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[Ed. note: This transcript has been edited by the narrator]

TI: And so in terms of your further treatment, after this initial couple of days, then what happened?

SA: Well, they wired me immediately from St. Mary's in Rochester, told me to come back and have the Mayo Clinic doctors (take care of me), and what was I thinking of to let the country doctors even try to take care of it?

SA: So I found myself on a bus with my friend, and we went back to Rochester on the bus. And of course I went straight to the Mayo Clinic, and they pulled out the pins (that they had put in). It was a good thing I did, I guess, because then, you know, whatever healing had started, they broke it up again because they wanted to realign my teeth, too. I'm glad I had them do it, because maybe it was even better than what I had (before), because my teeth (weren't properly aligned) and then (they) fixed that. And I had really not knocked (out every tooth, some) were loose, (...) so I could get a straw through, and then they wired my jaw shut. So the good thing was, we had dieticians (at the hospital who) mashed up all they could (to feed me). In the morning I would get a codeine shot to take care of the pain, and then I worked. Amazing, I said, those nuns get the most out of you. (But it was good. It made me take my mind off my pain.)

TI: They made you work?

SA: They put, on the (fractured) clavicle, (...) a harness (so the bones pulls it together) and it's like a brace. It holds it. Well, (so with the brace, it healed together). They had my jaws shut, so I couldn't speak very well, (but) I was put on (the) prep shift, which (meant) all I had to do -- but it wasn't fun -- was I'd prep, shave the patients for surgery. So this is called the "prep shift," and I was on (from three p.m. to twelve p.m.), readying the patients for surgery in the morning. So I didn't have to say very much. I could talk, but not as well (or distinctly).

TI: I'm amazed.

SA: It was kind of interesting, and my roommate would give me a shot (of codeine) in the morning. And they said if I couldn't down enough they'd have to give me an IV, but the dieticians, they were terrific. They were mushing up everything, even potato soup, I don't know how they mushed it up enough to get it through a straw. So I did very well. I thought this was remarkable. When I looked back on it, I thought, "Well, but I survived." And it doesn't take long to heal (when you're young).

TI: Earlier you mentioned that this experience of actually the accident and this period was sort of "making lemonade out of lemons."

SA: Oh, yes, 'cause now I had three thousand dollars.

TI: Oh, okay, so it was the...

SA: It was the monetary part.

TI: Okay, so having all of a sudden the money.

SA: Well, that I spent when I came back here and I found my folks living in this apartment, and (...) I signed on first for the p.m. night shift, anything for an extra bonus. I think I took the three to twelve (p.m. shift), 'cause I had to walk down to get the bus and go home. But I took all the emergency calls I could (in surgery), 'cause I got extra money. And the whole name of the game was we had nothing, and we had to start all over. 'Cause everything had been taken, (during the evacuation), the home, the store, the (furniture), nothing was there except the few things my parents had stored in somebody's house, which is why I have (a few Imari dishes, tea sets, etcetera).

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.