My First Visit to Hospital
   By Loyola Pomroy

When I was 5 years old, I made my first visit to hospital.

Myself and Carmel were in the wood yard when Gabe came out from Pat's with a piece of carrot about two and a half inches long. We asked him for some and he agreed to share it. We decided we-would cut it into three pieces with the axe. I held the piece of carrot on the chopping block. Carmel put the axe over her head and came down with all that one might expect from a four year old.

You can imagine the shock when we looked. The carrot was untouched on the chopping block, blood was going everywhere and the forefinger of my left hand was hanging off!

I ran up to the house where Mom and Nellie put it together with flour and gauze. There was still no great pain as it had not come back to life and since everybody in Big Merasheen had gathered at our house by now, I was feeling pretty good about all the attention. That was until Mom said she was going to take me down to have Mr. Martin take a look at it. Dad and Jim had a load of fish in the trap and were splitting on .Tim's wharf. We stopped in on the way and Dad came down with us.

Carmel, in the meantime, being very scared was looking for an excuse to cry. First, she went out in the porch and put sunlight soap in her eyes but soon that was better so she jammed herself in between the aerial pole and the corner board of the hen house. It took two or three of the women to pry the aerial pole and get her out.

Mr. Martin unwrapped the finger, put everything in its proper place and wrapped it up again with instructions for Dad to take me to the hospital in Placentia as soon as possible. Dad hired the "Guerney" for twenty dollars and Anthony Wilson took us into Placentia. Myself and dad were behind the house to get out of the weather and every now and then Anthony would pass a- candy cane out through the vent on the back of the house. I stayed in hospital for three weeks where Dr. Collingwood and the nurses took good care of me.

Dad, knowing that I would not hear of him going back to Merasheen without me, left in the evening telling me that he was going over to visit John Lou.

He came back each Sunday I was in hospital. I can't remember what excuse he gave me for staying at John Lou's for so long, but I believed him.

I still bear the scars of Carmel's chop to this day.