DEATH OF AN INFANT
In life there are many tragedies that might befall an individual or a family. One of the worst of these tragedies would be the death of an infant. For my parents they experienced such a tragedy just 16 short months after their marriage.
My parents, Mylen Schulte and Eloris Kijak, were married on June 15, 1946 in St. Joseph, Michigan. My mother had been born and raised in St. Joseph while my father had been born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. After their marriage they moved to Detroit where my father was enrolled in Barber College and my mother worked at Michigan Bell Telephone Company as a ship to shore operator.
They were excited when on October 5, 1947 my mother gave birth to a healthy baby girl. They gave her the name of Kathy Eloris and once home began keeping a baby book of all the firsts in her life. Here is an article from a St. Joseph newspaper announcing Kathy's birth:
However, only a few short weeks after birth they began to notice that Kathy was not eating properly and would consistently have projectile vomiting. Being new to the area of Detroit my mother took the advice of her mother-in-law and my parents took Kathy to a doctor in downtown Detroit.
After an examination the doctor explained to my parents that Kathy suffered from a condition known as pyloric stenosis. An article on Google in 2020 explains that "Pyloric stenosis is a condition that affects an infant's pylorus, a muscle at the end of the stomach. When the pylorus thickens, food can't pass through. Pyloric stenosis symptoms include forceful vomiting, which may cause dehydration. Surgery can repair the problem".
While surgery can NOW repair the problem which is considered minor in this day and age, in 1947 there were not the procedures to correct such an issue.
Kathy was taken to Children's Hospital in Detroit where she passed away on November 17, 1947 at the age of a little over 6 weeks.
This was a traumatic time for my parents. Grief and sadness were with them daily. At the funeral home many people came to offer their sympathy with 9 pages of the names of visitors in the funeral book. Page 9 showed the entry that my father's sister, Marilyn, made to little Kathy:
Growing up my brother and I knew the story of our older sister. As a family we visited the cemetery often to stand at her grave. In later years our grandparent's, Elmer and Ella Schulte, would be buried on the lot as well.
Years later when I began working at Bon Secours Hospital in Grosse Pointe, Michigan I met one of the retired physicians, Clifford Benson, M.D. Dr. Benson had been a pediatric surgeon in his career and I discussed with him the story of my sister's death. Imagine my surprise when he told me that HE himself had developed an instrument that has been used for decades in the surgery for pyloric stenosis. He asked me when my sister had died and when I said 1947 he said that he had not developed that instrument until a few years after 1947 and that now the surgery is a simple procedure for babies born with this condition. Unfortunately that was not the case for Kathy and that was indeed a terrible tragedy for my parents.
2 comments:
You are right, the loss of a child is a tragedy. Meeting a doctor who has made a difference treating infants with this condition must have been emotional. Thank you for sharing this touching story.
Thanks Barb for your comments. I am a bit behind on these posts; the last month has been spent with freezing fresh peaches but trying to get caught up.
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