Viewing page 125 of 186

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

20 Chestnut Street, Stoneham, Mass.,
April 16, 1934

Dear Mrs. Holmes,
    I was planning to go up town for a walk and incidentally to do a few errands, but it has started to rain, so I guess I will write first and mail this when I do go, so as not to go out in the wet but once.
    I have been planning to write to you for a long time, but have not been feeling well at all, and so have let a lot of things go. I finally went down to see a doctor here in Stoneham. She diagnosed my immediate trouble, as Doctor Ott did so long ago, as mucus colitis. Of course I have it all the time, but sometime it is worse than at other times. This spell has been particularly persistent. She told me to strain all my vegetables just as we do for babies. She said that my digestive apparatus, not being any stronger than a babies, I should have to treat it as we do a baby's. I was interested to hear her say that, for it had long been my own idea, and when I had acute attacks, I often strained my vegetables before she told me to. She wants me to try out the "bland diet" for at least a month. One thing she told me to do didn't work, however, She told me to get ripe olives, and to eat a cupful every morning. She said they would digest skins and all. They decidedly did not! although I chewed them to pulp before swallowing them. Some days I feel better, and then again I feel sick. Yesterday, for instance, was a bad day. I had a sick headache, and they make me most miserable. Today, however, I am up and kicking.
    How are you feeling? I hope that you are getting rested and over the trouble with your leg. I suppose that you go down to the doctor's regularly. How often do they come for you?