“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Dr K., being still concerned about Jane’s finger—which had improved somewhat, but was still markedly bluish in cast—decided to prescribe a drug to dilute the clotting ability of blood somewhat: Persantine, in tiny pill-like form, to be taken three times a day. Dr. K. said this treatment had to be balanced against the added risk of infection of Jane’s one open bedsore on her coccyx, for the Persantine reduced the body’s ability to fight infection to some degree. This at once set up barriers in our thinking, but especially in Jane’s. Jane had also learned that everyone at the hospital was against her smoking, and had been told that nicotine helped restrict the blood flow in the tiny capillaries. [...] When Jane said that Dr. K had said her lungs were okay while she was at the Arnot, Dr K. defended that analysis by reminding Jane that she’d said her heart was good, but that through the stethoscope she’d heard various “wheezings and gurglings” in Jane’s lungs. [...]

(Very kindly nurses quickly helped settle Jane in the room, which was very pleasant. [...] Two of the blood cultures would take at least 48 hours, we were told, so I envisioned Jane being in the hospital for at least a few days. The nurses awkwardly put Jane in bed after sitting her on the commode. A thick foam rubber pad had been placed on the bed beforehand, however, and Jane found it to be very comfortable. Then at close to 10 PM a technician wheeled in a portable X-ray machine to shoot Jane’s chest. I placed the cold film holder under Jane’s back as she lay propped up on the mattress, but the whole task went quickly. [...]

[...] Massaging Jane’s lower arm helped. “If you were anyone else I’d have you at the emergency room at St. Joe’s for more blood tests,” Dr. K had told Jane at the house. [...] A few minutes later, as I was hurriedly throwing a few things into a bag, Dr. K. called again, to say that we could save the emergency room fee if she had Jane admitted directly into a room. [...] Jane cried briefly. [...]

[...] A hefty security guard lifted Jane out of the car into a wheelchair. [...] While someone took Jane up to her room, #456—in pediatrics, by the way —I found my way to admissions, after getting lost in the hallways once. Since Jane still wasn’t covered by insurance, I could get her only a semiprivate room. The black girl at the typewriter had the papers all made out, from the information Dr K. had given last February when she’d talked of transferring Jane from the Arnot. [...]

[...] She was at the house by 6 PM, examined the finger and gave Jane a quick general checkup. [...] She’d suspected vasculitis when Jane had been first admitted to Arnot Ogden early in February, but tests had ruled it out. Dr. K. went home to call Dr. Sobel in Ithaca, and Dr. Wilwerth at St. Joe’s. The former is a rheumatologist who examined Jane at the Arnot, the latter is a specialist in circulatory matters. [...]

(Since I’d forgotten to bring Jane’s medications, I had to list them for the nurses. A nurse got Jane some toast, ice cream, coffee and pudding, since we’d missed supper. Jane didn’t eat much after all, though. [...]

(Early the next morning Jane had more blood taken for more tests. [...] Jane still felt the finger’s condition was the result of other muscular events in her body. [...] The nurses told us she’d called several times the night Jane was admitted, and that she had the reputation of being very caring and conscientious—qualities we can certainly admire and respect. [...]

(Jane said she’d heard that some of the blood work was to be done in Rochester, New York: the results will take a while in coming. [...] Dr. K. said Jane could begin the 100 mcg of Synthroid Monday instead of waiting until Wednesday as we’d originally planned. And Jane announced that she didn’t want to start taking the Persantine—that she feels she knows what caused the finger difficulty and wants to get information on it in sessions, either hers or Seth’s.

(I brought Jane back home from St. Joseph’s hospital in Elmira, New York at about 4:15 PM yesterday. Her doctor, Marsha Kardon, had had her admitted at supper time the day before [May 20, Thursday] because the middle finger of Jane’s left hand had begun to turn blue from the last joint to the nail. [...]

(Jane first became aware that something was wrong with the finger at 2 PM or so Thursday, as we were finishing an interview with Peggy Gallagher about our experience in the 1972 flood in Elmira. [...] At the same time it began to feel colder than the others, and Jane had pain in the palm of her hand and midway up her arm, on the outside and underneath—these points forming a rather straight pathway down to the finger, we noted. [...]