Arthur Hailey - Strong Medicine

She looked around her, surveying the cobwebbed, dirt-encrusted lower floor of the house through which they had walked on a Sunday afternoon in January, with pale sunshine glinting through grimy windows.”This place needs scouring, painting, organizing, but it can be beautiful-the kind of home we won't want to leave unless we have to.”

"I'm leaving right now," Andrew said, "because what this place needs most is a bulldozer.”

He added, with rare impatience, "You've been right about a lot of things, but not this time.”

Celia seemed undeterred. Putting her arms around Andrew, she stood on tiptoes to kiss him.”I still think I'm right. Let's go home and talk about it.”

Later that night, reluctantly, Andrew gave in and next day Celia negotiated the purchase at a bargain price and arranged a mortgage. The down payment created no difficulty. Both she and Andrew had saved money from their earnings over the preceding few years and their combined current incomes were strong. They moved in near the end of April, and almost at once Andrew conceded he had been wrong about the house.”I already like it," he said on their first day; "I may even get to love it.”

The renovation had cost less than he expected and results were impressive, even beautiful. It was a happy time for them both, not least because Celia was, by now, five months pregnant.The birth of Celia and Andrew's first child occurred-as Andrew was apt to tell his hospital colleagues-"precisely according to Celia's schedule.”

It happened in August 1958, nine months and one week after their marriage, and the child was a girl, healthy, weighing seven and a half pounds. She was a contented baby who cried hardly at all. They named her Lisa. During her pregnancy Celia had been firm about birth procedures, which caused an early clash with her obstetrician, Dr. Paul Keating, a fellow staff member of Andrew's at St. Bede's Hospital. Keating, a fussy, middle-aged man who inclined to pomposity, told Andrew at one point, "Your wife is really quite impossible.”

"I know what you mean," Andrew sympathized, "but it sure makes life interesting. The funny thing is, what's impossible for some people becomes possible for Celia.”

A day or two earlier Celia had informed Dr. Keating, "I've been studying natural childbirth and have begun the exercises which go with it.”

When the obstetrician smiled indulgently she added, "I'll want to participate actively in labor and be fully aware at the moment of birth. That means no anesthesia. Also, I want no episiotomy.”

Keating's smile changed to a frown.”My dear Mrs. Jordan, both those decisions must be taken by your obstetrician during delivery.” "I disagree," Celia said quietly and calmly.”If I concede that, I'm likely to be overruled at a moment when I'm not at my best.”

"What if there's an emergency?"

"That's entirely different. If it happened, obviously you'd have to exercise judgment and do what was needed. But afterward you would have to satisfy me, and also Andrew, that an emergency had existed.”

Dr. Keating grunted noncommittally, then said, "Concerning an episiotomy. You may not realize that cutting the perineurn with surgical scissors just before birth prevents a tear when the baby's head emerges-a tear that is painful and heals less easily than a clean surgical cut.”

"Oh, I do realize that," Celia said.”And I'm sure you're equally aware of the increasing number of doctors and nurse-midwives who disagree with that view.”

Ignoring the obstetrician's growing disapproval, Celia added, "There are plenty of recorded cases where natural tears have healed quickly, whereas episiotomies have not, and have produced infections or months of postpartum pain, or both.”

Dr. Keating regarded her dourly.”You seem to know all the answers.”

"Not at all," Celia assured him.”It's just that it's my body and my baby.”

"Speaking of your body," the obstetrician said, "I'll point out that although it is not the purpose of an episiotomy, the sewing up afterward does maintain vaginal tightness.”

"Yes," Celia acknowledged, "I'm aware that vaginal tightness is for the pleasure of my future sex partner. Well, doctor, I don't want any complaints from my husband about a loose vagina, so after my baby is born I'll do exercises to tighten the pelvic muscles.”

Soon after, by mutual consent, Celia changed obstetricians and became the patient of Dr. Eunice Nashman, who was older than Dr. Keating but young enough in mind to share many of Celia's ideas. Subsequent to Lisa's birth Eunice Nashman confided to Andrew, "Your wife is a remarkable woman. There were moments when she was in great pain and I asked if she wanted to change her mind about anesthesia.”

Andrew, who had intended to be present at the birth but was called away by a medical emergency involving one of his own patients, asked curiously, "What did she say?" Dr. Nashman answered, "She just said, 'No, but someone please hold me.' So one of the nurses put her arms around your wife and comforted her, and that was all she needed. "Then, when your daughter was born, we didn't take the baby away, as usually happens, but just left her lying with Celia, and the two of them together were so at peace it was beautiful to sec.” As she had said she would, Celia took a year off from work to give her attention and love to Lisa. She also used the time to continue organizing their Convent Station house, which proved to be everything she had foreseen and promised.”I do love it," Andrew observed glowingly one day. ' At the same time Celia kept in touch with Felding-Roth. Sam Hawthorne had moved upward to become assistant national sales manager and had promised Celia a job when she was ready to return. The year was a good one for Felding-Roth Pharmaceuticals, Inc. A few months after the publicity concerning Dr. Andrew Jordan's dramatic use of Lotromycin, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug for marketing. Lotromycin went on to become successful and praised worldwide, and one of the more profitable products in Felding-Roth's history. Celia's own contribution to the Lotromycin launch caused executives of the company to endorse Sam Hawthorne's willingness to have her return. Beyond the company, in terms of history, 1959 was not a spectacular year. Alaska became a state in January, Hawaii in July, To the north, during April, the St. Lawrence Seaway opened. In May, Israel's Premier David Ben-Gurion promised the world that his country would seek peace with its Arab neighbors. Later the same month two monkeys made a 300-mile-high space flight aboard a U.S. army missile, and survived. It was hoped that humans might someday do the same. One outside event which aroused Celia's attention was a series of hearings, begun during December, by a U.S. Senate subcommittee chaired by Senator Estes Kefauver. During earlier hearings about crime the senator, a Tennessee democrat with presidential ambitions, had gained wide attention and was hungry for more of the same. The target at the new hearings was the pharmaceutical industry. Most industry officials dismissed Kefauver as a nuisance, but unimportant. The industry's Washington lobby was strong; no longterm effect was expected. Celia, though confiding her opinion only to Andrew, disagreed. Finally, late in the year, Celia resumed her duties as a detail woman, again with her sales territory in New Jersey. Through contacts at St. Bede's she had found an elderly retired nurse who came to the house daily and took care of Lisa. Typically, Celia tested the arrangement, by going on an out-of-town trip with Andrew and leaving the older woman in charge. It worked well. Celia's mother, Mildred, occasionally visited from Philadelphia and enjoyed filling in, and getting to know her granddaughter, when the daily nurse was away. Mildred and Andrew were on excellent terms, and Celia became closer to her mother as time went by, sharing an intimacy they had rarely known in earlier years. One reason, perhaps, was that Celia's younger sister, Janet, was far away-in the Trucial Sheikdomshaving married an oil company geologist, now busy overseas. Thus, with support from several sources Celia and Andrew were once more able to take pleasure in their separate careers.