{"id":240,"date":"2023-07-19T19:07:44","date_gmt":"2023-07-19T19:07:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.annemettehowland.net\/?p=240"},"modified":"2026-02-28T21:54:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T21:54:49","slug":"the-boil-chapter-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.annemettehowland.net\/?p=240","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 18 The Boil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tuesday, August 10, 1976<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just when I thought things couldn\u2019t possibly get any worse, I came down with a boil. I hardly slept last night because of the pain it caused. The boil is in the middle of my back, so every time I turned over, I woke up because it hurt. I have had boils before, but nothing like this one!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Mom and Beth left for school, I got a pillow and started hitting it over and over while I cried. I was angry because I was in so much pain. After I had hit the pillow for a while, I realized it was only making my body hurt worse, so I stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started to eat breakfast, but I couldn’t finish it because it felt like I was going to throw up. Even though I didn\u2019t feel well, I thought I’d better do the dishes, dust, and clean the blankets off the couch that I had slept on so that Mom wouldn’t get mad at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When mom came back from town, she said she had been to see the doctor to get me an appointment. We walked into town so the doctor could have a look at my back. The doctor had me lie down. Then he said, \u201cYes, that looks pretty bad! I will have to cut into it so that we can get out some of the infection.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, he disinfected my back, and then he got a needle to numb the area he was going to cut into. I could feel his hands trembling, and I sensed that he didn\u2019t seem sure of what he was doing. He was shaking so hard that the needle he was using broke. The doctor then had to cut out the broken needle that was still stuck in my back. I could not believe what was happening!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The doctor gave me another shot. He was afraid to put the needle where he had put the first one, so he put it farther away from the boil.\u00a0It never got numbed. When I told the doctor I could feel everything he was doing, he responded, \u201cI am afraid to give you any more shots. You will have to hang in there while I cut.\u201d He then asked the nurse to\u00a0hold one of my hands and Mom the other. I clutched on tight because\u00a0I felt every movement of the scalpel as he cut it open. When he finished cutting, and I was about to get up, the doctor said, \u201cHang in there!\u201d Then he got some really long tweezers and opened the cut to push some gauze into it. He told me the gauze was to help drain out the infection, and he would pull it out tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as the doctor was about to put\u00a0a cover\u00a0on the cut, the nurse said, \u201cOh, no! Look, there is a hair.\u201d\u00a0She tried to pull\u00a0it out, but it was too long. The doctor\u00a0feared the hair might cause further infection, so he removed the gauze. By now, I was praying to pass out, but I was still wide awake as\u00a0he proceeded to push in some new gauze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I got off the table, it was hard to walk because it felt like I was going to pass out, and the fever\u00a0seemed like it had gotten worse. As we walked out of the office, Mom said, \u201cCome on. Let\u2019s go to the candy store, and I will buy you an ice cream. I told Mom I was too sick for ice cream and needed to hurry home to lie down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mom said, \u201cNonsense! We are having ice cream!\u201d And before I knew it, we were in a candy store, and Mom was handing me an ice cream. The lady next to me bumped my back, and I started to pass out from the pain. I fell forward onto Mom and then onto the floor. Mom caught the ice cream just in time. I was so embarrassed, and as soon as I could, I got up and hurried out of the store. There was a bench outside where I could lie down. Mom handed me the ice cream and demanded that I eat it. I tried to tell her that I was too sick. Mom got upset and said, \u201cI paid good money for it, so you better eat it!\u201d I didn\u2019t want any trouble, so I did as I was told. When we got back to the house, I laid down for the rest of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday, August 11, 1976<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I walked back into town to see the doctor. He pulled out the gauze, then said I should be getting better in a couple of days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I came back to the house, I laid down again. I knew Mom might get mad at me for not helping out, but I felt too sick to do anything, and the fever wouldn’t seem to let up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday, August 12, 1976<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fever wasn\u2019t going down. I still didn\u2019t feel any better, and I wanted to stay on the couch. I didn\u2019t have very many clothes to wear, so I got up. I heated some water so I could wash them by hand. As soon as I was done with that, I went to lie back down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later in the day, when it was time to visit Mr. Ramsdahl, I told Mom I wasn’t feeling well and couldn\u2019t go with her and Beth. I hated being in the house by myself, but I was too sick to go along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Mom and Beth came back, Mom said that Mr. Ramsdahl had been taken to the hospital because he had gotten sick from diabetes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday, August 13, 1976<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The boil was getting worse. Mom told me to go back to the doctor and ask for a prescription for penicillin. I felt too sick to go, but since I wanted to get better, I forced myself to get up. When I got to the doctor’s office, the receptionist seemed annoyed with me and said, \u201cYou can\u2019t just come walking in here without an appointment! Besides, the office is closed for the weekend.