Doctor Patient Confidentiality

The one story that springs to mind about Sydenham Road is when Mr. and Mrs. O’Connor were away on holidays, no doubt somewhere exotic at that time, like the Canaries!

Brian O’Connor was looking after the house and keeping an eye on the two girls, Tricia and Rosie, while they were gone. One particular evening Brian was out at a party and was going to be late home. Rosie had headed out with friends, probably for a bit of underage drinking, leaving Patricia and I on our own.

We were bored, at the ripe old age of 14, so we raided Mr. O’Connor’s drinks cabinet where he had a vast collection of booze. We selected a nice bottle of whiskey. Jack Daniels I think it was, must have been, as I have never been able to even smell it since that night without feeling ill.

We started drinking the whiskey and eating pickled onions! Even the thought of this is making me feel ill now! Of course we got absolutely locked…

Rosie came back home with her friends for a free house party. They had brought beer back and when they had finished them all they tasked me and Trish to get rid of the bottles, leaving no evidence for Brian to find the next day.  Right, I thought in my drunken state, I’ll throw them over the wall!  Now I knew not to throw them into Digby’s as I was terrified of Dr. Digby and avoided him at all cost.

So, it was into Kane’s garden they went, a few at a time. On one of my runs out the back to the wall, I literally did not see the tree in front of me… blind drunk is the term used.  I raised my arm and swung wildly, only to hit the tree, smash the bottle and cut my hand wide open.  It was a bad cut, a lot of blood everywhere, a bit of a mess really but the alcohol helped numb the pain.

I vaguely remember one of Rosie’s friends holding my hand under the tap in the kitchen sink and wrapping it in a kitchen towel. My next memory is waking in Tricia’s room the following morning fully clothed with the worst hangover I can ever remember. This was made worse by an awful smell in the room. I realised that at some stage during the night I had been sick on the floor beside the bed and there they were… what seemed like the whole jar of undigested pickled onions!  My head ached, my stomach was in bits and the pain in my hand was mega – it was not good at all.

Patricia and I cleaned up the mess, but we both knew my hand needed to be looked at. The problem was where would we find a doctor on a Sunday morning?  There was no choice I had to overcome my fear of Dr. Digby and let him have a look at my hand.  On the way over we made up a story to how it had happened. So, we climbed over the wall and knocked on the Digby’s back door. Simon’s gorgeous Mum answered and I know the smell of drink from myself and Tricia must have bowled her over and I’m sure she noticed the bloodshot eyes and all the other hall marks of a serious hangover.

We stuck to our guns and told her the story we had concocted. I had fallen over Nicky, the O’Connor’s vicious dog, with a glass milk bottle in my hand.  She called down to Dr. Digby and we repeated the story about the milk bottle and the dog to him when he came up. He just looked at us with that ‘do you think I believe that bullshit’ look, asked a few more questions and no doubt caught us out in our answers. He made us suffer for about 15 mins. Finally he looked at my hand. At that stage I am not sure whose hand was shaking the most, mine from the nerves and drink, or Dr. Digby from keeping in the laughter.

He looked at it and took great pleasure in telling me that ‘Yes it would need a stitch and I would need a tetanus injection too! So, after a visit to The Meath hospital for the stich and a jab, I went home and fed my own mother the story about the dog and the milk bottle. She believed me, cursed the dog and looked after me as mums do when we are sick or hurt.

I had to take two days off school. Mum thought it was the hand, which was sore but it was more about getting over the hangover!  To this day I have never got so drunk, to the point of blacking out again, so I did learn a lesson back then in 1975.

I was sure the Kane’s would have no idea when they found the beer bottles in the morning where they had come from, seeing it was only O’Connor’s house that bordered theirs. But that

Tuesday evening I was lying on the couch watching telly, when the phone rang and my mum answered saying, “Hello Frieda”, (Mrs. O’Connor) so I turned the volume down a bit to listen in.

The “Hello” was followed by a couple of moments silence when Mrs. O’C. was talking, then my mum saying  “They did what Frieda!” then Mrs. O’C talking again, then my Mum exclaiming “A bottle of whiskey Frieda!” then Mrs. O C again and my Mum saying  “Sharon told me she fell over the dog Frieda!” Then Mrs. O Connor was obviously telling my Mum she was not sure if she would tell Mr. O Connor about what we had done. My Mum then said (thank God)”I think we should keep this to ourselves Frieda, not tell Vincent and Jack, as I know the girls have suffered and the Dads will go mad”.  Fair play to Miriam and Frieda they did not squeal on us but I did get a serious telling off.

I am not sure how Mrs. O’Connor found out, maybe it was the Kane’s finding two dozen empty beer bottles in their garden knowing they could only come from O Connors, or it could have been my blood on her antique furniture? But what is is more than likely is that Rosie or Brian ratted on us. One thing for sure, I know your Dr. Digby kept the Doctor/Patient confidentiality and many, many years later we both laughed about that Sunday morning.