "It seems that right after the fire in the livingroom everything went to pieces, nothing but trouble with the cleaning service and after they came and cleaned everything up to the tune of $255 Bob and I had to go and do everything ourselves. |
| July 1974 | Gall Bladder | "I am having my gall bladder test coming up. Tomorrow I have a colon and stomache X-ray..." |
| Aug 1974 | Frozen Nerves | "On Wednesday we drove to Waseca and I was sitting in the front seat and the air conditioner kept blowing on my shoulder.
On Thursday I had pains in it, which got so bad that by and by I couldn't stand it. From then on I was walking the floor every night until I saw
the doctor. My ring finger, fore finger and middle finger on my left hand are paralyzed and I am on so much dope I can't see straight
and if I'm not better by tomorrow I have to go into the hospital". "My arm is just useless and I have quite a bit of pain and already dropped the baby twice". ... "Will see a neurosurgeon on Tuesday". |
| Oct 1974 | Cancer | "Last Sunday...found the lump". ... "He gave me 2 to 1 odds that it would be cancer". ... "They took a 3" cyst". |
| Apr 1976 | Heart | "Found out what has been wrong with me all this time. I have heart trouble. How bad it is we don't know yet, am still going to see a few more specialists to evaluate the damage. Am on strict medication and strict diet and lots of rest. So that's the way it goes. My thyroid just made my heart work overtime for 4 years and my pulse is racing at 110 while resting. |
| June 1976 | Tumor | "Had an operation for tumor in her throat". |
| Apr 1978 | Depression | Bob's death in Dec - "The medication seems to help some, so I am pretty relaxed most of the time. Have started to cook for myself, made spaghetti last night and ate it. Nothing tastes good on account my mouth is so dry from the pills". ... "There are so many empty hours to fill". |
| July 1978 | Toe | "Right now I am sitting with my left foot soaking in a bucket of Epsom salt water. Two weeks ago I cut my big toe on the ball of the foot and it has become infected and I am having no luck healing it. I am going to the doctor tomorrow. |
| Feb 1979 | Rash | Went to skin doctor yesterday, and the idiot gave me Novacaine for the biopsy on my foot, and I am allergic to it, I was drunk all afternoon and sick all night and am very dehydrated today. Now I will have to see what strange little bug I picked up in N.Z. They are sending the skin sample to Walter Reed Hospital where they do Army tropical research. Hope it is somehting that can be treated, I'm kind of sick of having all these bumps on my legs and feet mostly, first they are white and then turn into red scaly spots, but they don't itch or hurt. Also I am forbidden the sun this summer, my face has photosensitivity and he thinks a year out of sun will make these brown splotches disappear". ... "warts" |
| Feb 1979 | Crash | "...around 8PM and on the way over [to Angi's] spun out on the ice over by Emily Butler Wildlife reserve by that little pond. Spun around two times, ended up in the snowbank with two wheels up in the air, but I got out of it alright without tipping the car over, a pickup truck had to hit his brakes when he saw me doing my thing and he spun 4 times, but nobody got hurt". |
| March 1979 | Dizzy | "I am not really that good off physically. My eyes have been running me through days of hell. For about a week I had lost my balance and suffered vertigo, the doctor prescribed the drug antivert. Also the double vision has kind of backed away, so I am curious as what the neurosurgeon will say when I see him". ... "...brainscan-angiogram type thing and an EEG... they cannot find a thing wrong, no tumors, no stroke. I just feel rotten all the time, it seems to sit around the eye and ear area on the left side. So now we are looking into Meniers inner ear disease. |
| May 1979 | Pnuemonia | "Just have not felt too good for 10 days now, and went to the Doctor last Friday and sure enough he found a little touch of pnuemonia in my left bronchial tubes". ... "Just don't seem to get over this nasty affliction. Last night was a bad one... wringing wet". |
| June 1979 | Sinus | "This is a letter that I did not think I would ever write one week ago, it finally has happened, bad luck just caught up with your poor old Mother. Will try and start at the beginning and work my way through the events of this past week. On Sunday evening I got a slight twinge in my right eye and a small headache, which went away. .Put it down to the excessive wind exposure up at the lake. Was not too concerned, went to bed and woke up with a mild ache in my upper jaw and a slight headache, which got worse as the day went by. Aspirins did not help, so in the evening I went across the street to get the keys and final instructions from Estelle, as they were leaving at 4 a.m. Wed to go to Texas for three weeks. At