#3 Random Mexico Adventure: Tommy, 1961

     

Tommy, 1961

Being the eldest of six, my mother relied on me for helping out around the house, especially keeping an eye out for younger        siblings.                            I vividly recall two particular incidents.  When my brother Tommy was an infant

The Baby Carriage with Tommy in it

(around 1 mo. or so) I was witness to him being dropped  onto the hard concrete floor, dressed in nothing but a diaper and thin t-shirt.  I do not recall where my mother was at the time, however, I do remember the horror of that moment.                           When Tommy was around two yrs. old, I was assigned to keep a watch over him.  I was 9 or 10 at the time.  There was a flat table of land carved out of the mountain side that had been prepared for building another Casa Hogar building.  There was approx. a 6 ft drop-off onto the next flat tier with a building already built.  Behind this building was a space.  One afternoon we were all playing on this top flat tier.

The wicker chair that caused all the trouble, Ruthie & Tommy

 Tommy had picked up that little wicker chair and began walking backwards with it.  I noticed what was going to happen but could not reach him in time.  He fell over the edge before I could grab him.  My brother Eddie, ran to get my mother as Tommy was crying and screaming hysterically in pain.  I remember my mother gently and calmly picking him up and setting him on her bed.  He cried all night long.  My father was on one of his many long trips at the time to remote villages and we far from medical help.

Tommy

    My mother must of taken advice from one of the villagers as she promptly sent someone to fetch the local "bone-setter".  Don Juan hobbled up the mountain to our house, having hiked some distance.  He was an old man.                            Mother, under, his direction handed him an old flannel sheet which he ripped into long shreds, dipping them into a black tar-like substance.  After straightening the leg, he applied the strips onto Tommy's leg.  Meanwhile, Tommy is howling up a storm in pain.  Then he fashioned a cast out of some sturdy cardboard and bound it with the remaining

Make it do wheel chair

flannel shreds.  Don Juan gave specific instructions to keep the leg straight and Mother was very strict in following those orders.  Tommy was not to be moved unless absolutely necessary.  I do not remember any pain medication being given to him.  Now Tommy had just been potty trained and he was not a happy camper about having to be back in diapers, however, he did retain his sunny disposition most of that time.            Well, Don Juan made several more visits to see how Tommy was doing.  As was customary when approaching the house being visited, one calls out a greeting.  Upon hearing that greeting, Tommy would start crying "No Hawm, No Hawm"  over and over again each visit.

Ruthie & Tommy

      Later after healing, an X-Ray of that leg revealed that it had been broken, properly set, a green-stick break, and following Don Juan's advice had been the best outcome.  However, we know that God considered the situation and He was the one that intervened in healing.