Chapter 4
April 4, 1850
While on my rounds of the area I patrolled, I was approached by a young woman with a plea for help, "Sir, I understand you're also the town doctor of Cincinnati. Could you look at my Suzy? She's awfully sick. Nothing I do seems to be helping."
I knew the distrust most people had for doctors here and now. There was no formal training or licensing required to call yourself a doctor and many charlatans presented themselves as qualified to treat anything. If they were desperate enough to ask for one to look at someone, then they had tried everything they knew beforehand and the person was probably at death's door. I was reluctant to look at her for that reason but I couldn't resist the look of appeal she gave me.
When we got to the house I put on my bandanna over my mouth before I entered the house to check on the young child. She had a high fever and her body was covered with bumps. The bumps were filled with a thick, opaque fluid and had a depression in the center that looked like a bellybutton. Some of the bumps had become pustules-sharply raised, round and firm to the touch as if there was a BB pellet embedded in the skin. I held my breath and quickly rushed out of the house and confronted the mother, "Did you know your daughter has smallpox?"
She began to cry at my accusing tone, "I was afraid she did. Please don't let her die! She's all I have left!" I was really upset about not being warned about the possibility of smallpox, but it was too late to do anything about it now. I held her until she calmed down.
"Who have you or Suzy been around in the last three weeks?"
"No one, sir. I've been in the house treating Suzy for the last week. Before that she came from Monticello where she was visiting with her Aunt Susan for a while. I've been working in the fields trying to get the crops in. My husband died last year and I'm by myself."
I remembered hearing about the smallpox epidemic that was going on in Cowlitz County. She could have been infected while she was there. I just hoped that her next answer would let me know if she had been around anyone while she was infectious, "How long has Suzy been sick?"
"About 5 days now, although she felt poorly for a couple of days before that."
"Has anyone been around since then?"
"Just Miz Anna, she's the herb woman. She left me some things for her fever on the first day that Suzy was ill."
I hid my dismay as best I could. As an herb woman Miz Anna could have gone anywhere and if she had gotten infected by Suzy could be spreading the disease over a large area. This was getting to be too big for me alone. I told her to stay with Suzy and headed toward my house.
When I got to the house I stopped outside and yelled, "Louise!" I saw a bustle of movement and saw Louise come out of the door wiping her hands. "Don't come any closer! I've got a case of smallpox I've been exposed to. Bring me my bag and all of Jug # 4 you can find and leave it by the oak tree with some clothes in a bag. Tell Josh to ride to Salem and tell the sheriff we have smallpox in the area and not to let anyone enter Salem until I say it's safe."
"Alex! Are you going to be all right? Are you sick?"
"Don't worry about me. Just make sure no one is allowed in to see the babies until I get back." I told her where I was at and repeated my orders not to let anyone get near the babies then waited until she finished packing my things. Making her go back to the house first, I picked up my bag and the other supplies I'd asked for.
I headed back toward the group of houses where Suzy lived. I got close enough to yell at some of the men I knew and got their attention, "Where does Miz Anna live?"
"What's wrong? Someone hurt?"
"I need to speak with her about a sick child", I didn't want to spark a panic right now but I really needed to speak to her and find out if she was sick. They gave me instructions and I headed toward her house. About 20 minutes later I found her little shack tucked away in a small draw with herb beds on the slopes around her. Getting off my horse I called out to the house. I didn't hear or see anyone, so I went closer. I looked into the one window and saw Miz Anna on the bed. "Miz Anna?", I called. She didn't move, so I went into the shack. I found her alive but feverish, with a pool of vomit next to the bed. Seeing a glass nearby I went out and drew up a bucket of water. Filling the glass I returned and managed to get her to drink some of it mixed with the some of the contents of Jug #4.
She opened her eyes but didn't recognize me or where she was. I looked around the shack and found a buggy in the back of it next to a small corral with a pair of horses. I couldn't leave her here and treat both her and Suzy at the same time so I had to get them together. Hitching up the horses to the buggy, I put Miz Anna in the buggy and drove her to Suzy's house. When we got there I found Suzy's mother laying down with a high fever and complaining of nausea.
Making up a pallet with the bedding I had brought from Miz Anna's house on the floor, I examined my patients. The only conscious one was Suzy's mother and I decided that I would give her as much of the mix from Jug #4 as I could force down her. I didn't know if it would help but I figured it wouldn't hurt. I looked around and got as many sealable containers as I could find and put them in boiling water. I was going to make as much of the mix from Jug #4 as I could.
