Patricia:
It occurred to me that you might be interested in having a little more information relative to “croup” than what your mom has passed on to you, so I looked it up in Webster’s dictionary (the big one I have) and in the book “Textbook of Medicine” by Russell Cecil that I have.
The accompanying 2 pages give the general dictionary definition plus a quote from the Textbook of Medicine which seems to characterize Nobie’s type of croup. Added to theses are some interpretations of my own that, I hope, make a clearer total picture of Nobie’s illness, together with an evaluative appreciation of the efforts of your mom – which reinforce the impression I have expressed before that in many ways she is a most unusual mother & one to be proud of.
Carl
Croup
Croup (“Webster”) “Med. Any affection of the larynx or trachea, accompanied by a hoarse, ringing cough, and stridulous, difficult breathing; esp. such an affection when associated with the development of a false membrane in the air passages. (called also membranous croup)”
The name, croup, apparently has been derived from an attempt to imitate, in the word, a typical sound made by a child suffering from the ailment.
As defined above and as described in sources dealing with medicine croup is not a distinct disease, but a combination of symptoms that occur together in a person who is suffering from any of several serious infections of the throat and/or respiratory areas generally. The croup that Nobie was a direct development from the “strep throat” that he had the week before. Since all the boys had had the same infection, there was a very real possibility that each (or all) of them could develop the same sort of croup that Nobie had. This is apparently a very dangerous condition and one of the killers of young children. So Nobie was in serious danger and the others would have been also, were they to develop the croup. Fortunately now, the entire situation is under control, though not all danger has passed as yet.
In the “Textbook of Medicine” by Russell L. Cecil – 7th edition, 1947, a copy of which I have, croup is treated in the general discussion of diphtheria, as one of the possible expressions of that disease.
Croup [page 2]
On p. 209 of the “Textbook of Medicine” under “Differential Diagnosis” occurs the following:
“Spasmodic croup” often starts “suddenly, usually at night, in an otherwise healthy individual. It is associated with inspiratory difficulty caused by spasm of the laryngeal muscles, and often with erythema” (congestion) “of the vocal cords.”
This describes the major symptoms of Nobie’s attack. The “spasm of the laryngeal muscles” would have prevented him from coughing up mucus that accumulated in his throat. This is exactly what happened. His laryngeal (throat) muscles couldn’t function & so he couldn’t cough anything out. This is one of the things that could have completely choked off his throat & killed him. The “erythema of the vocal chords” was simply a flooding of the little blood vessels in the vocal chords with blood which caused them to swell & prevented normal speech. He could talk only with great difficulty & couldn’t say much. This condition, added to the paralysis of the laryngeal muscles, except for your mom’s efforts which caused Nobie to get quite a lot of mucus out, would have led to the killing condition which is fatal to so many young children who have “croup.” So your mom’s efforts probably made the difference that means Nobie is alive today and largely out of danger.
I got my bookshelf up and a lot of books on it, but I’m not through rearranging the books yet.
My dinner party turned out to be a dinner followed by a folk dance session that lasted a couple of hours. Total attendance about 40 persons. Held in the recreational hall of a superior “trailer park” on Senter Road.
Lots of fun & I got home around 9:00 just in time for a phone call from your mom & a half hour talk that, I think, helped her a lot.
Carl
Dr. Carl Duncan and Patricia Whiting Collection (SJSU)
