The Secrets That People Keep

Have you ever kept a lie so long you forgot the truth? As my mother got progressively sick she went to her family to see if she had any health issues as a child she wasn't aware of. The reply was always no. Then one day after her mother died, my dad received a call.
It was my mother's aunt. She thought he should know that mom had had polio when she was 5. They had not tried to keep it from her on purpose they had just forgotten. It was such a stigma at the time they had hid it the best they could from everyone.
At it's peak in the 1940s and 1950s polio would paralyze and kill over a half a million people a year. Few of us know how great the affect was on people in society at the time. People lived in constant fear that they would be next to someone with the disease and/or contracting that.
If there was an epidemic outbreak, public places were closed and people were cut off from contact with one another. Swimming pools were closed. The 1946 Minnesota State Fair was canceled to reduce the spread of polio. Rumors suggested polio was caused by bubble gum. Which to a certain point was true.
I am not clear how long my mother was in the hospital with polio. I do know she spent time in an iron lung. For those who are to young to know the term, it was used for administering prolonged artificial respiration by means of a mechanical pump. Which explained her claustrophobia she had endured all her life. With her dementia it was even worse. She also had multiple surgeries.

an iron lung.

All this experience at the age of 5 faded into a dream for my mother. And by the time it was a reality, 14 years into a 'mystery illness' it did her no good. In the early ages of post polio syndrome proper treatment can usually make life bearable. Not knowing what was wrong with her, aggressive treatments were done. They started radiation, chemo, and when her immune system gave out completely immune globulin therapy. All in the hope of saving her from getting worse. And at times she would do better for short periods of time

Then came the deluge of medications as more and more problems arose. At one point so many she was unable to communicate with us and barely moved. We thought it was the end. The next day my dad went to her doctor and demanded she be  taken off of everything except what was necessary. Within weeks my mother was back to herself. It didn't last forever but she at least seemed alive.

My aunts call was 14 years too late. It explained many things about my mom. It could not help her though. She had a CT scan at 46 that showed she had the brain of a 70 year old. At 56 she was gone.

My mom and her sister

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