More Info →Foxton Maternity Home 1942-1982 Page 36

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door was, so was probably more often used. One day carpenters had left some tools just inside the back door, so I asked, "Sister, why have you got that big saw in the back passage?"

After a delivery, the Acting Matron asked what I had arranged about the adoption. I had heard nothing at all about it, so asked the mother whether the child was for adoption. She said, "Yes, didn't my husband tell you?" So I rushed the four miles to their home and asked him. He replied, "Yes, didn't my wife tell you?"

Several patients were chattering in Maori, with the word, 'hapu' popping up often. I said that it meant, 'pregnancy'. One of them said, "Ah, you're a good Doctor, I'll come to you next time". But she forgot-several times.

On two occasions I was invited to catch rats in the staff-room, a noisy and vigorous procedure but successful both times.

(It seems to throw doubt on my daughter's opinion that girls can do anything).

It is a long time now since the Foxton Maternity Home was scrapped, and in any case it seemed that most of the odd happenings occurred when I was not there! So I add a few other incidents from the general practice.

I was called to see a boy of about 12 years old with a strange rash. He was the somewhat pampered single child of a rather elderly couple. The rash certainly looked odd, so I got a swat; with some antiseptic solution on it and wiped off several spots. Mother was suitably horrified and apologetic!

Coming home after dark, I decided to look in on a child I had seen a few days before. I gave a hearty knock on the front door, which fell flat on the floor. A face looked out from the door down the passage, and screamed, "It's a man, it s a man!" Another face Afi looked out, "No, it's not a man, it's the doctor!"

This story is from a doctor in another town near Foxton.

An elderly widow married an elderly man from a different town, and they moved into her home. In due course the husband needed a visit from the doctor, and as the doctor wrote out the prescription, he asked, "What are your husband's initials?" The wife went back into the bedroom, and asked, "Mr X, what is your first name?"

I was puzzled by an old usage as follows: A patient complained that her right knee was very sore, saying, "And when you put your leg over the other, you feel it in your hip!" In fact, I heard this type of expression quite often. Perhaps a psychologist could elucidate. (Certainly my hips still seem pretty good).

I noticed a cuckoo clock on the wall that had not been there before. The lady of the house explained it was a recent gift, but her husband could not get it to go. I pointed out that the pendulum weight and the driving weight were on the wrong chains, and switched them over. Some days later, I happened to meet the husband and asked after the clock. "It goes well, and wakes me every hour, as I knew it would if I had assembled

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Identification

Date

2005