As time went on, reality set in and we began to realize that Lee needed to go back to school. Therefore, 1 year after our son was born, I returned to work. The only job where I could make a decent paycheck would be to return to the State Institution. This time I chose to work in Food Service rather than working directly in patient care. Lee started the process of filling out applications and loan requests for school expenses. Around this time we had met a new neighbor who had just finished college, he and his wife had 3 little boys. So he was informing us as to how to go about returning to the college where Lee had originally attended. Lee and I were in awe of this couple, WOW! they did it with 3 kids, surely we could do it with one. Our excitement was building and also I have to say a smattering of fear was lurking in the shadows. We were determined though, we knew it would entail a lot of hard work and determination, and we felt that we were up for the task.
Lee was scheduled to return to college in the fall of 1961. It was not to become a reality because Lee became very ill. He had no appetite and started losing weight, and it took the physician a while to make the diagnosis. He had infectious hepatitis, known today as hepatitis A. The institution where we worked was rampant with hepatitis. Lee was hospitalized directly from the physician's office, by the time I had arrived at the hospital he had turned a bright yellow. He was in the hospital for an entire month. This is hard to believe with the guidelines for hospitalization nowadays. I was the only person who was allowed to visit Lee because they considered him very contagious. Even the cleaning crew at the hospital would not step into the room for fear of catching the disease. After a month Lee returned home, he weighed 120 lbs. (he was 5'11") The recovery was slow and our hopes for him returning to school were dashed. For awhile after his illness we gave up on the idea of Lee returning to school. I guess we felt that it was just not to be. With both of us working we began to spend money, we bought furniture, appliances, and ultimately a new car. After all we were making good money and apparently school was only a distant memory.
While continuing to work at the State School Lee met a new guy at work who was an Rn. This fellow told Lee how he could go to a State Hospital and become an Rn for a nominal fee. At that time there were several State Hospitals all over the State of New York. Lee applied at a State Hospital for Epilepsy which was located approximately 60 miles from where we were currently living. In our world today 60 miles is nothing, many people drive that distance and even more each day to work in much of the United States. However, over forty years ago that was considered excessive.
Lee and I had an interview with the Director of Nursing, she was quite a formidable woman and clearly not a proponent of marriage. The fact that she had been married and divorced 3 times may have had something to do with her dour disposition. She made it quite clear that Lee would have to live in the dormitory. We were not happy, but discussed it and decided that we could tolerate it for 3 years. Lee was on the honor roll the entire 3 years of the program. We had hoped this would influence the Director of Nursing, and hopefully she would relent and let Lee live at home. Purely wishful thinking on our part. At the time we did not realize that we would be separated many more times over the years.
I'll sign off for now, I hope in some small way this story will influence someone to reach higher towards their goals in life.
Carol
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