OVER MY SHOULDER

During this past week, I have suffered a siege with the flu---and I did have the flu shot---perhaps the shot did at least keep me from having it so hard. Struggling with the symptoms, one evening as I was studying the ‘medicine cabinet’ wondering what to do for my ‘runny’ nose and scratchy throat, my eyes fell upon a blue bottle among the myriad of packages of benadryls, Tylenol, cough drops, cough medicines, nasal sprays, Tylenol Flu, Dimetapp, Chloraseptic and other well advertised ‘flu and cold’ treatment. In this bottle of Vicks VapoRub was a cold treatment that my Mother started using on me over 65 years ago (not the same bottle--but the same product).

I remember how much I hated to have the Vicks rubbed on my chest and throat, but at this point was willing to try anything. In as much as I did not want to get the Vicks on my hands, I asked Christine to apply it to my chest and neck-----not being my Mother, she suggested that I apply it myself. I very quickly remembered the many times when I was a child that Mom would apply Vicks to we boys for coughs, colds, sore throats----and I thought then sometimes for the devilment of it.

I can recall from the time I was very young that when I got a cold or had a sore throat, Mom would apply a good coating of Vicks on my chest and neck and sometimes on my back, often, she would place three or four layers of flannel cloth, that had been warmed near the stove or in the oven, over my chest area, wrapped me in the bed covers and put me to bed. I did not care for the odor of the Vicks and looked unfavorably upon the treatment. However, as I recall, that it was not long with the warm compress and bed covers that I was able to go off to sleep.

Certainly we had Doctors when I was a youngster, but we did not go to the Doctor as often as we do today---there were many home remedies that were used--often quite successfully before we would go to the Doctor. Doctors then did not have at their disposal all of the drugs and medicine treatments that are available today, so many times they would recommend some of what we think of today as home remedies.
When the ‘home remedies’ failed to bring a cure, we would end up at the Doctor’s office, or if the problem was more serious, the Dr. would come by the house. It seemed that the Doctor often ‘made the rounds’ of house calls in the neighborhood.

I remember that Mom would give us (I believe it was) Syrup pepsin when we had a problem with our stomach----sometimes this occurred during cold weather and we had neglected to make timely trips to the ‘little house in the back’. On some occasions---but not very often, Mom would give us a dose of Castor Oil---I don’t recall what this was for---we usually thought it was for orneriness--(on her part not ours). I remember that some kids had to take Cod Liver Oil---I don’t remember that we took that. For an ‘upset’ stomach, we would drink baking soda water, and have a bowl of Mom’s milk toast---- perhaps with a poached or soft boiled egg.

For injuries such as scrapes, scratches and cuts, ‘short of stitches’, after washing with soap and water and cleaning with either (or both) rubbing alcohol or Peroxide, Mom would apply Iodine, Mercuro Chrome (the boys and I called this ‘monkey blood’) or Merthiolate. We always asked for and hoped for the Mercuro Chrome, as Iodine burned terribly bad,----- Merthiolate did not burn as bad, but the Mercuro Chrome did not burn at all. Mom always told us that the Iodine burned because it did a better job of killing the germs.

For ear aches, she would drop a few drops of warm Sweet Oil in the ear, apply warm compresses to the area, and often hold us on her lap with the ear against her body. I don’t know whether the Sweet Oil, the warm compress or the holding on the lap did the most good. A tooth ache received a similar treatment---warm compress and the loving lap again.

We used Campho Phenique for cold sores, fever sores, bee stings, scrapes and abrasions. Bee stings were also treated with Baking Soda mixed with a little water, applied as a compress. Treatment of bee stings was important for me, as I ‘swell up like a tick’ when I get a bee sting. I can get a sting on the back of my hand by any bee, wasp, bumblebee, or honey bee, and my fingers will swell stiff--a sting anywhere on my face will swell my eyes shut. (by the way the only ticks that we were bothered with then were what we called the ‘dog ticks’---they were the larger ticks and were quite easy to see---the influx of deer into this area brought the current infestation of ‘seed’ ticks)

Sunburns and minor burns were treated with vinegar, or fresh separated cream, or after shave lotion, or Vaseline, or a layer of raw egg whites and sometimes a combination of one or more of the above. (as I grew older, some ‘over the counter’ items such as Calamine lotion became available---sun tan lotion and sun screens were much later for us) We usually tried to avoid sunburns, as none of the treatments seemed to give immediate or long lasting relief---you just had to let nature take its course.

Other ‘standbys’ were, the good old aspirin which was always there---cut in half and given every few hours (often with a little baking soda) for fevers, sore throats, hurts and pains. May times we would ‘take two aspirins’ ----and by morning it was not necessary to call the Doctor. Epson Salts which was mixed with warm or hot water and used to ‘soak’ sprains, bruises, aches, injuries, sore feet, hurts or pains. Vaseline was always a good balm and salve for all occasions. Corn Huskers lotion and/or Bag Balm was used for rough or chapped hands.

Nearly every family had their special treatment for those illnesses and injuries that could be cared for short of the Doctor’s treatment. Christine’ s family had Caustic Balsum for practically any injury----applied externally, it was good for sprains, abrasions, bruises, minor cuts and many other uses. We still have a partial bottle of Caustic Balsum from Christine’s mother’s medicine cabinet---probably over 45 years old---wonder if ‘the date has run out on it yet’?

Christine says that her Mom treated her cough with a teaspoon of sugar mixed with a drop or two of ‘coal oil’--- she says that it stopped the cough---it tasted so bad that you didn’t dare cough for fear of getting some more ‘home made cough syrup’.
Most everyone had a favorite mix for cough syrup---if I recall correctly, the mixture for our house was lemon juice, honey, and a little whiskey. One of my uncles was very exact with his mixture---in the fall, it was 1/3 lemon juice, 1/3 honey, and 1/3 whiskey---but when the bottle of mixture got down about 1/3 of the way, he would refill it with whisky ----by spring, his cough syrup would be pretty potent.

I still have all of these items, plus others in my medicine cabinet, but I remember and still believe that the best part of the ‘home remedy’ treatments was those time when Mom or Dad would pick you up---kiss the bump or bruise, and engulf you into their large warm arms until it quit hurting, or until you began to feel better. Sometimes this might be well into the wee hours of the morning, or even by your bed side several days until the professional care along with that ‘loving home remedy’ care got you back on you feet. In as much as I am now too large for Mom to hold on her lap, I must, as do all adults, depend on those loving arms of my loving Father in Heaven.

Oh yes, I did apply the Vicks myself---on my chest and neck---crawled under the comforter, and was soon sound asleep, to awaken near morning with the scratchy throat gone, and feeling much better.