The alien has landed ... again
I had my tonsils out in the sixties. (That's the 1960s, not when I was in my 60s!) I remember only three things about the experience:
1. The book read to me to prepare me for the hospital visit. I recall there being brightly colored pictures of a little boy who's hospital gown didn't stay closed very well and nurses in white uniforms with the matching hats they wore back in the day. I search for that book every time I vist a used-book or antique store. I'm determined to one day find it.
2. Jello being served to me in the hospital bed afterwards.
3. Quisp. The character from the cereal. Somehow Quisp figures into my tonsil-removal experience. I think I received the stuffed Quisp doll from someone ... or maybe a lucky child in the bed next to me received the quirky alien ... or maybe I've imagined the entire thing. Imagined or not, the Quisp doll and tonsils go hand-in-hand in my mind.
(Let me stop here and say that if you are one of the young-uns who don't know what the cuss Quisp is, you can catch up by reading all about the cereal, the character and the battle with Quest right HERE.)
So last weekend, Brianna and I were out shopping for butt-toning shoes for my walks, along with a few other things. I bought my shoes, she bought two pair (not butt-toning ones) and we moved on to Target.
No, I do not fill my ceral bowl this full. Illustrative purposes only.We're toodling toward the kitchen gadgets -- or whatever the heck it was we were there to get -- and what do I happen upon but an end cap stocked to the brim with, you guessed it ... no, not Jello ... but QUISP cereal!
The quirky little pink alien smiled from the blue box, just like I remembered from 40 years ago, beckoning me to the shelf. My eyes widened, my heart leapt and phantom pains from long-gone tonsils squelched squeals of delight. So I didn't squeal, but I did smile wide, pick up a box and share my Quisp story -- or my imagined Quisp story -- with Brianna.
I also bought a box. How could I resist?
When I got home, Jim, too, squealed upon seeing Quisp. Okay, he didn't really squeal, but he was just as excited to see the little guy as I was. Which surprised me because he certainly didn't know me when I had my tonsils out and never had the good fortune of seeing my Quisp doll. And he definitely is not a fan of cereal (I've never seen him eat a bowl of cereal in our entire lives together).
"Now that's a cereal I could handle," he said. "Dry, of course." (His aversion to cold cereal has something to do with milk, I've been told. Never, ever will he eat cold cereal with milk. Dry, apparently, is another story. Especially if it's Quisp, even more so apparent.)
So I happily placed the alien cereal in the cabinet, looking forward to having a bowl or two during the week. Which I did yesterday. And it was everything I remembered: little flying saucers that hold smidgens of milk ... and float in the milk as the saucers become few. A sweet, crunchy taste much like Cap'n Crunch -- without the damaging-to-the-roof-of-the-mouth crunchiness of Cap'n Crunch. Soggy saucers if if not eaten quickly enough. And the nausea that comes soon after swallowing the last bite.
Nausea? Yeah, the stuff always made me sick to my stomach for some reason. But I loved it so much -- call it successful marketing, maybe -- that I ate it regardless of the nausea, regardless of how I'd feel afterwards.
Also regardless of the nausea: I plan to buy two more boxes of Quisp before it disappears from Target. Not because of the taste -- nausea's not as easy to ignore as it used to be -- but because <insert drum roll here> with just three proofs of purchase and $4.95 for shipping and handling, I can receive by mail an authentic Quisp T-shirt!
I am so ordering it! And I plan to forevermore proudly wear my Quisp T-shirt as I peruse used-book stores and antique shops in my hunt for the out-of-print picture book featuring a little boy's hiney peeking from his hospital gown as he visited the hospital for his very first medical procedure. A little boy who wasn't as fortunate as I to receive a Quisp doll during his visit. Or to even imagine receiving a Quisp doll, as my case very well may be.
Today's question:
What do you remember about your very first hospital visit (well, first other than being born)?
Friday, September 3, 2010
Reader Comments (10)
How cool! Isn't it fun when you find things like that from childhood? I remember a cereal called "Freakies," and each box had a "freakie" character (Boss Moss, for instance).
My first hospital visit was when my daughter was born. She was the only baby - the others had gone home already. We had the nursery to ourselves ;-)
My first hospital visit was to have my tonsils out, too, but became a long-recurring nightmare after I ruptured the stitches a few days later coughing, at home (22 miles away from the hospital) and had to be rushed back in with a long, skinny rubber hot-water bottle filled with ice around my neck to stop the bleeding. Scared me half to death! And nope, no Quest doll.
Yay, Quisp! And Double Yay! to Freakies, Kathy. I remember both of those cereals fondly.
Oh. And I've never had a hospital visit (knock wood).
my first stay in the hospital was also for tonsil removal. I was four at the time and was in the same room as my older sister (six years my senior) who was also in for tonsil removal. She was in a bed and I was in crib. I remember looking at her through the rails. I also remember going to grandma's after and having popsicles.
I was lucky enough not to visit the hospital, as a patient, when I was growing up. I remember my first time in a hospital was visiting my mother after she had my youngest brother. I was ten, he was the sixth child. My first visit as a patient was when I have my first child.
My first visit to the hospital was 6 years old to have an appendectomy. I woke up as the surgeon was preparing to 'surgeon.' Yikes! He looked down at me and asked the people around, "why are her eyes open? Is she awake?" Something got clamped down over my face then and I don't remember anythng else. I tried to tell my mom later, but she told me I was just dreaming. I had never seen the inside of an OR before, so I don't think it was a dream, and the doctor's eyes aboue his mask looked really big to me. It is really funny when I think about it now. Just another of my 'adventures!'
Loved Quest cereal! Although Booberry was my favorite, right behind Count Chocula. I thought it was really neat how the little Quest saucers floated in milk. :) Thanks for sharing, loved it!
Have you tried searching for the book online? If you don't know the name, it could be possible that an book dealer might know it if you described it - though I imagine that would require more info than a bare hiney :) Or do you enjoy the hunt to find it yourself?
No hospital visits for me outside of preterm labor (to halt contractions) and childbirth.
I first remember horrible back labor pains that went on for hours. A very handsome new baby boy., and a very proud daddy. And then, I was served and waited on. Hospital food or not..... I love that someone else cooks for me and serves it to me in my bed three times a day and when I feel I need a snack!
Speaking of cereals. I miss ZOOM. It is a hot cracked wheat cereal that I can't find in the stores anymore.
Argh, I stayed out of hospitals until I had a heart attack. Then a few years later I had a hysterectomy. I don't recommend either of them!