Throwback Thursday, Philadelphia Navy Hospital

Throwback Thursday – 30 Days in the Philadelphia Naval Hospital.

It appears that I have a Panadol  cyst again.  This is my fourth time with this kind of cyst. 

It reminds me of February or March 1965 of my first Panadol Cyst. 

At NAS Lakehurst, NJ, I had an infected sore-like thing on the end of my tailbone.  It was infected excreting a smelly pus.  The medical department of the base sent me to the Naval Hospital in Philadelphia.

After the operation I was in a open-bay ward with many patients.  After a few days I was moved to another opened-bay ward – but no other person was there.  I had the whole ward to myself.

I had to report to the ward above me twice a day for the medical people to clean and change my bandage and for sitz baths.  With Sitz baths you fill a small tub with hot water, dump some healing stuff into the water and it down.  Usually there were three to five of us.

To earn my keep, so to speak, when I was well enough, I had to sweep down the long lonely bay I was staying alone. 

Since I was the only occupant it was always fairly clean.  A couple times I didn’t get around to sweeping it down and nobody noticed.

At the end of pay, was two patient rooms.  One was a airplane pilot who was in a crash and he was burned to a crisp.    He was covered with bandages.  Only by accident I saw some of his cooked arm when they were changing him.

The other room was an old senile old man who talked out of his head.  The male-nurse told me they had no idea who he was,  he was found on the streets mumbling to himself. .  He was so unfasted he had no body motor controls.  Why was he in a Navy hospital?  Because he probably served in the Navy, based on a tell-tell tattoo.

Both these men reminded me a book I had recently read JOHNNKY GOT HIS GUN by Dalton Trumbo.

I walked into downtown Philadelphia one day.  It was a long walk.  I stopped in a bar for a drink and started talking to an old lady in a Red Cross uniform.  She bought the drinks. And again.

Also, I made friends with one of the male nurses.  We liked the same literature.  He had me over to his apartment one night with dinner for he and his wife. 

The Personnel Office for Officers  had a woman that needed typing help.  I filled her need by doing some typing for her.  We talked about this and that.  In a couple of days she said she did some research and found that after I was released from the hospital  the next week I would have less than 90 days to serve.  They would have to cut me orders to report back to my squadron in Lakehurst or since I will have less than 90 days they can terminate my active duty.

I jumped for joy.

Then I thought about it.  I made some good friendships at Lakehurst and did not like the idea of leaving them and not seeing them again.  And besides I left my co-worker, friend, my car to use while I was in the hospital, so I told they lady “Thanks but no thanks.”

If I knew what was in store for me I possibly  might have had second thoughts.  When I saw my little blue Volvo my friend was keeping for the first thing I noticed was the door was being held on by a rope.  Secondly, I was to be questioned.  I accidentally left the safe opened with tests in it.  A guy by the name of Montgomery stole a test and later during a search the test was confiscated.  It was my fault he had that test, an oversight, but my responsibility anyway.

What got me through that investigation was when questioned Don would get behind me and make faces at the investigating officer.  You would have to have been there.