April 5th Tuesday. Heather was going at mid morning but stayed 0n for lunch and was still here when SN, my Australian Nun arrived (last here 11 years ago but didn’t seem the in the least like that) & finally departed something after 6. Sheila in London for the day.
© Anthony Lawton 2012
Heather (Lawton) is my sister. Sheila was a long-standing friend and companion, who came to be with Rosemary for periods of time to keep house, interspersed with Joan (Underwood). Companions like Sheila helped Rosemary – who had significant physically disabilities because of her childhood Still’s disease – with daily living. They helped her get up in the morning, and go to bed. They would make morning breakfast and evening supper .
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 
It’s sad to think of her suffering. Yet she was able to write such wonderful books in which she portrayed both the good and the bad times.
I had never heard of this disease before. My mother (born 1919) had rheumatic fever when she was about 8 years old. Luckily there were no real after-effects though when we first came to Canada, she had a bad bout of pain in one of her big toes. She spent some time in hospital where they treated her with a daily dose of 32 (or was it 64) aspirins. She was half out of things until she finally refused to take any more. She managed to recover and never had anything similar again. She passed away in August 2003 after suffering from Alzheimer’s for about 8 years.
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.. and sad to think, too, of your mother’s trials … thanks for commenting so touchingly.
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