that time Estelle gave me three Tylonol no.3 tablets which are a pretty strong painkiller, we said good bye and I went home, took one tablet and went to bed. Had a miserable night, and finally got up at 5 a.m. and took the remaining two pills. Nothing, by 8:30 I managed to drive myself to the clinic in spite of blinding pain and nausea. Got there and was seen by the doctor who diagnosed a bad migraine headache, and sent me home. The shot did not work and by noon I was busy emptying any and all bottles of pills with painkillers in them which were very few. Finally took a sleeping pill and a half a bottle of cough syrup With codeine and went to bed. Slept until 5.30 woke up with the top of my head practically blowing off, and the right side of my face swollen, eye swollen shut. Called Jim, he came over, rushed me to North Memorial emergency, and 45 minutes, after a blood test and head X-Rays I found myself in a bed on the sixth floor cancer ward. Full of Hypos as I was for 24 hours I really don't know what was going on, but at least the terrible pain had become bearable. The next morning my own doctor arrived informed me that I was suffering from a total Sinus blockage on the right side of my head, and it was due to a staph infection and inflammation, no drainage. At first it had looked like a final stage of a malignant head tumor, therefore my being on the sixth floor my white blood count was up to 19.000 and I had a temp of 102. Well they kept giving me Antibiotics through I.V. and by mouth and all the hypos I wanted every 4 hours" |
| June 1979 | Fire | "and the doctor did call me at 5pm and asked me if I wanted to go home, because the blood count was down considerably and the sinus showed clear except for one area that looked cloudy. I decided to spend the night, and may be I should have gone home, because they had a fire in the damn place at 11 o'clock that night, right after the tribute to John Wayne, poor guy, and there I was watching all the fire rigs lining up under my window and wonder how I would ever get down from the sixth floor alive, but they put it out, some nut in the mental lockup on the second floor had set himself and the mattress on fire, and it was soon over with. But I guess he didn't make it the way the nurses were talking this morning." |
| 23 June 1979 | Car Crash |
Left Roberta's about 10:45. Went pretty carefully along until I got to Loretto, where a car got in front of me and was going kind of slow. No chance to pass him, so I decided to watch his every move he made as I thought the driver was kind of drunk acting. Got to Medina, by the ballroom, they had the Duffs Tournament on and-the roads were full of barricades. Am still following this car in front of me top speed about 40 miles, and was so busy watching him that I must have missed the sign that indicated the road was widening from a two way into a one way for a short stretch of the way. All of a sudden the car in front me swerved right and I watched what the fool was .doing I had the strangest feeling I was not in the right place at all. Everything was hazy and like a slow running movie, the traffic toward Mpls seemed to be way over to my right and here I am on the left lane in the oncoming traffic. Saw the headlights bearing down on me and tried to avoid getting hit by swinging to the right the same time the oncoming car had the same - instinct and went to the left. The last-thing I remember was the feeling of a slow motion collision about to happen. Boom the lights went out. I came to crawling on the seat of my car, blood running in my eyes but other then that no pain or anything mind clear as a bell. - Opened the door on the passenger side of the car, and started to yell for help, but people just drove on by slowed down and kept on going. A young guy on a motorcycle stopped, came over and took off his tee shirt and ripped it up and held it to my head, all the time telling me not to move. Soon the place was crawling with squad cars, 8 of them, and they said it would be a little while until an ambulance arrived. So they put a neck brace on me and put me on a spine board and slapped some oxygen on my nose, and when the ambulance came they put me on one side and the girl that was in the other car on the other, the driver from the other car sat up front with the driver. They worked on us in the ambulance for a long time. And half ways to North they stopped the ambulance to put an I. V. in my arm, what a bloody mess that was, and hurt. By that time I started to get a bad pain in the pit of my stomach and I was not feeling too good. After we arrived at the hospital they took a straight body X ray first of all and when they found out my neck and skull were not broken they finally took that darn brace off and got me off the board. They must have taken bout 20 different X ray and not one single bone was broken. Put me in a room upstairs - by