A Doctor in the late 40s.

For most of 1946, I had no car; instead, I drove my mother’s pre-war Plymouth

It was post war and no cars had been avaiable to the public for several years. Production had not yet met demands. I had tried to buy one at the various dealerships but only the Ford dealer gave me any hope. I was too naive to understand that he wanted dollars under the table before he would deliver one at a premium. Fortunately, a Lion member owned the Studebaker dealership, and I bought one of the first postwar Studies, and many more after that from the same dealer.

The self-contained medical building or offices are a post war innovation. As was common in those days, the office occupied a portion of our house, on the corner of Fourth and Grant.

A porch had been enclosed and became the waiting room. A new entrance had been built on 4th street. There was a small entryway between the waiting room and the consultation room, which you entered from the upper left. A door at the far end of this room led to a hall, which was closed off, from the living quarters by two doors. You turned left down the short hall and entered the examination room, which had formerly been a kitchen. An old outside pantry and rear entry had been converted into a rest room and storage space.

Most of my practice consisted of blue-collar families. Many were of Italian, Polish, or Irish extraction. In those days, my practice was not specialized and included pediatrics, obstetrics, minor surgery as well as medicine. I also administered obstetrical anesthesia to supplement my income.

In the 40s and 50s, there were a large number of area residents who were commuting to New York from a station on Grant Avenue

Many were patients and all too frequently, someone would ring the office bell before 7 o'clock in the morning. They wanted to see the doctor before catching their train.It did not matter whether I was asleep or not, they were awake.

Before the war, it was not customary for doctors to have female help, but I soon felt I should have a nurse. This was not only for my "protection" as well as the reassurance of the woman patient.

I hired a delightful young RN from the Hospital for $48.00 a week!. I put her small desk and filing cabinet for the patient’s records in the entry hall by the door. She was the first of many of the most compassionate nurses that worked with me. Most stayed for many years and left only when they had children or their husbands were transferred out of the area. Most of my patients came to regard them as their friend and for years after the nurse left continued to ask about them.

One day a young girl and her mother came rushing into the office.The girl while using the slicing machine in the family deli had cut off the extreme tip of a finger. The mother stayed in the waiting room while I, assisted by the nurse, repaired the wound.

When I went to tell the mother that everything would be okay, I found her lying on the floor, out cold. She had fainted. She was a greater problem then her daughter.

I had treated one of my patients, a young black man, who had pneumonia with ambulatory antibiotics. After examining in the office, I had discharged him as cured.

There were no other patients in the waiting room when he left. I remained sitting at my desk with the door to the reception area ajar. The outside door opened and this young man reentered and, knowing that I could hear, said to my nurse."I forgot to ask the doctor if I could play the clarinet now.” I called out " Clem,of course you can". "That's funny", he said,”I never could before".

I had fallen for an old saw and started laughing.Fifty years later, Clem and I still laughed at this joke.

Once I told the patient, who was not following my advice or taking his medication, that unless he did as I recommended he was wasting his money and my time. He never came back. I had lost a patient I could ill afford.

Twenty years later when he reappeared in my office with a serious illness.He told me that he had been afraid to come back since he was not complying with his treatment, and had seen other doctors. Because he felt that I was a superior physician, he had swallowed his pride and sought my help. He continued under my care for several more years ultimately passing away from intractable heart failure.

Among my patients was a family with two young boys. The older one had developed ileitis. I had referred the family to a GI specialist at Mt Sinai in NYC; however, his case had not only been missed diagnosed by them as ulcerative colitis but the treatment had resulted in a demanding invalid. The younger boy was uncontrollable, probably because his brother was receiving so much attention.

One day he along with his brother and his mother were in my consultation room, when I looked up and noticed that he had not only opened the door to the entry area, but had tied the window drapes' pull cords to the to the door knob. He was getting ready to slam the door closed when I stopped him. I do not think mother even scolded him.

One Italian family had several daughters. The eldest had severe mitral regurgitation a complication of rheumatic fever, which ultimately proved fatal. One of the other daughters was very obnoxious and nosey. Her younger but naive sister was able to conceal her several months pregnancy when married. Helen and I were invited to the family catered wedding.

A little over five months after the wedding towards the end of her 7th month, she phoned me hysterically complaining of severe pains in her stomach. Suspecting what was the problem,I immediately made a house call and had her transported to the hospital in active labor. I was her obstetrician, almost all physicians, even those who professed themselves to be surgeons, in the 50s delivered babies.

The baby boy weighed about 3 pounds and ultimately suffered from a hearing loss. Her older sister questioned me whether I thought that the baby had come too soon after marriage, i.e.: questioning if her sister had been pregnant before the wedding. I pointed out that the baby’s size showed he was premature which satisfied her curiosity.

There was an Irish foundry worker who lived on West 4th Street near Monroe Ave and was employed at Hoe’s. He developed severe urinary retention at work as the result of an enlarged prostate. Although in severe pain he walked about six miles from Middlesex to my office. I had the Muhlenberg ambulance (in the 50s the Hospital still provided ambulance services) transport him to the hospital for the Urologist to treat. In those days that particular surgery was not only crude and brutal,but, there was a prolonged painful period of recovery most often complicated by urinary tract infection.

Unless there are too many objections, I will continue with these excerpts.