pendennis

I believe that was Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had polio-type symptoms. It's now believed that FDR may have had Guillian-Barre Syndrome, which mimics polio.

Teddy Roosevelt suffered from chronic asthma when young.

Michael Sabetsky Loc: Rockledge, Florida

I heard that too on a program on a channel that tells of history of famous people. Don't remember which one off hand. It may have been PBS or a new channel I have been receiving over the airways called "Story".

pendennis

My aunt spent a lot of time, early on, in the iron lung. Then a couple of companies improved on the chest respirator, which allowed polio patients to live outside it.

It was a really tough existence. My aunt contracted polio in 1952, and the March of Dimes sent her to a number of rehab facilities in the U.S. to try and "rehabilitate" her. However, bulbar polio damaged the nerve endings to the point where no rehab was possible. The folks who developed and managed rehab programs came up with compensatory exercises, in which remaining muscles were "trained" to take on the load. However, as folks found out later, the compensation ended up causing premature wear and tear on what was left.

Sorry to know about your best friend. Thousands died, probably from similar "giving up".

ShelbyDave Loc: Lone Rock, WI

Everyone has a right to their opinion. Including me, and the above rant is a result of my experience during the pandemic. I have listened to a very large number of professionals pleading with "Bubba" to take the vaccine to help lower the number of people in the hospitals and save lives. Over and over again, time and again people who are respected professionals plead with everyone in an effort to slow down the disaster the last two years have been. A large part of the population has not listened. I wonder how many thousands of lives could have been saved if they had. Before you say it, yes I am aware that for a small number of people they have health issues where their doctor told them to not get the vaccine. I don't have a problem with them. They are a small number of people and I hope they stay healthy.
I knew when I posted my original letter that I would get a negative response, and I know I will not change anyone's mind so when the next response comes in I promised myself to let this drop and not respond, but I just had to tell you that I do have a right to my opinion and say just one more thing.
Thanks for your condolences for the passing of my mother. Oh wait, you didn't say anything like that did you Bubba?

DickC Loc: NE Washington state

Yes, and he was an athlete, to be confined in a 'barrel' was pure torture for him!

therwol Loc: USA

The two most important advances in medicine were vaccines and antibiotics. They increased life expectancy by decades. When infectious diseases were rampant and people died or suffered young from them, people gladly took vaccines. That's all I'm going to say.

Effate Loc: El Dorado Hills, Ca.

[quote=ShelbyDave]Everyone has a right to their opinion. Including me, and the above rant is a result of my experience during the pandemic. I have listened to a very large number of professionals pleading with "Bubba" to take the vaccine to help lower the number of people in the hospitals and save lives. Over and over again, time and again people who are respected professionals plead with everyone in an effort to slow down the disaster the last two years have been. A large part of the population has not listened. I wonder how many thousands of lives could have been saved if they had. Before you say it, yes I am aware that for a small number of people they have health issues where their doctor told them to not get the vaccine. I don't have a problem with them. They are a small number of people and I hope they stay healthy.
I knew when I posted my original letter that I would get a negative response, and I know I will not change anyone's mind so when the next response comes in I promised myself to let this drop and not respond, but I just had to tell you that I do have a right to my opinion and say just one more thing. Thanks for your condolences for the passing of my mother. Oh wait, you didn't say anything like that did you Bubba?[/quotej]

I merely stated some factual information regarding the alleged anti-vax counties identified in the original post. I didn’t call you names so who’s the bubba! You do have a right to your opinion. Too bad it isn’t informed. Too bad you just listen to single minded sources for your opinion formation otherwise you would know what groups were the most under vaccinated (hint, it wasn’t Bubba). I know in the beginning most clinicians advocated vaccines and I was an adherent, wore my mask, washed my hands and still contracted and spread the delta variant but more and more very legitimate scientists are identifying adverse side effects in various populations. Given the low risk of serious illness I wouldn’t give it to a young child absent pre existing conditions. It was after all a novel virus and consequently we were told what we should do by a constantly moving needle. I am not an anti vaccine as I had all the childhood vaccines, vaccines in basic training, prior to S.E.A. deployment, various vaccines during 30 years in L.E. due to the populations we came in contact with and Covid vaccines but just as you have the right to your opinion others have a right to question big pharma and the CDC.

Tom Bar

To validate vaccinations, go to a cemetery and look for children's graves. Up until 1950's, there are lots of them. The numbers decrease over the next decades as vaccinations became standard of care for American children. Too many children die from malignancy, accidents and young adult overdoses, and all I can say is, We are working on it. My children are vaccinated and I am immune to all kinds of COVID and intestinal worms. There is also natural immunity. Not trying to start a war or even a debate here. These are just the observations of an old retired urologist who has a Kodak or two.

pendennis

My aunt had a singular mindset to survive as long as possible. Most folks at the time, didn't understand that mechanical breathing was fraught with problems. The iron lungs and chest respirators "breathed" patients at a set rate of breaths/minute. The body doesn't work that way. In a minute's time, you will likely have several breaths of different lengths, and probably at least one "deep breath" in a period of a certain number of minutes. The human body knows when it needs to inhale/exhale more often, the brain drives the mechanism. Just because someone in an iron lung or a chest respirator gets regular breathing, doesn't mean that the blood chemistry doesn't go sideways. The body also fights that regulated breathing, and it's extremely frustrating for the patient. On somewhat regular occasions she would have to go to the hospital for treatment of her out-of-whack blood chemistry, and it usually took at least 72 hours of blood tests, injections, etc., to straighten out her breathing. A number of times these visits came in the way of emergency room visits, usually at 3:00AM, or so. The breathing specialists finally figured out that her breathing could be modified through manipulation of the equipment, though that was not the answer.

A lot of the polio survivors had problems sleeping, and she ended up dosed with phenobarbital for the rest of her life, just so she wouldn't have convulsions at night.

She finally got fitted with a ventilator, via a tracheostomy, and in the early 90's, she was fitted with a "smart" ventilator, which sensed oxygen and CO2 levels, and greatly helped. However, in 1997, her systems, including renal, pulmonary, and cardio, finally collapsed.

She was part of the last great epidemic, and the wards of the hospitals in Louisville were lined with beds, iron lungs, etc. Those visions don't ever go away.

Tom Bar

I had a patient early in my practice who was in an iron lung secondary to polio. He heard they were giving polio vaccine shots at school, and cut school that day to avoid needle stick. He did not win a Nobel prize.

Triple G

It’s hard to kick yourself when you’re in an iron lung, but I’ll bet he felt like it when he learned it was administered in a sugar cube.