walk down memory lane TB hospital

meritaten

my mum recently died and I have been sorting through all the old photos. Brings back so many memories.
Back in the 1950s I contracted Tuberculosis - now I am not exactly sure of what age I entered hospital, but I spent my third birthday in Glan Ely Hospital, Cardiff. and I was there about a year and half.as my birthday pictures show me dressed and outside I must have left soon after.
I understand it was a Tuberculosis Sanitorium at the time. and looking at some of the photos dad took of me at visiting time, I have started to remember more and more of my time there! my mum never liked me to talk about it when I came home - so I suspect I 'suppressed' a lot of things.
my god - it was so different when my youngest son was ill and in hospital a lot! I was expected to stay on the ward with him and generally care for him. in those days my mum and dad could only visit in the evenings weekdays (and it was a 35 minute rail journey plus time getting to and from rail stations - about an hour then?) but weekends I believe had afternoon visiting.

I don't have 'bad' memories really - just the daily injections in the bum! the rest of the time .............it sounds strange, but, I had fun with the guys (for some reason the ward was all boys except for me and another girl who I think was named Theresa?).
and I learned to read! the boys were almost all older and they had a teacher come in every day, who noticed I became quiet and intent when she was teaching - so she included me in her class and I could read and form letters before I left hospital.
Mum thought I was a genius!
I loved the staff - and I think this is what got mum upset - I missed them terribly when I came home. especially 'MY Doctor'.
after the parents left in the evening a few of the doctors used to come down to the ward to 'play' with the kids! MY doctor used to sit me on his lap and do silly magic tricks - pull a chocolate coin out of my ear or nose! and he used to sing me a lullaby and it was 'Catch a Falling Star'! every evening! I now know that he couldn't have been on duty EVERY evening, but, that is how I remember it. I know that nowadays the medical profession are horrified at the nursing practices during the 1950s/1960s - but, at the hospital where I was - it was my home and I wasn't in the least unhappy or felt 'abused'. I actually felt cared for, if not 'cherished' as most of the staff were lovely.
anyone else had similar experiences or different experiences or want to share their stories?

parsniphead

Sorry about your loss meritaten.

Your memories were interesting to read. You sounded very cared for.

I guess your mum didn't like to talk about it as it was a hard time for them to have their little girl away for so long.

Daily injections in the bum though.... :eek:

pws52

My Aunt was in a sanitorium for a couple of years when I was small...about 60 years ago! Fresh air was regarded as treatment for TB. I remember visiting her and seeing her in what might be described as a large conservatory. She said that the beds were wheeled out of the ward every morning into the conservatory and wheeled back in the evening.
She also had the injections in the bum/thigh.

I think she enjoyed the close community and has fond memories of fellow patients and staff. The staff were less formal than those in hospitals at that time.
She was 'fortunate' to have TB when she did as she was one of the first patients to receive the new medication which went on to cure so many from a disease which had killed so many.

Because I was classed as a contact I had to have annual chest x- rays and what we called the Daisy Test.....the one on the forearm. If that was raised then I had the TB injection. I think I had 3 of these.
These check ups continued until I was about 16.
I didn't mind as I got to have 2 mornings off school to go to the hospital!

Those were the days! How things have changed!

VfM4meplse

pws52 wrote: »

She was 'fortunate' to have TB when she did as she was one of the first patients to receive the new medication which went on to cure so many from a disease which had killed so many.

Because I was classed as a contact I had to have annual chest x- rays and what we called the Daisy Test.....the one on the forearm. If that was raised then I had the TB injection. I think I had 3 of these.
These check ups continued until I was about 16.
I didn't mind as I got to have 2 mornings off school to go to the hospital!

Those were the days! How things have changed!

Unfortunately, not as much as you think! These days TB is enjoying a resurgence in London especially, mainly via immigrants and exacerbated by poor living conditions and keeping out of the radar of the authorities, which leads to an ideal spread climate.

Immunisation and infection control measures have been a huge modern success story in developed nations - look at how HIV infection is now being prevented and proactively managed - but we neglect the rest of the world at our peril.

Floss

TB is also prevalent in ethnic communities where the older people have never been immunised, and they in turn dissuade the younger ones from taking up the immunisations. Then there will be visitors from the family's country of origin who unknowingly pass on TB to the family. And then you have a few cases, which will likely escalate within a tight community, some of whom may never see a healthcare worker through their own choice or cultural behaviours.

rosie383

Listening to a doc on the radio the other day talking about the rise in TB, she was saying that the problem is more prevalent among the homeless community rather than the immigrant community.

meritaten

I hope you all don't mind if I keep posting some memories? your comments have been very interesting! and have sparked off some things I had thought forgotten.

I have a very early memory of a ward with 'cots' (all under fives were kept in cots) but right next to mine was an 'iron lung' probably there because it was right by Staff Nurses desk and under Sisters window. I have memories of talking to the little girl in it - she never replied to me I don't think, but that wouldn't have put me off! and I remember waking up one morning to find the girl and the 'iron lung' gone. nobody would tell me where she was.
and as for the cots the older or more agile kids climbed out of them! caused chaos some mornings before doctors rounds as the young nurses raced around trying to catch them! (all patients had to be 'in bed' for doctors rounds). I am sorry to say I was a bit naughty - and used to wait till they caught all the boys then climb out and run around! they stopped that antic by using my nightgown strings to tie me to the cot - and one day they forgot to untie me before the doctor got there...... and MY doctor went absolutely ballistic as I was making a right fuss!

