In the Beginning

Everyone has a story. I'm going to tell mine. It's my blog so I get to tell any story I want. This one will be true with a condition. The condition is that it will be the truth as I remember it. Creative license will be taken when the mood strikes.

I was born on Friday, March 19, 1954 at 11:41 in the morning. It was a cesarean birth. Apparently even back then I could be difficult. The attending doctor was F. Gordon Beherents. If you go by the old poem Friday's child is loving and giving. I would like to think there is some truth in that.

If you examine the hospital bill it appears I was a difficult child even before my birth. Mom was in the hospital on March 14th and 15th but I refused to make my anticipated appearance. I found the bill interesting. A week in the hospital, surgery and my care all for a cash discount of $154.40. Clearly a bargain. I see I also had major surgery. It's amazing to me a doctor would do a major operation like a circumcision for three dollars. I know you scoff at my contention it was major surgery. I checked my baby book and the surgery was so serious I was not able to take my first step until February 1955 about 11 months after my major surgery. The good news is that by April 1955 I was walking all over the yard.

The note above is from my first doctor visit. The doctor notes I'm a "sturdy" baby. I would later be referred to as husky.. I was also apparently a hungry boy. Let's cut through the crap here Doctor Dayton. I was a hungry fat little fella.

So here we go. Baby Jeff has made a huge gain in weight according to this doctor note. The solution is to give me more food. I like the answer.

It is now August and I'm getting lots of teeth.

I don't have a note about my first injection but 11-2-1954 is my second.

My last injection for diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus. I have lots of teeth so let's expand the food choices. Sounds like fum.

I continue to gain weight in a hurry but the good doctor says I'm not really fat. I got my smallpox vaccination and in a year the doctor says I will get my booster injections and the "Dick" test. The year starts with circumcision and when I'm two I have a "Dick" test. The good news is that it wasn't a test of my dick. It involved an injection of 0.1 cubic centimeter of scarlet fever toxin into the skin. A reddening of the skin in an area over 10 millimeters in diameter within 24 hours indicates a lack of immunity to scarlet fever. The test was developed by Doctors George and Gladys Dick. So it is the Dick test.