COLUMN: The miracle of science

I don’t feel good. Mommy, my head and eyes and throat hurt. My forehead is hot? Don’t take my temperature! 103? Where’s my blankie? Again? 104? I need a blankie. Doctor? Hospital? Corning? It’s nighttime. Are those nuns or angels? They’re nice. They bring me water and put a cold cloth on my head. My throat hurts. Jimmy’s in the other bed? Why are you whispering? I’m hot all over! I just want to sleep. Water. Cold cloth. Sleep. What’s wrong with my feet? What’s the hurry? Why is Daddy grabbing me and putting a blanket around me? I don’t feel good. I can’t swallow very good. Home? Pajamas? My bunk bed feels cool. Three blankets. Dolly. Sleep. Bed for two weeks? In a dark room? No cartoons? No books? Just bed? Measles?

The confused memories of a sick 5-year-old kindergartener.

I was that 5 year old. The doctor thought Jimmy and I had whooping cough until we began breaking out on our feet and hands. I remember hearing something like, we “broke out on the inside first” being mentioned as causing the sore throat.

Who knows for sure; it was the late 1950s. Measles vaccines weren’t available and it rampaged through our kindergarten class, student by bus by family. Of the over 60 students in kindergarten that year, few escaped the “red measles.”

I don’t remember feeling worse anytime during my K-12 education. Measles made mumps and chicken pox a walk in the park.

In those days, all childhood diseases—mumps, chicken pox, measles, whooping cough were common. Most of us were lucky and didn’t have lasting problems. However, my eye sight has always been poor, and maybe that’s part of it because of multiple days with high temperatures.

As a parent, I was grateful that my daughter didn’t have to experience most of those diseases except for chicken pox.

The miracle of science.

Preschool and daycare weren’t common so there was less exposure. Parents sent children to play with others who had chicken pox or mumps to expose them. Who knew that chicken pox leaves a reminder in our bodies predisposing us to shingles later in life.

Mom had shingles twice and it painfully lasted weeks. Antiviral medicine wasn’t available. Because of childhood chicken pox, I had shingles on my head and face. Antiviral medicine stopped the progression. The two-shot version of the shingles shot caused short-lived reactions. It was worth it.

The miracle of science.

Our elementary school walked with a partner to the Villisca High School for a polio vaccine. Parents didn’t question the reason and were grateful. Friends or family members had been confined to an iron lung and might have suffered life-long crippling results. Their children would not.

The miracle of science.

Questioning vaccines is foreign to me. If available, I gladly receive it. I didn’t worry about giving a vaccine to my only child or encouraging her to do the same for my only grandchild. It was available. Take it.

The miracle of science.

I understood COVID similarly. I celebrated access to the vaccine after friends had it and one died before vaccine was available. With every booster, I think “Shoot me up, Doc.” Knock on wood. I haven’t tested positive or had COVID. The impact of long COVID is yet determined.

When it comes to health decisions, trust doctors and medical science. Whispering in my ear is the memory of a 5-year-old reminding me of the miracle of science and vaccines.

She’s been through some things and thanks the miracle of science.