DIY History | Transcribe | Iowa Women’s Lives: Letters and Diaries | Eve Drewelowe's journals, volumes II-III, 1950s

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Eve Drewelowe's journals, volumes II-III, 1950s

Page 042

She wept copiously. She ailed. She whined about having a "major operation" in June for the same thing, and was now about to undergo a repetition. Puzzled, I asked her.
"Yes, but the surgeon didn't make an incision in June, did he?"
No, but it was a major operation and now I almost have another for the same thing - and only five months later."
"If there was no incision you had no major operation," I correct her, "and this is going to be nothing for you to be afraid of." Fortunately for my peace of mind this woman was taken away the following morning and went to surgery still whining.
A second howler came in with a case of pneumonia. She - a young girl very much spoiled. Her record: - She had been [bodied] through a lot of illness  including a good deal of hospital nursing and care. The home - a small village - not many miles away made her accessible to her family. Every afternoon a matronly woman - her mother - came to sit with her and worry over her. Her father, [human?], was only able to visit when his shop - a meat market was closed upon Sundays or holidays.
By mornings, - this girl in her bed in her corner of the room, and I, in my bed in my corner diagonally across the room - would laugh and joke. She apparently was getting along very well - Every afternoon, however, when her folks arrived she quite convincingly stayed her howling act. I was fooled at first and felt sorry for the girl for I believed she really was ill.

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She wept copiously. She ailed. She whined about having a "major operation" in June for the same thing, and was now about to undergo a repetition. Puzzled, I asked her. "Yes, but the surgeon didn't make an incision in June, did he?" No, but it was a major operation and now I almost have another for the same thing - and only five months later." "If there was no incision you had no major operation," I correct her, "and this is going to be nothing for you to be afraid of." Fortunately for my peace of mind this woman was taken away the following morning and went to surgery still whining. A second howler came in with a case of pneumonia. She - a young girl very much spoiled. Her record: - She had been [bodied] through a lot of illness including a good deal of hospital nursing and care. The home - a small village - not many miles away made her accessible to her family. Every afternoon a matronly woman - her mother - came to sit with her and worry over her. Her father, [human?], was only able to visit when his shop - a meat market was closed upon Sundays or holidays. By mornings, - this girl in her bed in her corner of the room, and I, in my bed in my corner diagonally across the room - would laugh and joke. She apparently was getting along very well - Every afternoon, however, when her folks arrived she quite convincingly stayed her howling act. I was fooled at first and felt sorry for the girl for I believed she really was ill.