then Angi was there, was about 3 in the morning. They would not give me anything for pain as I had a severe concussion and they watch for internal bleeding. Well, let me tell you I had two days of agony without any pain pills, and slowly every part of my body began to hurt, and for that matter still does. But there was absolutely not one drastic thing wrong with me, except my poor face all cut up, and no stitches taken. Am still picking glass out of my head ever so often and the doctor removed two real big splinters last Thursday that were imbedded in my forehead. Now they are talking plastic surgery, but the insurance attorney already advised me they will not pay for that, so what can I do? That kind of thing is very expensive. Am pretty sore all over, but grateful lo be alive so I don't complain too much about anything. Estelle has been nursing me back to health, I eat over there and spend most of my time at their house, as there is nothing I can really do just yet, until all the internal bruises are healed up, which will be a while yet. The car was totally bashed in the front and it is going to cost $4,500,00 to fix. I went to look at it and I can not understand why I wasn't killed in that wreck. |
| Aug 1979 | Crash... | "...I wen to North Memorial Hospital for a little operation, which went smoothly, you should see the chunk of glass he chiselled out of my forehead, had to have 3 stitches.." |
| Sept 1979 | Esophogitis | "...the upshot is that I have another bout with esophogitis, where the valve from the stomache to the esophogus does not close properly and gives me those psuedo heart attack symptoms and heartburn". |
| Nov 1979 | Heart | "...to find a way to slow down my racing along at about 100 per minute, and under stress it rises to 140" |
| 1980 | Heat Stroke 2 | While at Twin Lakes with John and family. "...when you hauled me home in the car I was so ill I did not think I would get home alive". |
| Oct 1985 | Sinus | "...so ill I had to stay home from work for 2 weeks in October with staph infection of the sinuses, but no hospital this time". |
| Jan 1986 | Flu | "I am finally recovered from this bad flu that hit so many of us" ... "All this fainting was unreal". |
| 1986 | Stress | Laid off of Super Valu job 30th Oct and Bob forced to retire on 1st Oct.
"I have been trying to cope with my stress and anxiety attacks for over a year now". "My glasses have fianlly been changed twice and now I can see to write, still a big problem with stigmatism, but I can at least have them on for an hour without strain". |
| Nov 1986 | Colitis and Arm | "I got an attack of colitis, not too bad only a little loss of blood, was quite ill but refused to go to the hospital". ... "Also my nerve in my left arm started in with a vegence, the inflammation has now spread into my left hand and the pain is unbelieveable. The doctor prescribed Motrin which knocks me out cold for 20 minutes". |
| Dec 1987 | The Crash Nursing Home |
"We left our motel on Friday morning and drove to Albequrque where we stopped for lunch. I took over driving on highway 40. About 40 miles out of town driving on in the right lane of the freeway with no traffic anywhere a semi-trailer with two trailers came up behind me on the left lane. I had the car on cruise at 63mph and he pulled along side of me and cut in front of me. By the time I got my foot on the brake I had to pull to the right shoulder or I would have gone right into his cab. I was heading into the ditch so I tried to pull the car back and it began to slide. He caught me with the back side of his second trailer and swept me into the ditch. I was conscious whole time pinned under the wheel and door jammed into my left hip. Bob got out without a scratch. It took them one hour to cut me out, then the helicopter came and took me to the hospital. The car was totalled. They took x-rays and found a broken pelvis. Bad bruises on left hip and back,and a small cut on my forehead. Was in intensive care for 2 days, 2 days in a private room. Oh, by the way, I also have a cut in the cornea of my right eye and it bothers me a lot". |
| Jan 1988 | Crash pains | "My biggest problem is my short torelance for remaining in one position more than 20 minutes, that goes for sitting and lying down and standing. Been to the doctor who sent me to North Memorial for an x-ray of the spine - all clear - so its a Specialist of Sports Medicine" ... "I can't be put into traction yet on account of the broken pelvis". ... "2 weeks ago I had yeat another nervous collapse. Bob called 911 and they brought me to North Memorial and released me that evening. The stress of trying to cope at home with my pain and inability to move much and trying to take care of my food and personal needs became too much. So I checked into yet another Nursing Home. Its boring but at least I am in a room by myself. |