\u201d I told her that we didn\u2019t have a phone and that I wasn\u2019t feeling well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0doctor came out because he\u00a0was on his way home. He was surprised to see me, then told me I couldn\u2019t just walk in without an appointment. I told him I was sorry and explained that we didn’t have a phone. Since I wasn\u2019t getting better, I had come only to ask for a prescription for penicillin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The doctor didn\u2019t seem to believe me. He told me that I should be feeling better by now. He then asked me to come into his office so he could have a look at me. I could tell from the gasp he let out that he was shocked by how bad the boil looked.  He grabbed a really long Q-tip, put alcohol on it, and then he pushed it into my back. It seemed to take forever for him to clean out the boil. Then he got the long tweezers and pushed some more gauze into it. He then wrote out a prescription for penicillin. As he handed me the prescription, he said, \u201cMake sure you keep it clean!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I left the doctor\u2019s office, I went into the bathroom to dry off my tears and brush my hair so that I could go back into the street again. When I got outside, I felt as if I was going to pass out, so I hurried and sat down on the curb. As I sat there, I wondered why nothing was going right for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I got back to the house, I gave Mom the prescription for penicillin. When mom saw the prescription, she got upset and started to yell at me and call me all kinds of names. She demanded to know how I could be so stupid as to ask for penicillin since I was allergic to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had not had pills for two years. I had forgotten that I was allergic to penicillin, and I only got what mom had asked me to get. Apparently, she, too, had forgotten that I couldn\u2019t have penicillin until she saw the prescription.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went back to the sofa to rest. After I had slept for a little bit, Mom woke me up. She started yelling at me, calling me lazy and a good-for-nothing, then demanded that I get up and do the chores. I forced myself to get up. After I had done a few things, Mom said, \u201cGet ready, we are going to the hospital to see Bent\u2019s dad!\u201d I didn\u2019t want any more yelling, so I came along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we got back from the hospital, Mom started in on me again. I didn\u2019t know how much more I could take. I asked her to please stop. Then I added, “If I am such a bad person, why don\u2019t you let me go?” This only made her angrier. Mom grabbed Be by the hand, and as she stormed out the door, she said, \u201cI am leaving now. I am going to have you locked up in a place where you can never get out!\u201d I knew there was no such place and that Mom only said it because that was what Bent always threatened Sander and\u00a0me with while we lived in Canada. Personally, I know I would be better off if there were such a place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Mom left, I looked for my passport but couldn’t find it. I figured Mom must have it in her purse. I\u00a0was going to run\u00a0out the door after Mom to ask her where she had put it. When I opened the door, she was sitting on the step with Beth. I asked Mom where my passport was. She told me it was none of my business. When I got back inside, I lay down, exhausted from the fever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday, August 15, 1976<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mom ordered me to get out of bed and do some chores. I told her I didn\u2019t feel well. She then said, \u201cIt is your own fault since you are so stupid and can\u2019t even ask the doctor for the right medicine.\u201d Then she added, \u201cJust because you have a boil is no excuse for laying around and doing nothing!\u201d I could feel the fever was still high. I was afraid Mom would start to hit me, so I got up and did as I was told. As I pushed along, I dreamed of a place I could call \u201chome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday, August 16, 1976<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I got up, I forced myself to walk back into town so the doctor could remove the gauze. When the doctor saw the boil, he seemed dismayed that I was not getting better. I told him I had not been able to take the medicine since I was allergic to penicillin. The doctor wrote me a different prescription, and then he said, \u201cAfter you take this, you should start to feel better. If you don\u2019t, come see me again on Wednesday.\u201d  I went to the pharmacy and got the pills. After I got back to the house, my fever had risen, and I needed to rest. I knew Mom would get upset, but I couldn\u2019t push myself any longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure enough, Mom started yelling and calling me names again. No matter how much she yelled, I couldn\u2019t get up. I was sure that if I got up, I would pass out. It ended with Mom saying, \u201cSince you are so stupid, lazy, and good-for-nothing\u2026.get out of my life!\u201d I asked Mom if this meant I was free to go back to Canada. She responded, \u201cThe sooner, the better! You are worthless! Get the hell out of my life!\u201d I asked Mom if she would still pay for half the ticket, as she had promised. Mom answered with a very stern, “Absolutely not!” As I lay there, I wondered if I would ever get better. I was relieved to know that, if I did, Nick would be more than willing to pay for my ticket, and I would be going back to Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, August 10, 1976 Just when I thought things couldn\u2019t possibly get any worse, I came down with a boil. I hardly slept last night because of the pain it caused. The boil is in the middle of my back, so every time I turned over, I woke up because it hurt. I have had boils before, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annemettehowland.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annemettehowland.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annemettehowland.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annemettehowland.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annemettehowland.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=240"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.annemettehowland.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11972,"href":"https:\/\/www.annemettehowland.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions\/11972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annemettehowland.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annemettehowland.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annemettehowland.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}