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Betty Ide
By DOTTY MARTIN
Editor
Betty Ide says the worst is
behind her and the best is yet to
come.
The worst is five transfusions
and a hospital stay that has
already spanned more than two
months and is expected to con-
tinue for several more weeks
before it ends - while the best is
the baby Betty and her husband,
Darren, are expecting.
Betty, 24, suffers from mitral
stenosis, a heart condition that
prevents the heart from pumping
blood properly. Because the
mitral valve in her heart is
smaller than normal, it cannot
push blood through the body as it
is supposed to, says Betty.
And, because of her condition,
which she has been aware of all
her life, Betty suffers from
coughing seizures, bronchitis and
pneumonia. Having suffered sev-
eral serious coughing seizures in
February of this year which
caused her a tremendous loss of
blood, Betty’s doctors have now
confined her to the obstetrics
department at Nesbitt Memorial
Hospital in Kingston until her
baby is born.
The patient says the ultrasound
test (a test performed on preg-
nant women to determine when
the baby is due) has shown the
baby to be due on June 23, but
Betty claims that by the way she
feels, she thinks Baby will arrive
at the end of this month.
The former Elizabeth Belles,
Betty resided in Dallas until her
years ago when the couple
moved to Lake Silkworth. Betty’s
father, Harold William Belles, is
a resident of the Valley View
Trailor Court in Dallas, while
Darren’s father, Roland Ide, is
the. former police chief of
Lehman Township.
Betty attended the Dallas
School District and graduated
from West Side Vo-Tech in 1979.
She and Darren are both
employed at Offset Paperback
where Betty is a bindery assist-
ant and Darren is a press assist-
ant.
Betty’s attitude is a rather
healthy one as she anticipates
being at home with Darren and
the baby. Her hospital room has
been decorated with drawings of
Smurfs (a gift from Betty’s
brother-in-law) to heart-shaped
balloons that say “I love you this
much” from Darren. The cards
overflowing in the wall rack
show Betty is loved and has a lot
of people helping her keep her
spirits as high as they are.
“The first thing I want to do
when things are back to normal
is get some food and cook my
husband a nice meal,” Betty
says lovingly. “It’s been so hard
on both of us, not being able to
phone.” The couple’s home is a
long-distance call from the hospi-
tal and Betty says she has man-
aged to run up some pretty hefty
phone bills during the past two
months.
‘Everyone has been so suppor-
tive, though,” she adds. ‘Without
the love and support of my hus-
band, my family, my friend, and
the doctors and nurses here, I
never would have made it.
Everyone has been tremendous.”
The love from her family will
blossom even more this Saturday
when, her two sisters-in-law
transform the board room of
Nesbitt into a hall for a baby
shower for Betty. About 30
family members and friends are
expected to attend.
Although Betty is now allowed
to go outside for 20 minutes a
day with the assistance of either
a family member or a nurse,
things were not so rosy during
the early days of her confine-
ment.
Having been admitted to Nes-
bitt on March 4, just one day
after her 24th birthday, Betty
was a very sick woman and was
bed-ridden at first. Later, she
was allowed bathroom privileges
and then could walk up and down
the halls, a little at a time. Now,
she gets to see the outside world
once a day, but must remain at
the hospital. Although Betty con-
tinually teases the nurses on the
OB Department about her being
placed there to “keep an eye on
them,’”” she knows she must
remain at the hospital in case of
complications.
Betty also travels, by wheel-
chair, every Sunday evening
across the street to the Nesbitt
Medical Arts building where she
and Darren attend pre-natal
classes. The breathing excersises
taught at the classes are espe-
cially important to Betty,
because of her condition.
Betty says her - doctors have
warned her of the importance of
her breathing correctly during
delivery so as not to put undue
pressure on her heart. She says
the doctors want her to deliver
the baby naturally, but want her
to be able to deliver without any
extreme pushing.
Her family doctor, Dr. Maria
McGrane of Dallas; her cardiolo-
gist, Dr. David Rimple of Kings-
ton; and her obstetricians, Dr.
Gerald Gunster and Dr. John
Frye of Kingston, are all plan-
ning to be present during the
delivery of Betty’s baby to insure
her and the baby of the best
possible care.
Betty will probably ‘have to
undergo open-heart surgery
sometime after the birth of the
baby, but, for right now, she
simply wants to concentrate on
the proper breathing methods
and what life is going to be like
for her and Darren and the baby.
Although Darren and Betty
have known each other for five
years, they will be celebrating
their second wedding anniver-
sary on June 18. And, that’s
when Betty wants to be home.
“I just can’t wait to spend a
whole day with Darren and the
baby,” she says, grinning from
ear to ear. ‘‘I want to make him
something special for our anni-
versary because he’s been so
supportive. He’s something
else.”
ELSA’S CROSSWORDS
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