After I had boiled the jugs for a while I lifted them out of the hot water with a pair of sticks and turned them over to drain. Getting all the sugar I could find, I boiled it into a syrup and filled the jugs mostly full, I let the syrup cool and then added some of the solution from Jug # 4 into each jug and capped it. The jugs needed to sit for at least a week to be of any use at all from my experiments. I figured that I had found a form of penicillin and hoped that it would help me cure the people. I had mostly used it to treat surface wounds but Louse had told me she had given it to me orally when I had been shot.
I sat Suzy's mother, Lisa, up and gave her several glasses of water mixed with the solution from Jug #4. It seemed to do no harm, so I gave Suzy as much as I could get her to drink. I looked at Miz Anna and noticed that she seemed to be a bit more aware of her surroundings, "Miz Anna, who have you been around the last week?"
She lay there trying to remember but I could see that she wasn't aware enough to answer me. I gave her some more of the solution from the jug and checked her body out for bumps. I saw several were beginning to show in her mouth and face but nothing as bad as Suzy had. I grabbed a bucket and took it outside to wash my hands. I found several men waiting outside. "Get back!" I yelled. "Smallpox!" The men scattered as if they had been shot.
I called to one of the men I recognized, "I need to find out who Miz Anna has seen in the last weeks. Send someone there and have them yell at the house when you find out. If no one answers send in someone who has had smallpox to bring anyone sick to me. No one should leave their claim for at least three weeks. If anyone else starts running a high fever and has nausea, bring them to me here, with food and bedding. They shouldn't be too infectious until the bumps start to show." He yelled back his understanding and took off.
I washed my hands and returned to the cabin. Taking a wash cloth I cleaned up the women as best as I could and cleaned up the house as well. I hoped there wouldn't be too many more patients because just three were hard enough to take care of. I took a wash cloth, put on some of the solution from the jug and used it to wipe down Suzy's body. I forced myself to remember what I had learned in my high school health class about smallpox. They had been going through one of their terrorist awareness periods and they had talked a lot about diseases that might be used as a terrorist weapon. They had mentioned something about a period during which people could be inoculated after exposure and still be protected.
I was afraid. I had never been inoculated against smallpox and from what I had seen since I got here had hoped to never see it hit around me. I had seen several people who had been blinded by smallpox and seen the skin scars and heard the horror stories of what happened to pregnant women and how bad some people suffered from arthritis after having the disease. I took out a small scalpel and went toward Suzy. Finding a pustule that was full of pus I lanced it and gathered the fluid on the blade. Finding a small dish I poured some of the solution from the jug and stirred in the pus from Suzy's pustule with the scalpel. I left the blade in the solution, gave each of the patients a drink of water and Lisa and Miz Anna some soup to eat. Suzy was too sick to eat so I gave her some of the left over syrup I had made.
I returned to the scalpel and steeling myself against my fears of getting smallpox cut my arm slightly and placed some of the mix of the solution and Suzy's pustule under my skin. Getting a small cloth out of my bag, I wrapped the cut. I sat there feeling myself sweating from my actions. The cut itself didn't bother me, but the idea that I had just exposed myself to smallpox scared the hell out of me. All I could do now was just wait and hope I didn't get too sick. I went to the one chair Lisa had in her cabin and sat. I must have been tired because the next thing I knew there was a call from outside the house, "Hallo the house!"
I looked outside the door and saw the sheriff with my friend, Dr. Campbell, the doctor from Salem. "You all right, Alex?" The sheriff asked.
"I'm fine right now, as long as I don't get too many new patients."
"We're going to start a vaccination of the area if we can find enough supplies. I've already sent word to Oregon City for any vaccine they have."
"Make sure my wives and kids get it."
"All right! What do you want to do with any other patients we find?"
I looked around and tried to figure out how many more people I could fit in here if it came to that. If necessary I could manage to fit maybe 8 to 10 more people in here at most. I let him know and then we just sat there looking at each other. I didn't know what to say. I could feel my sweat flowing under my arms from the fear that I felt. I couldn't leave though, because I had been exposed. For the next three weeks I was going to be stuck in this cabin with my patients until they either got well or died.
