Owen and Maxine in Deer Lodge circa 1950
Whether my mom or I were to live or die was a dire decision my Mom and Dad were abruptly confronted with in the summer of 1951. On several occasions they recounted to me the following story.
While in Deer Lodge during the summer of 1951, at the age of 38, my mother, Maxine, became ill; she was weak and nauseous, and was unable to carry out her day-to-day tasks as well as she wanted. As a consequence, Mom went to see one of the local doctors in Deer Lodge, and after a series of tests the doctor advised Mom that she was suffering from pseudocyesis, otherwise known as a false pregnancy, and that there was a tumor in her womb that needed to be removed as soon as possible. Mom and Dad believed the doctor’s diagnosis, and they proceeded to follow the doctor’s orders to have the tumor removed by making an appointment for the intended operation at Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Deer Lodge.
Saint Joseph Hospital in Deer Lodge, Montana circa 2000
Saint Joseph’s Hospital is an old, Catholic hospital located near the center of Deer Lodge. The main 68-bed hospital was built in 1882 to supplement the previous two medical edifices constructed in the mid 1800’s. In 1951, Saint Joseph’s Hospital was an important institution in and around Deer Lodge. The hospital was staffed by the Sisters of Charity, an order that consisted of staunch Catholic Nuns.
To everyone’s surprise, while the medical staff was conducting a series of tests at Saint Joseph’s Hospital in preparation for the operation to remove the pseudocyesis tumor, it was discovered that Mom was actually pregnant with me. The doctors tending to Mom, however, did not believe that Mom was capable of safely giving birth, and that both Mom and I would not survive a future delivery. The tending doctors advised that an abortion should be conducted right then in place of the scheduled operation to remove the tumor, and that to wait for another occasion to have an abortion would only make it more dangerous for Mom. However, the tending nurses, who were staunch Catholic Nuns, refused to have anything to do with an abortion or allow such in the hospital. In the minutes that followed, Mom and Dad, aided by the encouragement of the Sisters of Charity, opted to not abort the fetus, but to take the risk and allow the pregnancy to progress to full term. This they did, and several months later I was safely born on 9 Dec 1951 in the Holiday Park Hospital in Portland, Multnomah, Oregon, where Mom and Dad went to get competent medical attention.
A Place of Refuge
I asked Mom and Dad why I was born in Portland, and they told me that Mom was sick when she was pregnant with me, and there was a concern that neither Mom nor I would survive my birth. They therefore selected the Holiday Park Hospital in Portland because it was a better hospital than the hospital in Deer Lodge. Mom also had a brother, Edwin, who lived in Salem a few miles south of Portland in 1951, which, no doubt, helped them select the City of Portland for the place of my birth.
With the aid of an experienced doctor and staff, I was born in the Holiday Park Hospital in Portland on ***, 9 December 1951, at *** hours. I was apparently *** inches long and weighed *** (Holiday Park Hospital, 1951).
Fears are Finally Put to Rest
When speaking of my birth both Mom and Dad recited several times the following story.
Because of the dire concern expressed by the doctors in Deer Lodge about Mom’s pregnancy and my pending birth, both Mom and Dad were greatly relieved when Mom and I were doing well after my birth. Dad said he cried in gratitude that Mom and I were healthy. The joy would soon be cut short, however, because of an event that occurred after Mom and Dad and I left the hospital and were driving to Salem where Mom’s brother Irvin lived. Mom and Dad had a black 1940** Ford sedan, and like all vehicles of their day, there were shortcomings in the sedan’s design, one of which was a passenger compartment that was quite exposed to the outside air.
It was a cold December morning when Dad and Mom placed me on the back seat of the Ford and headed for Salem; I was fast asleep. After a few minutes of driving in route to Salem, Dad and Mom smelled exhaust fumes accumulating within the Ford’s passenger compartment. At first they were not particularly concerned, but after a while the fumes became unpleasant and Mom became concerned that the fumes were not healthy for me. Mom picked me up and tried to awaken me, but I was apparently unconscious from the fumes and they could not revive me. Fear and alarm took hold of both Mom and Dad –their new baby might die after all.
Mom and Dad quickly opened the windows and Dad turned the car around to go back to the hospital. The cold winter air penetrated the car in place of the exhaust fumes as Dad sped down the road. Tears welled up in Mom and Dad’s eyes as they contemplated the situation.
Upon arriving at the hospital Mom and Dad rushed in with me in Mom’s arms. They roused the hospital staff and I was tended to and readmitted into the hospital. In the hospital I was given oxygen and aroused using smelling salts. Apparently there were no ill side effects from the ordeal, and I was once again released from the hospital. We then drove to Salem with me on Mom’s lap so she could keep me awake and with the windows open to allow for fresh air.
Although the medical diagnosis was there were no lasting effects from the exhaust fumes, I often wondered –because of a well-earned skepticism for the opinions of so-called experts– if I had actually been adversely affected by the fumes. The issue affected my self-esteem on many occasions, especially during my teen years before I recognized my ability to excel when I endeavored to do so.
Lessons I Have Gleaned from the Stories in this Chapter
• The truth is not always apparent, and sometimes is hard to come by in this mortal sojourn.
• There is great benefit to knowing the truth, and potential dire consequences for ignorance.
• The learned are often not as smart as they think they are, or as smart as they hope others think they are.
• Doing what is right often requires faith and hope in a supernatural power to deliver us from the natural laws of this fallen world.
• Faith in the teachings of Jesus Christ is not limited to just members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• The gospel of Jesus Christ inspires charity as evidenced by the Catholic “Sisters of Charity” serving in Deer Lodge, Montana.
• There can be great benefit in associating with people who have faith in the teachings of Jesus Christ.
• When the need arises, we can often turn to others for appropriate assistance.
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