| Jun 88 | Foot | "I was so very very depressed (these past few month have been sheer hell for me) I couldn't cope with anything. And in constant pain and no one to help me. The doctors don't know what to do with me, I can walk and keep a shoe on my foot for about an hour, but it is hard to explain how I hurt. My left hip where I had the severe crush injury is constantly swollen and burning. My right side is a total lost. My foot is without bone and the bone loss has spread up to the hip. I cannot pivot on my right side, now they think the hip joint is gone. Had so many scans and test but nothing shows up. Nerve block is causing pain." |
| Jul 7 88 | Depression | "Just been to neurologist on the 3rd and they fitted me with a tens instrument which is to help with the pain, but it does not do anything for me. Also am being taken off the medication Halcion as it is addictive and a big struggle to cope with withdrawal. Mood swings and all kinds of side effects." "...you see, my biggest problem is my mental status". |
| Aug 1988 | Cancer | Tiny red spot on right upper thigh since Aug 1987 slowly changes...."A week ago it went to the color purple and I to my surgeon. Had a biopsy last Wednesday and got the report yesterday. CARCINOMA!!! But he had gone deep enough and wide enough to get it all". |
| Sept 1988 | Breast Cancer | "...I asked for a mammyogram which I underwent and at that time they found a very suspicious area in my right breast. It was not clearly defined, so they ordered a biopsy on it. It was a most unpleasant procedure under local anasthetic". ... "the report was good, no cancer". |
| Nov 1988 | Depression | "Have taken up my big therapy to stave off depression - baking Christmas cookies". |
| Jan 1989 | Flu | "The trip to Las Vegas was a disaster, as two days before we left I came down with the flu and didn't even want to go. But went anyhow, which was a big mistake, as I spent two days in bed there. And I still have not recovered from it which is a month later. For the past week I have suffered these terrible headaches and I feel that my sinues are plugged and I do not want to incur the expense of x-rays. |
| Nov 1989 | Arthritis | "When I mention my hip. I am sorry to say that I have been diagnosed as having rheumatoid arthritis and it is now in mt right pelvis bone. When I walk it kicks in and immobilizes me with pain". |
| June 1990 | Cancer | "My eyes are finally better, but I have to go for a cancer check for a small eye tumor - a simple laser procedure will take care of it. My skin cancer on my upper leg has returned". |
| Dec 1990 | Toe | Operation. |
| April 1994 | Broken Wrist |
Four shelves at magazine packing job fell onto right wrist. "...they found a hairline fracture in my right wrist. Therefore the cast. |
| July 1994 | Other Wrist |
"Last Thursday I fell at work [ed. - to avoid a cart of boxes being pushed] and ended up falling backwards, hitting my head on the cement floor... thank God I have a hard skull, no damage there, but as I fell I had my left arm behind my back and fell on it and promptly broke my wrist. Such agony ever since, nothing like the last time. I did pull a tendon in my middle finger and it is driving me slowly up the wall with pain. The doctor gave me some narcotic painkillers. |
| May 1996 | Blood Poisoning | "Was picking up branches in the backyard and one of them rammed up into the upper part of my right hand. Cleaned it up and bandaged it best I could; that was on Saturday. Woke up Sunday with it hurting really bad, still was not too concerned. When I woke up on Tuesday it was a mess bright red swollen and so painful, took one look saw the red streak and freaked out. Rushed myself to the doctor and ...blood poisoning got a tetnnus shot antibiotics and orders to soak it 10 minutes in lukewarm water every two hours. ... Finally on Staurday the pus cone broke and out came a 1/2 inch splinter. |
| July 1996 | Bee Sting | "On the 20th I got stung midcalf of my right leg by a yellowjacket in my basement. The leg swelled up from the ankle upand was very painful. We left at 7AM (for Waseca) and it became very obvious that the leg kept swelling more and more. By the time we came to the church at 9AM it was triple its normal size and hurting like crazy. At noon I said to Bob I can't stand it another minute I can't last through the open house at 2PM, take me home. While driving back toward the city I noticed that my toes were beginning to turn blue, so I told him to take me to North Mem. right away. Got there and they took one look at me and got busy, pumped me full of Prelone and then told me that partial gangrene had already set in and in order to save my leg they had to give me some steroid drugs which I am highly allergic to. So there I laid in intensive care for two long days out of it sicker than a dog those drugs almost killed me. |
| Aug 1996 | Kidney | "...as I am living with only one functioning kidney". |
