Mom's leg story

Here is a picture that shows Mom's birthmark (?) before she had it operated on.

And here is Grandma's account of the whole leg story:

In case you don't want to try to decipher Grandma's handwriting, here is what she wrote:

Barbie was born with a birthmark on her left leg and at four months she had her first radium treatment on it. There were no skin specialists in town as they were all off to war so we took her to Dr. Decker (X-ray and radium specialist). When she was past two and a half he said the radium was not having any effect so we took her to Dr. McKuskey who was back in town. He gave her two treatments with carbon dioxide snow (dry ice) but there was no reaction. He said the only thing left to do was remove it with surgery. We waited a year and in May 1947 Dr. Whitaker operated on her leg. The mark was half an inch deep under the skin, it was 3/4 or an inch wideand high and inclined to be scabby all the tim. He was able to pull the skin together and sew it up without grafting any skin. Barbie never felt any pain afterwards. She had no idea her leg had been cut into while she was in the hospital or for some time later. In fact she had a most enjoyable time at the hospital.

Would love to hear your comments on this . . . .

Here is an after photo that would probably have been not that long after the surgery (her leg is a little hidden, but you can still see the spot):