until the temperature has been normal for ten
days. This is, I think, a safe rule, leaning perhaps to the side of
extreme caution; but after all with eggs, milk toast, milk puddings, and
jellies, the patient can take a fairly varied diet. You cannot wait too
long before you give solid foods, particularly meats, They are especially
dangerous. The patient may be allowed to sit up for a short time about the
end of the first week of convalescence, and the period may be prolonged
with a gradual return of strength. He should move about slowly, and when
the weather is favorable should be in the open air as much as possible.
Keep from all excitement. Constipation now should be treated with an
enema. A noticeable diarrhea should restrict the diet to milk and the
patient be confined to the bed. There are many who cannot have a
professional nurse. Good nursing is necessary in typhoid fever. Any
sensible person who is willing to follow directions can do well. But she
must do as the doctor directs.

These are some things you need to do: Look out for bad symptoms; twitching
of the tendons, grasping at imaginary things are bad symptoms. Inform the
doctor and soon. Never allow the patient to sit up in bed. The stool must
be passed lying flat and you must place the bed pan without the patient's
aid. Bleeding may be started by the least exertion. I knew of one woman
who lost her life through necessity of getting up and passing the stool
sitting on a chamber. Bleeding came on suddenly, and before the doctor
could get there she was nearly gone. Cough and sudden pain in the lungs
need prompt attention. I dismissed a boy on one Wednesday as convalescent.
That night it became suddenly cold and he became chilled. The mother sent
for me the next day, and we pulled him through pneumonia. Suppose she had
waited another day? She was not that kind of a mother. Your greatest trial
will come in convalescence, when the patient is so hungry. Be careful or
you will kill the patient by kindness. A minister I knew killed himself by
going against the doctor's orders and eating a hearty dinner. The doctor
was rather profane, and when he went to see the preacher, after the
relapse caused by the dinner, he relieved his mind in no gentle manner.
Again allow no visitors in the sick room or one adjacent. They are an
abomination. Many people are killed by well-intentioned ignoramuses. Do
not whisper; the Lord save the patient who has a whisperer for a nurse. I
can