| Sept 1996 | Skin Cancer | "The doctor had to go in deeper this time (removed from same area 8 year earlier on right thigh). 12 stitches". |
| Nov 1996 | Bronchitis | "Also I have been battling severe bronchitis for two weeks now, it was ok while I was taking the antibiotics but when that ran out it came back again". |
| Mar 1997 | Eyes | "...my eyes, they are giving me a lot of trouble due to blocked tearducts, had them irrigated a couple weeks ago, which by the way was not very pleasant to endure. Now I have to put drops in and if it doesn't get better he wants to run me into the hospital for surgery by putting tubes in. |
| Oct 1997 | Pneumonia | "...a severe case of bronchitis which unfortunately turned into a nasty bout of pneumonia and the doctor shovelled me full of antibiotics, which in turn brought on the usual perforation of the colon with much bleeding..." |
| Dec 1998 | Depression | "...finally got over my depression, it was a long hard struggle, finally am off that horrible medicine..." "...there for a while I was a little suicidal, but that is now a thing of the past, life once more looks good to me, when I am done with my bankruptcy it will be ok in all quarters". |
| Mar 1999 | Cholosterol | "...my exceedingly high clestrol count. It is frightening 337 so I am on medication a strict diet and walking". |
| Aug 1999 | Gash | "...I playing pull the rawhide with Fisher and Fritzie came around the corner...so Fisher took off to greet him and his leash caught me around the angle and cut a 2 inch gash right down to the bone, so it was a quick trip to North Memorial Hospital and 5 stitches later". |
| Nov 1999 | Trip | "...I fell at Bob's house, tripped on a rug and went spreadeagle down face first. Broke my big toe on the right foot and sprained my shoulder". |
| Oct 2001 | Fire | One cigarette, one fire, no house. |
| 2001 | Cataract | Removed from left eye. |
| Apr 2002 | Leg | Poor blood circulation. Gout. |
| May 2002 | Abscess on lip | Self-medicated with anti-biotics resulting in diarrhoea. |
| Jan 2003 | Pneumonia | "...I woke up at 7AM so sick I could not get out of bed. Bob had to help me to the bathroom and then I just laid there hoping to die. I had such a severe case of the flu that turned into pnuemonia and bronchitis and lasted 3 weeks". |
| Feb 2003 | Heart Attack | "...headaches constantly for three days and then came what I thought was severe indigestion, heartburn that nothing would kill, and pains in my chest and neck, which I suffered for three days. When I couldn't stand it longer on day three Bob took me to North Memorial in the middle of the night in a blizzard. Well, I had a small heartattack". |
| Mar 03 | Eyelid | "I was dragged to a specialist and spent 5 hours in abject misery and terror being examined and tested I had a florouscopic photo session that lasted 2 hours and a lot of lights into my eye and all kinds of nasty things. Well the upshot of that exam, which by the way cost $2500 was that they don't know what is wrong, it is a permanent inflamation of the eyelid". |
| Dec 2003 | Cataract | "My eyes are still a great problem. Still red and irritated and very poor vision on the one they operated on, and my right eye has the bad cataracts, and I won't let them operate after the last bad experience". |
| Feb 2004 | Glaucoma | "Have a different glaucoma in each eye. Slowly going blind |
| May 2004 | Divirticulitis | "...almost bled to death...water and Jell-o for a week". |
| May 2004 | Gout | "And the next day I woke up with my left foot swollen and in so much pain I almost went crazy. ...doctor took one look and said "You poor lady you have the gout". "...On day 5 I took the last pill at 8AM and thought that was it. At 10AM I got violently ill and had diarrhea, not once but every hour. By Noon I had Bob going to Walgreen's to get something to stop it. The Pharmacist saved my life. He read up on that drug and told me to go to the hospital immediately. So North we went and they were very quick and much concerned, gave me a shot of opium and kept me there for 4 hours. |
| July 2004 | Wrist |
"Mama fell in backyard a few weeks ago. Doctor decided needs surgery/put some pins to get wrist back together (broken bones/fractures in right wrist). She is in lots of pain and after surgery they say pain for awhile til heals". |
| Sept 2004 | Car Accident | "From the car accident - her foot sprain is keeping her in alot of pain and laying in bed more". |
| Dec 2004 | Car Accident | Mom and Bob's new car totalled in yet another accident. |
| Oct 2006 | Food poisoning | Ate something at Mystic Casino - ended up in hospital. |
| Jul 2008 | Cancer | Basal Cell carcinoma removed from right leg using MOHN procedure. |
| Aug 2008 | Potassium Shock | "Room started to spin and I passed out." Caused by dehydration and not eating enough bananas. |
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