Dad and Mom always said that when they went to the store, that everybody thought that she was cute with her hair sticking straight up in the air. As Lisa got a little older and able to walk, Dad and Mom would have a hard time keeping up with her in the stores, for Lisa would run down the aisles with her hair sticking straight up in the air.
Mom said that Lisa would have temper fits, she would get on her hands and knees and beat her head on the floor until her head was black and blue. Well, Mom decided one day that she would have to break Lisa of this, for people would think that they were beating her. So one day Lisa had one of her fits and hitting her head on the floor, every time that Lisa would hit her head on the floor, Mom would spank her. And in time Lisa did quit her temper fits.
Mom and Dad moved to Grandview Rd., Dad's sister-in-law Rita found a house for them. My Grandparents (Mom's parents) bought a house up the road from Dad and Mom. Mom was expecting again, and in those days, the doctors did not have any way to find out if the baby had anything wrong with it, until after the baby was born.
Mom and Dad didn't know that on December 11,1957 at St. Luke Hospital at 3 P,M. that their second child would not be born "normal". The umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck, and I was not in the right position to be born. The doctor did not even go up inside of Mom and turn me around like I was supposed to be. Instead the doctor pulled me out, cutting off the oxyen to my brain that would leave me brain-damaged. I did die a few times, but some how they brought me back. Mom said that I had pretty black hair, but they shaved it off and put needles in my head to get the oxygen going. The doctors told my parents if I lived I would have a 50-50 chance.
There was a bible in Mom's hospital room, and since she thought that I was going to die, she picked up the bible and started looking at names. She came across the name Deborah, then she thought what would be good with the name Deborah? Then she thought of Susan. And this is how I got my name.
Mom was released from the hospital a few days later, I was still very sick and could not go home yet. On Wednesday December 24,1957, the hospital called Mom and Dad and told them that I could now come home. There was a big snow that day, and Dad had just started his new job at General Electric. Mom could not drive and everything was closed because of the snow. The only thing that was open was the Funeral Home. So Dad's sister-in-law Rita called the Funeral Home and got a hearse to take her and bring her home with me. Mom and Dad still did not know that I was brain-damaged.
Rita helped Mom with me some, and when it was time to eat, I wouldn't wake up. There was just too much medicine in me to keep me asleep, So when feeding time came, Lisa and Rita's son Mark would sing "Wake up Little Susie". This was another way of getting my middle name.
I couldn't lay down because I had asthma and other allergies, and I couldn't breathe laying down. So Mom would have to hold me during the day. Then Dad took over when he got home from work. During the night they took turns holding me.
Mom said that I gave up my bottle early. Even though Dad would fix baby bottles for me when we went out, I just did not want them anymore. Mom said that I would eat a lot and all kinds of food. Grandma would feed me on and on. All that I can say is, all of the medication that I had to take when I was a baby and as a child, must have taken my taste away. For I do not like food very much. and I am a picky eater.)
I had a walker and although I couldn't walk, I could push myself along flying and chasing after Lisa and turning over some. Although I couldn't talk, I did say Lisa's name. Mom thought that I wasn't saying her name, but Dad and Lisa said that I was.
One day my Grandma was holding me, and she put her hand under my hip, and I let out a yell. Mom and Dad took me to the doctor, and there they found out that my left hip was dislocated. They put a brace in between my legs to keep them apart. They said that was hip would be OK. I wasn't doing what a "normal" 3 year old was doing, I couldn't walk, talk, feed, or sit up by myself. There was a hospital in Denver, Colorado for the disability, so Dad, Mom, Lisa and I went up there. I don't remember Denver, Colorado, except there was a boy named Kirk. Kirk could not walk, he had one arm and hand bent over his shoulder, then he would skirt himself around on the floor. Dad had to come back home and go back to work. Lisa thought that she wanted to come back home with Dad, but while they were driving back she changed her mind and Dad had to turn around to take her back to Denver, Colorado. I don't remember much about Denver, Colorado, except for the little bit of Kirk and when Mom was holding me in the bath tub and her watch fell off her arm. Dad went and had her watch fixed. We spent a year in Denver, and then we came back home.
When some family members found out that I was handicapped, they wanted Dad and Mom to put me away. I wasn't "normal" enough for these family members. (But since I am grown now, some of them try to make up for ignoring me over the years. But it's way too late now. I really don't care about these people like I did in the beginning. I even dressed up when I went around these people, trying to impress them. My feelings were hurt by all of their actions, and there will always be a part of me, that will always remember and be hurt. For them, it's a little bit too late, to try to make up what they have done to me.)
We had some grain chickens in the back yard, I remember watching them fight. There was a willow tree in front of the driveway, For some reason I hated that tree. Dad would hold me on my little bike, and although I couldn't put my feet on the peddles, Dad would ride me up and down the road, Lisa was on her bike.
I really don't remember Dad, Grandpa or Lisa very much when we lived on Grandview Rd. I just remember Monm and Grandma mostly. In fact I remember very little about when I was younger. The things that Mom and Dad tell me about are really news to me.
Every week Mom, Grandma and I would drive from Alexandria Ky. to Covington, Kentucky to an Easter Seals Clinic, so a doctor could check me out. Some children laid in their Mother's arms, helpless. We would have to wait for hours to be called back, then waited some more until a doctor came and checked me out.
This doctor's name was Dr. Sawsberry. Every time he came near me I would just freeze up and couldn't do anything, I was just afraid of him. He was bald on top and wore half glasses on the tip of his nose. Some children wore braces that came all the way up to their chest, and Dr. Sawsberry put me in those braces. I hated them, they were so heavy and hot, and I had sores on my legs and hips from where they would rub. Dad and Mom said that they never left them on me all day. Dr Sawsberry put retarded on my record, just because I wouldn't do anything for him. But he had a child that was retarded, so I guess he thought that everybody else was, if they were disabled.
Dad brought home a pony one day, Mom didn't want us to keep the pony, for we were moving, but we kept it any way. We named him Cotton. He was white all over with a black spot underneath his neck. Cotton was kind of wild, One day a boy was riding Cotton and Lisa was in front of him. Cotton reared up in the air and came down on Lisa's neck.
Dad was holding me on Cotton one day. There was a bank where Dad was walking around with Cotton, Dad's foot slipped and we both fell over the bank with our feet sticking straight up in the air. Cotton was never a very gentle horse.. We had to sell Cotton for we were getting ready to move to Covington, Kentucky so I could go to a special School. Dad told the man that bought Cotton not to tie him up. Well, that night the man tied Cotton up, and he broke his neck and died.
... Chapter Two