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In reply to the discussion: I was a child in a time before there were vaccines for most [View all]appleannie1943
(1,303 posts)I remember iron lungs, my baby brother almost dying when he got measles and chicken pox at the same time. He was two. My mom sat in a rocker holding him for 4 days putting cold wet washrags on the back of his neck and top of his head one after the other while we took turns bringing her more bowls of cold water and emptying the ones that were warm. His temp was so high he barely moved, slept mostly and every once in a while would whimper. When my dad got home from work, he would take over from mom so she could take a nap. Both were terrified he would either die or have damage to his brain. Both of those things were common.
Measles is the only disease I remember as a child. I was so sick and my head hurt so bad it is seared into my memory. My eyes even hurt and everything that was white, like the bathtub, looked yellow instead. I was in bed over a week.
I don't remember the mumps or the chicken pox but know I did have mild cases of both.
Everyone had to get vaccinated for small pox before they were allowed to start school. My aunt had them do mine on my leg. She had a huge scar on her arm from hers, about the size of a silver dollar and did not want me to have one.
I dated a boy that had braces on both his legs from polio. Newspapers listed how many people contracted it and how many people died each year from polio and all the childhood diseases.
I remember standing in line in school to get my polio shots. I was in sixth grade for my first one and middle school for the other two. Everyone was overjoyed and no one complained about their children getting them.