Eisele, Rose M. - Linn County

Describe what you remember about the fear surrounding polio epidemics:

As far as I remember the subject wasn't discussed in front of us children. We lived in a small town that didn't have a pool and were allowed to play with friends as usual.

Tell us what you remember of the impact of polio:

My brother and I were diagnosed at the same time. I was in sixth grade and he was in fourth. My Father was a voracious reader and when we got sick on a Sunday night, he had the Dr. the next morning do spinal taps. This was on Oct. 31, 1946. We were hospitalized at the U of Ia. hospital and in quarantine for two or three weeks. No pillow, couldn't get out of bed, and everything that was sent to us was put through a sterilization process which usually messed them up. Both of us recovered, but have some post-polio symptoms.

Describe the reaction of your family and others you knew to the development of the vaccine:

By the time the vaccine was developed I was grown and had two small children. I was greatly relieved that they wouldn't have to face the possibility of having polio.

General Comments:

To this day I am amazed that my Father knew right away what was wrong with us. We had two other people in our small town who came down with polio a few days after us.