Heaven's Gate Bridge eighteen

HG eighteen

Mr. and Mrs. Miller and Harriet finally arrived at Dr. Carson’s office. The drive was a nice one but each person had a different set of worries. The trip gave each of them time to compose a question that they hoped would receive a positive answer. Dr. Carson had scheduled the Millers at a time in which there were no other patients coming. He knew that if someone was in the room at the same time Harriet was and came down with the measles, that they might blame him. His receptionist who was also his nurse, brought the family into the special exam office and went into Dr. Carson’s private consultation office to tell the doctor that they had arrived.

In this office, there was a table that was the examination table. On a counter was a variety of glass jars with cotton, tongue depressors, and thermometers in a separate container. On a shelf was a collection of thick books with medical sounding names. Harriet looked at each book and was glad that none of those words would be on the school’s spelling bee.

Dr. Carson entered the room with a nice white lab coat on. Hanging from his neck was the stethoscope that he would use to listen to a patient’s heart He looked at his watch and returned it to his pocket. His nurse stood behind him at attention in her long skirted nurse’s uniform. The cap, which was white and round had a black ribbon around it. It represented the school that she had attended.

“Well good afternoon. I have rarely seen this many people in my office at the same time. Please sit down and we will go over what we will do today.” he said as he politely held the chair for Mrs. Miller. “First, I think that we need to complete the exam on Harriet. Then I see that you, Mrs. Miller have a few red spots. I certainly hope that they are not measles, but we will check you next.”

All of the people nodded and Harriet sat on the chair that was next to the table. Dr. Carson had prepared himself for this appointment by having the equipment he thought he would need ready. He turned on a light and moved Harriet’s hair away from her left ear. That was the ear that he suspected had the most hearing loss. He looked carefully as he pulled the ear lobe down. He repeated the same exam on her right ear.

“Hm hem. I think there might be a little wax there so I will use this syringe,” he held up a syringe with a rubber bulb on the end. “and fill it with warm water to loosen the wax. Then we will use this stick with cotton on it to remove what we see.” The process took about two minutes. Harriet gritted her teeth as the warm water filled her ear. She closed her eyes as the doctor used the cotton stick to gently remove a small amount of wax. He repeated it for the other ear. “Now Harriet, go into the waiting room for your ear to dry a bit as I talk to your mother and see about her health.”

Harriet shook her head to indicate that she understood and left the room. As she walked in she saw the nurse busy putting files away. She wanted to see what else the nurse was doing but knew that she must sit down as the doctor ordered her to. She would have plenty of time later to ask more questions about what a nurse did and how hard the work really was. She felt that if she could put a bandage on her brothers when they hurt their arm that the other duties might not be so hard.

Inside the office Mrs. Miller began to explain to the doctor about when her symptoms began. She also reported how she felt her pregnancy was going along. Each time she paused, Dr. Carson wrote some notes on a paper that would go into her file. He was very attentive and only asked her to stop a few times to clarify some part of her report.

“Well Mrs. Miller I want to look at your red spots and then get the nurse to take your temperature and weight. I see that you look like you are putting on some weight and hope that you are eating good nourishing food instead of too much sweets. We don’t want you to have to try to deliver a fat baby. “ he said with a small smile.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Miller gave a small laugh. Mr. Miller looked lovingly at his wife of sixteen years. He was so proud of how she kept herself in good shape now and when she was not pregnant. She also did not seem to have any other aging signs such as gray hair and baggy eyes like other women of her age of thirty-seven. He was counting his blessing to have such a beautiful and smart lady agree to marry a man of five years older than she was. His biggest blessing was the fact that her father had come to their home and look at some plants that his mother had bought. Mr. Young was taking his daughter to the store. She had accompanied him on this trip since the store was on the way. Mr. Young never knew that William Miller had fallen in love with Frances Young when he first saw her. There was no doubt that William would plan to see her again in the effort to win her hand. He had never regretted that impulsive decision of that day.

The doctor and Frances discussed many of the things that she would need to do for the next several days to ease the severity of the measles. She would most certainly need bed rest. If possible she would need to eat as usual but in small meals a couple of times extra in the day. Finally, she would need to monitor the feeling of the baby that she was carrying. If she felt that there was any problems, she might need to see him immediately. He did not want to put her into the hospital yet, but they saved that as the last option.

Mr. and Mrs. Miller felt that their time was well used. Mr. Miller went to the outer office and got Harriet back into the room. Harriet sat down next to his big table. Dr. Carson checked to see if the ear looked dry. He saw a lovely eardrum that did not have any wax in the way. He repeated the same tests and obtained about the same results. As he was writing, Mr. Miller clapped his hands softly twice. Mrs. Miller turned around but Harriet only did that after her mother had moved. There were a few other sound making tests that the doctor performed with Harriet covering one ear and then the other.

“Well Mr. and Mrs. Miller and Harriet, I think that the bad news is that the measles may have damaged your nerve that carries sound for hearing. One ear is better than the other. I do not think that it will improve. I am going to look into what we can do to help Harriet. I think that in a few days, she should go back to school and try to complete her studies. Let the teacher know and ask to sit in the front of the room.” he said mostly to the parents. Then he looked at Harriet, “Young lady, you have a challenge in your life. I am sorry that I cannot help you but you have a wonderful family and good friends. I would like you to come back in a month and I will recheck you to see if there is any change.”

Harriet looked at her parents. Her mother picked up her hand. “Let’s go outside to talk while your father talks to the doctor.”

Harriet stood up slowly and walked out the room. Her mother paused at the door. “How much hearing has she lost?”

“It could be as much as fifty percent. I want to see how well she adjusts to this and works at school. She is going to need a lot of support, but I want you, Mrs. Miller to go to bed. Harriet has a twin sister and two brothers who will be there.” he responded as he turned to talk to Mr. Miller.