Finally with the wishes for good luck ringing in my ears, the sheriff and doctor rode away. I remained behind with the patients. I returned to them and gave them as much water as they would drink. I was most worried about Suzy. Her mother had waited until the last moment to call me and she was going to have deep scarring at the least. I was worried about her becoming blind from scarring in her eyes. I sat down in the rocking chair again and fell asleep because the next thing I knew it was morning.
April 5, 1850
The first thing I did was check out my patients. Lisa seemed the most improved, but then I had treated her as soon as she was hit by the fever. Miz Anna's fever seemed to be down somewhat and she seemed more comfortable than yesterday. Suzy was still feverish and mostly unconscious. During her few moments of being semi-conscious, I urged her to drink as much as she could and tried to get her to eat some soup. I got out the thunder pot from the side of the bed and helped Lisa and Miz Anna use it. I tried to get Suzy to use it as well but she was too weak. I cleaned them up again and washed them and myself with water and the solution from the jug.
There was nothing else I could do inside so I walked outside and sat on the bench on the porch. I didn't know what I was going to do. I thought there was little hope for Suzy. She wasn't responding to the medication or the treatment very well.
While I was sitting there I saw a buggy coming toward the house. I went in and pulled out the yellow cloth I had found to warn them away. When they got closer I recognized Elizabeth and Sun Lee in the buggy. "Don't come any closer! Didn't Louise tell you that there's smallpox here?", I yelled at them.
Elizabeth drove closer, "I've been vaccinated and so has Sun Lee. We're here to help."
"Show me!", I demanded. If Elizabeth were lying to me I was going to beat her bottom until she never sat down again.
Elizabeth calmly pulled up her sleeve and showed me a sunken round scar on her upper arm. Sun Lee pulled up her dress and showed a similar scar on her upper thigh. I had no idea what a vaccination for smallpox would look like but I would never tell Elizabeth that. Since she and Sun Lee had shown me similar marks I had to assume they were vaccinated. I was glad they were here. Maybe they would have some idea about how to treat Suzy.
I noticed that Sun Lee had brought a bag of herbs with her. After kissing Elizabeth and finding out what was going on at home I asked her about the herbs.
"These are the herbs that are used in treating fevers and sores in my country."
"Let me know what each one does before you use them."
She nodded and we went inside the cabin. There I explained what I had done for treatment of the patients and they looked around. Sun Lee and Elizabeth looked at each other and began to clean the cabin again. I had thought it was clean but obviously they disagreed. I was sent out to put up the tent they had brought from home. After I finished I looked into the cabin again and it did appear cleaner. I looked in and saw they were finished and Sun Lee was cutting some meat and vegetables into strips while a large frying pan was heating up on the stove, next to a covered pot that was just beginning to boil.
I noticed that she had a bottle of some sort of brown fluid next to her. Was she making stir fry? I had never thought I would ever have that again!. My mouth started salivating in anticipation. I didn't want to feel so hungry while I was surrounded by sick people but I couldn't help it. To take my mind off what she was making I checked my patients again. Lisa continued to show improvement and so did Miz Anna. Suzy, I thought was getting better, but I was afraid to hope too much. I gave them some more water and washed Suzy and Miz Anna's pustules with the solution from Jug #4. Elizabeth followed behind me trying to feed them soup and Lisa something more solid. I helped her with the thunder mug and she cleaned them after they had finished. Suzy managed to use the thunder mug a little, but I frowned when I saw the dark brown fluid she released.
Sun Lee touched me, "Alex, I have an herb that we use to cleanse the blood that might help her." By this time I was ready to try anything. Without a miracle, Suzy wasn't going to make it through this sickness. Sun Lee returned to the stove and brought back a cup of some sort of mushroom soup that she poured an herb in after looking at Suzy and measuring it. She pulled Suzy next to her breast and fed her the soup until it had all been taken. Lowering Suzy to the bedding again Sun Lee, filled the cup with cold water and had Suzy drink that as well.
Sun Lee looked at me, "She needs to drink that much water every hour for the next day. The herb and the water will cleanse her blood of the poison of the sickness."
With three of us here we would be able to make sure Suzy got enough water. We sat down and Sun Lee brought out some sort of mushroom soup with a hot taste, followed by a beef stir fry in an oyster sauce with balls of rice. I had never thought I would ever have this again and ate until I couldn't hold any more. Elizabeth looked at me in amusement, "Alex, I'm going to have to limit you on having too many of these meals or we'll have to keep making you larger clothes."
