Community Chat

[sunala]

I am so surprised this thread has been revived. I started it in 2010!!!

The book was Nemesis by Philip Roth. 

http://www.amazon.com/Nemesis-Philip-Roth/dp/145582691X

Although I read it 5 years ago, I remember it well. Philip Roth is one of my favorite authors. 

I didn't know that polio still exists in other countries. Thank goodness for the vaccine.

[Suziepeach]

Yes I do, as I was born in 48... those iron lungs were so necessary but so scary..  I well remember getting the polio shot..

[hennypenny]

Lol, Sunny, I didn't even notice the date on the thread.  

This is one mixed up forum now!

[Puzzle Piece]

Yes, of course I remember.  I worked with a male who had parents who didn't believe in vaccines and he contracted polio.  He was all twisted and would breathe loudly and speak with defects.  It was awful.  As a child I would occasionally see another child with polio.  I had parents who BELIEVED in vaccines and never wanted their children to suffer such a thing.  It's a very bad thing and such a horror to see another who is permanently disabled from it. 

[LilacTree]

Oh yes.  Polio was rampant in our northern NJ area during grammar school.  We had several classmates who came down with it, and of those, two were in iron lungs.  One boy, a very handsome and delightful boy, died of it.  I remembered his name for a very long time, but cannot recall it now.  We used to take turns visiting him and he was always smiling, deathly ill as he was.

We were not allowed to go to pools, and it wasn't only pools, it was really any crowded place.  Our summers were frightening because there was always the risk of getting polio. 

I was so thankful that by the time I started having my babies, the vaccine was readily available and they were all vaccinated against this scourge. 

Many years later when I was divorced and had to work full time, I hired a woman whose polio as a child relapsed when she was fully grown.  She was about 40.  My youngest child was 4 and going to day care half days.  Cam, her name, was able to drive with a specially equipped car, even though she had to walk with two crutches.  She was really only there from 12 to 4 because her day started with picking up my youngest from day care at noon.  My other girls came home from school at 3, and my father came home from his job at 4. 

When I first saw her coming up the walk for the interview, I thought, no way.  But she came in and we talked, and she was so sweet and loving to my girls that my heart went out to her.  She cried when I said yes.  She was poorly treated (perhaps abused) by her much older 70 year old Italian husband, and being my children's "nanny" meant the world to her.  She fell in love with my father, who was still a handsome and robust 60 year old.  Two years later when I remarried and had to let her go, she was devastated.  Her husband actually called me and was livid.  He had gotten used to that extra $50 a week I paid Cam (which was half my net take home pay) and I'm sure he took it out on her.

Odd, how a post can make one recall a whole chapter of one's life.  Thank you for posting this, Sunala.

[Pook]

I remember it well!  We went on a Sunday afternoon to a school room where were were given the sugar cubes.  I remember waiting in line.  My favorite teacher contracted polio when he was a teenager and high school football star.  His father was a friend of my father's and his parents were devasted.  He had such a positive attitude and he did well in life.   He used the arm crutches.  He was so nice and such a great teacher.  His high school girfriend stuck with him and married him.  

[ShowMe]

Yes, I vividly remember Polio.......there were several I went to school with (elementary) that were stricken with it.  It was awful.  None were put in the iron lung, but each one ended up being crippled.  And when I moved to St. Louis in 1957, two years later I met my best friend to this day......who was stricken with it.  She toois crippled to this day and is now 74.  Was fortunate enough to meet the love of her life, and a couple  years after they were married she had her one and only child.....a son.  She now lives with the maladies of the Polio post syndromes......and has to be very careful not to get over tired, etc. 

Was living in San Antonio during the terrible time in the 50's......we could not use swimming pools, had to stay away from big crowds, etc......and had to stay calm and quiet for about 3 hours in the afternoon.....no playing outside in the heat.  Many precautions were taken, and yes well remember the polio shot.....I too cried. 

[doxie1]

I had an older second cousin that had it and was confined to an iron lung for maybe 25 years. Then she got to be in a rocking bed during the day for the next 15 or so years. I only saw her once and she was a very bright person. My parents saw that we recieved every polio vaccine that came out. We had some people locally that had it to a lesser degree and were able to get around with braces, and crutches. 

doxie

[Mama Mia]

Yes, I remember polio as I was born in 1938, so the polio days are vivid in my mind. I couldn.t go to the mpvies, the lake, just had to stay home and read (which I loved anyway.) Two of my parent's best friends's older children died of bulbar polio, the worst kind,  the same night . It was a terrifying time and a sad time too.

mm