I think you are right pws52 - the atmosphere in the wards was less formal than normal hospitals - probably because the patients were 'long stay'! and developed close relationships with the staff. Even the ward maids were fun and would play if Sister wasn't watching!
Us kids were supplied with toys and games and we were well capable of making our own entertainment. apparently one game of mine was to pinch somebodys pillow and hide it! (you were extremely fortunate to have even ONE pillow! they preferred you to lie flat). That's not a memory - mum told me this years later.
Quite possibly why I have a bit of a pillow fetish - I cant sleep with less than two pillows and prefer three or four depending on how 'sinking inable' they are!

pws - yes, we were wheeled out onto the verandah - but I can only remember this being done on fine days! they must have realised that South Wales Fresh air during the winter is hardly conducive to health!
That verandah was beautiful - every time I see a picture of the wide verandas of 'colonial houses' it reminds me of hospital! and outside was grassy lawn leading down to trees. pity we weren't allowed OFF the verandah! I was dying to play on the grass and in the trees - but I can imagine that quite a few of us would have gone AWOL in there! and the staff had enough trouble keeping track of us as it was!

rosie383

That's shocking QS!

As for the memories Meritaten, bring them on! I love reading them and I'm sure I can't be the only one.

Goldiegirl

Thank you for posting your memories, Meritaten, it's reminded me of some of my mum's experiences.

She spent some time in an isolation hospital, as she had scarlet fever.

I think this must have been around the summer of 1937, when she was 10 or 11. I have a feeling the hospital was in Dartford. I did a Google search, and the Joyce Green hospital was an isolation hospital, so this seems to conform my feelings. The only thing was, my mum and hare family lived in Grays in Essex. My nan would have been pregnant or just given birth to her youngest child, and with four other children, I don't think there was any way that my nan would have been able to visit regularly, if at all.

My mum missed taking her 11 plus due to being in hospital. She took the exam a couple of years later, in the summer of 1939. She passed, but never got her chance to go to grammar school, as war broke out in the September, and my nan didn't want her travelling further away from home each day, during a war.

In the early 1950's she contracted TB, and I know she spent time in a sanatorium, but I think she was with her sister. But sadly, her sister died, at the age of only 24.

I was born in 1960, I had the BCG vaccine at a very early age, and I remember my mum going for check ups, certainly into the 1970's.

I wish I'd asked more about it, but I got the impression it wasn't something my mum was comfortable talking about.

meritaten

I was still getting 'check-ups' into the 1960s. I can remember going with mum on the bus to the 'clinic' and having Xrays taken at least once yearly until I entered Secondary Modern. I also remember the 'horse pills' that I had to take for years! they came in what looked like a 'sweety jar'! and looked like small brown maltesers but not shiny. and you were supposed to swallow the darn thing whole! drove mum nuts as I ALWAYS crunched it up! dad just laughed and said it would make no difference anyways.
for some reason school insisted on giving me the Daisy Test.......mum went mental as she was told by the doctor I wasn't to have it. I had the most horrendous blister on my arm from it! still got the scar!

[Deleted User]

You're right the isolation hospital was at Joyce Green outside Dartford.In 1971 we had not long moved to Dartford from South Norwood in London and my youngest DD had a febrile convulsion and was rushed into West Hill hospital at Dartford by my OH and myself and my eldest DD was only four and still in her PJ's.
My OH said I'll take Shelley (eldest) home and get her dressed and come back for you.Off her went and five minutes later the Drs came in and said they wanted to blue light my DD to Joyce green as at that time they weren't sure what was making her ill.I was whisked off to Joyce green and when my OH returned to West Hill he found I had been moved He then spent the next hour searching for Joyce Green hospital as he had no idea where it was.It was quite off the beaten track and it was by this time the middle of the night !!

Little poorly DD was taken into the isolation ward and stripped of all her clothes and these were taken away to be incinerated.I was given a huge enveloping gown to wear and white plastic over shoes.At this time she was only semi conscious and not really aware of what was going on bless her she was on barely two.OH eventually arrived with eldest DD in tow and he too had to dress up in the special gowns.

Youngest DD regained consciousness to find herself in a strange cot wearing a tiny vest surrounded by people in large white gowns She naturally screamed the place down !!!.I wasn't allowed to pick her up .

We were told to go home and they would be giving her medication to make her relax.I can remember walking down the long corridor hearing my youngest yelling 'I want my Mumma' over and over again.

It was horrendous but in those days you did what you were told by the Drs and staff.I was in floods and my poor OH was devastated.We were told the visiting hours but told not to bring any toys or books in case they were infectious and anything we brought would be burnt.

It must have been the worse ten days of my life before she was allowed home again.We never did find out what caused her illness just told if she never had another by the age of seven she never would again.

For months afterwards she was very clingy (hardly surprising really ) and I sometimes would wake up in the middle of the night and she would be just sitting on the floor by my bed just holding my hand or watching me as though she was terrified of letting me out of her sight.

She has always been more of a home body than my eldest, and I see her almost daily (its her sons I look after after school) Even today when I am at home she will pop in after work tonight to make sure I'm OK and have a cuppa with me.

About a year later we were in the bank in Dartford and she grabbed my hand and said very loudly "Mumma That's the lady that stuck the pins in my bottom" The West Indian lady in front of me turned around and smiled and said 'Hello honey are you better now?" She was one of the nurses from the hospital.


To this day and my DD is almost 46 and a mother of five she will not attend a hospital without me, I even have to go with her to the dentists.

Joyce Green was an old isolation hospital that's long gone now,closed around 2000 and pulled down.

I remember it for the long walks between wards and front gate it seemed you had to walk miles to get out of the place and I could hear my little Tessa's cries of distress following me as we walked away down the long corridors.Thank goodness things have changed for both the children and the parents