By Land and By Air

One man I visited who was in acute heart failure, spitting up a great deal of blood and having Cheyne— Stokes’ breathing (breathing stops for long periods). I was sitting by a hot fire, and every time he stopped breathing I would start for his bedroom. I treated him as best I could but in the morning I thought he would die, not seeming to be any better. I had to leave to go to the hospital. When I called on the way going home, he seemed better, and I told him to stay in bed until I came the next day. When I was putting on my rubbers, I looked up and he was standing behind me in an ice cold porch. A month later I met him on the stairs in Eatons. He died later with cancer, after I left Eldon.

I arrived at another home of a woman in acute failure. She had the window open to get air, because her breath was so short. One must have that ability to tell between acute bronchitis and heart failure. I gave her some morphine, and advised bed rest. She was in her late seventies, and she died years later at the age of 104.

I used to meet Dr. Brehaut, who was in practice for about 50 years, and who had many clues not written up in the literature. Of course, as a young doctor, I did not agree with all his suggestions. He told me that knitting could cause high blood pressure in some people. I had one old lady with high blood pressure, and I thought I would ask her to stop knitting, and down went her pressure. She lived to be over 100 years of age.

Sometimes my advice did not turn out as I expected. I treated one man for about three years for what I considered was Depression. He had a terrible fear of cancer. After all my treatment, I advised him to go in to Riverside and get shock treatment (which was a very common treatment at the time). I was awakened by a phone call on the night that he went to Riverside to tell me

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