Sickness 97 Council, anointing the sick was with few exceptions reserved for those near death. The name of the sacrament "extreme unction" indicated that quite clearly. The giving of the last rites was never a secret very long, nor was it intended to be, for word that so-and-so was anointed soon got out and often this was the prompt people needed to visit the stricken family. In general Iona fared out rather well against terminal illness among the young or middle aged and practically all those given extreme unction were of the older age group. Some of the latter lingered on awhile and one lady in particular must have been "prepared for death" as many as a dozen times over several years. Having the priest come to visit the seriously ill and especially to admin¬ ister the holy oils was a great comfort to both patient and family and sending for the priest at any hour of the day or night was a high priority where death was fast approaching. Back at the O'Shea home sickness was no stranger. Besides routine ailments most of the family also experienced the measles and mumps. Yet for me at least illness was a concern. At twelve, a soreness in the rib cage over a few weeks had me worried while imagining all sorts of trouble brewing. Around the same time I missed a week of school through general weakness. On that occasion I overheard Dad remarking to Mother how I was turning out delicate. That alarmed me considerably. Later while serving High Mass on Sundays I frequently got weak and blacked out with barely enough strength to stagger out the few feet behind the sanctuary to rest. More concern. However, even though always so skinny, I survived it all rather well. In the early 40s a brother injured his shin and developed blood poison, a diagnosis that had such fearful overtones. For many days he lay in bed with his leg a sickly sight and he was frequently attended to by Dr. McKenna from Vernon. Around the same time a sister was stricken with tuberculosis. One day Dr. Creel- man, the TB specialist from Charlottetown , came to see her. Shortly after, word was that she would have to go to the provincial sanatorium for a period of rest and treatment. When she left home that dark November morning the atmosphere was as gloomy as the day itself. It seemed she was going half a world away and to a very questionable future so dread was TB at the time. The family visited her occasionally on Sunday afternoons when the driving was good. Traffic was so scarce on the highway then that at times we would meet barely a half dozen automo¬ biles all the way to town. The joy of these car drives in those years partly made up for the fear of the sanatorium with its