Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
By David Lee Garrison
The shelter-in-place mandate has brought back memories ...
When I had polio at the age of 5, my brothers were not allowed into my hospital room, but one day they came to smile and shout hello from behind a closed window. ...
This was before the Salk vaccine, which did not come into widespread use until 1955. The disease was the most feared in the country, with 50,000 or 60,000 children a year becoming infected. Thousands died or were left crippled for life.
My mother came almost every day and read to me, always wearing a mask.
She brought cards from classmates, neighbors, and friends of my parents, some of whom I did not know. I was surprised that so many people would write.
Once, early on in my stay, I wanted a glass of water on the night stand but could not reach it. I twisted around and let my feet drop to the floor.
When I put weight on my legs, they lit up with pain and I had no control over them. Sweating heavily, I fell back against the bed.
It took all my arm strength to hoist my lower body up. ...
The only therapies were bed rest and palliative heat treatments. The nurse would put a heavy blanket on me that had tubes of hot water tucked into it.
The moist warmth was so intense that it hurt at first, but it brought some relief from the aching stiffness.
When I woke up at night, it would take me a few moments to remember where I was, who I was, why I was there all alone in the darkness. I do not remember crying then, but I cried when the nurse told me that Joey, a boy about my age across the hall, had died. We had met and talked now and then from our wheelchairs.
One morning I told the nurse I felt better and wanted to get up. She helped me out of bed and I took a few awkward steps in my hospital gown. A few days later I went home. I was not allowed out of the house for weeks, could not go back to school. My whole family had to avoid social gatherings.
... I was one of the lucky ones.
At age 75, I still play tennis.
I still remember Joey. I still remember being quarantined.
David Lee Garrison is a Dayton-area writer and a retired Wright State University Professor of Spanish and Portuguese.
