“Don’t forget peppermint sticks for an upset stomach.”
We were given coke syrup for an upset stomach. Mom would run down to the candy store and bring up a cup filled with it.
Ice cream stick with tape for broken fingers. My father would hold me and my mom would pull. I screamed, dad would apply stick and tape. Then I got ice cream. Doctor in my building saw me one day and asked me why I had a stick taped to my finger. I told him what happened. He went through the roof. Forced my parents to take me across the street to the hospital.
Long story short, tape job worked. Worked so well, that parents were bringing their kids to my dad for medical treatment. He would politely say no and would recommend someone.
He wasn’t a doctor.
Attended a conference in a rural county, they were telling stories that when young their parents would wrap a manure poultice around a broken arm or leg.
Can you still get coke syrup? I remember getting that any time I had the stomach bug. Best part of being sick was getting that.
Hot toddies with lemon, honey and brandy when I had other types of colds.
When my youngest brother was about 3 years of age, he broke his arm. My father, nowhere near a medical man but ever a resourceful fellow, set the bone himself and used 3 dinner knives with adhesive tape as splints until my parents could get the child into the city to the hospital. The doc was impressed with Dad’s work.
You can buy cola syrup online and at health food stores. But, it is relatively quicker than mail order to take about 2 cups of Coca-Cola, put it in a sealed 1 liter plastic bottle and put it in the freezer. Put it on its side so there is a thin layer of soda along the lower side of the bottle. The water will freeze into crystals, leaving the syrup. There isn’t that much syrup and it is super potent, so take it by the spoonful. It tastes wonderful, so there is a temptation to treat it as candy.