I bowed to Sun Lee, "arigato-gozaimashita", I told her, one of the few phrases I knew in Japanese. I was unprepared for her reaction to say the least. She broke down in tears and Elizabeth gave me a glare that promised dire consequences later.
"What did you say to that poor girl?"
"I just told her thank you for the meal.", I replied. I was shocked by her reaction to my thanks. Elizabeth gathered Sun Lee in her arms and rocked her until she finally stopped crying. She continued sniffling and Elizabeth continued to whisper in her ear. Sun Lee said something too low for me to hear and Elizabeth nodded in understanding. Elizabeth gave me a look that I wasn't sure how to interpret.
I decided this was a good time to go outside and examine the area where we would be staying for the next three weeks. I walked around the house and found the wood pile and an ax. I noticed that the pile of cut wood was low and decided to do something about it. I split what must have been a quarter of a cord when Elizabeth came out. She looked at me as if trying to decide what to say. Finally she sat down and watched as I worked on the wood pile.
"She misses her home and you telling her that proved to be too much for her right now. She knows that she'll never be able to go home again and wants to become a part of our family, but it's hard leaving everything behind", she finally told me.
I stopped and looked at her, "What do you suggest we do to make it easier?"
She sighed, "I don't know, Alex. I've never had to go through anything like that. I thought you might have some idea since much the same thing happened to you when you came here from the future."
I thought about it as I split some more wood. Finally I replied, "I don't know if it's really possible to assimilate into a new culture completely. I think that the best someone can do is adapt to the culture. I still don't feel like I really fit in here even though I'm happy with my life for the most part. I can't and don't really want to be like many of the people I meet. I find myself missing things I knew or not understanding why people act the way they do." I cut some more wood while I considered what else I could say, "I think the best thing we can do is make sure she knows that she is accepted and wanted".
I put down the ax and turned to Elizabeth. She looked somewhat surprised, as if she had thought that I had completely assimilated into the culture of here and now. I guess I had never given her or my other wives any reason not to think that. I was well off for the period and accepted and respected as well. I seemed to fit in well with other people. I had never told them about my feelings of being in a place where I didn't belong before.
Elizabeth got up and gave me a hug and a kiss. Looking me in the eyes she said, "You know you are accepted and loved by us. You should have said something before."
I shrugged, "That's part of what I meant. I grew up with the idea that men never complain about something they can't change. The men here seem a lot more open about that." I kissed her back, "We need to go back in and check on our patients."
When we got back to the front I saw a buggy being driven toward us by a woman accompanied by Dr. Campbell, "Alex, I've got three more patients for you. There are two more that might have the disease but they don't show all the signs. I'll be checking on them and bring them to you if they do develop smallpox." He turned to the woman, "Josephine, has had the disease and has offered to help nurse the patients. I see you already have one helper." Just then Sun Lee came out of the cabin. "I see you have someone to help with the cleaning as well", were his next words. Sun Lee ran back into the house in tears. The doctor looked astonished when she did so, especially when Elizabeth gave him a glare that should have left him a smoking corpse.
"She's going to be my daughter-in-law, not a housemaid!" I grated out. He apologized but I was still pissed. That was one of the attitudes I just couldn't get around. I could never understand the amount of racial and religious prejudice there was in this time even among the supposedly well-educated. Josephine led the buggy forward during this and waited until we got through. I looked at her and saw the deep scarring from the disease on her face. When I looked at the patients in the buggy I saw there were two boys about 13 or 15 years old and a young girl, not more than 4 years old.
I looked at Josephine, "Any of these yours?"
She snorted and waved at her face, "You think any man would want to wake up to this by his side", she told me in a rather gravelly voice.
I looked at her; except for the scarring she had a symmetrical face that would have been beautiful without the scars with a body that was lean and well figured. I smiled, "That would depend on how deeply he looked."
She looked surprised and gave me a strange look. I turned around with one of the boys and discovered Elizabeth giving me and Josephine a considering look as well. I wondered what was going through her mind and hoped she didn't get upset. As I brushed past her at the door, she whispered, "Alex do you have to make all the women fall in love with you?"
Thanks Drahkan, for the help.