Reply #69: polio, aged 2 years

[mopaul]

born with kidney infection in 1951, surgery, large scar on left side. earliest memory is rolling around in a wheelchair with a tube coming out of my side into a large jar. age 2, caught polio, in major epidemic in st. louis. almost died, whole left side temporarily paralyzed, left leg atrophied, 5 inches shorter. years of corrective surgery in shriner's hospital for crippled children in st. louis. all paid for by the shriner's/masons. released at age 13.

wore leg brace up to hip till i was 10, then a knee brace. could actually walk and climb mountains and most stuff normal kids do, except skate.

age 15, head on collision, father driving, maniac going 80 on a hilltop. massive facial cuts, blinded temporarily with glass. 400 stitches on face and throat, 4 years of cosmetic surgery.

then i was pretty much o.k. for about 25 years or so, had a heart attack in 95, been in a wheelchair for 10 years, graduating next week to a motorized chair.

polio is a virus and like the flu, only lasts a few days, but it could really mess a person up, or kill them outright. lots of paralysis, useless arms and legs, iron lung machines, any number of bizarre afflictions. and of course throughout history it has killed millions.

polio vaccinations began the year i got it. i am one of the last american kids to get it, before it was wiped out utterly in our nation. it still exists, in poorer pockets of the world, where hygiene is impossible. we can all thank our lucky stars that this plague was eliminated by dr. salk, and researchers like him.

i now have post-polio syndrome, which is the after effects and aging combined. a general lack of mobility, joint problems, chronic pain, but it could be worse.

i've been disabled literally ever since i can remember, but i wonder sometimes if it's not worse when you're perfectly healthy one day, and disabled the next. that has to be hard on a person, i've seen it happen.

there are many kinds of disabilities, and there are DIFFERENT levels of disability. for instance, i could get up out of my chair and kick somebody's ass if i had too, or i can still drive my own car and shower my own self, but that could all change. and the truth is, a disability can be a great equalizer of people. a crippled man can sympathize with a deaf woman, and a blind man can relate to a severe dyslexic.

i remember being in the boy's ward, and all boys were of different colors and ethnicities, black, white, jewish, catholic, but we all had our disability in common, to make us all equal.

my father has severe dyslexia, and i have a serious case of it too. he never made it past 3rd grade, and was considered retarded, quite a stigma in the 1940's. yet he raised himself up and raised a family of five as a railroad engineer, even though he cannot read, and has never read a book. his severe disability never stopped him.
but it was a rough road i'm sure.

sometimes i like to fall into self pity and whine a bit, then i'll see some little girl in a wheelchair who is so beautiful, but who can't do anything but sit there and smile. and then i fall into self loathing and remembrance of all the little boys and girls i grew up with in shriner's hospital for crippled children. let me tell you, i was one of the lucky ones.

i'm glad there is this forum, and glad to be able to whine amongst those who might understand a bit. misery loves company, and knowing there are plenty of others in the same boat, makes it less miserable.
people can all have their little groups and cliques that they've joined up with, but our little group, and it's not so little, is one in which you don't join, but earn membership to involuntarily.

we gotta stick together.