I Never Looked Back
By
Gerry Niskern

No Vaccines! Lets take another look at l957 again!

When my five year old daughter dashed out and climbed into the Kindergarten van back in September, l957, I envisioned her bringing home lots of interesting things to show me and her little brothers. I was happy for her. It was going to be a great year.
Well, She brought things home all right. The first thing was Chicken Pox. First, she gave it to Mark her little three year old brother. Three weeks later the baby broke out. Kathy and Matthew, the new baby, only had a few pox, but Mark, the three year old, was totally covered. He became so sick with a 104 degree fever that we rushed him to St. Joes emergency one night and the ER doctor explained: “ when kids get this covered they have as many inside as outside!” Baby aspirin and trips to the doctor became our new lifestyle.
Next Kathy came home with the Red measles. The brothers caught it several days apart. Just as the first child was feeling better, the second one would come down. And so it went, week after week.
Later around Christmas time we took time off from our schedule of having all the childhood diseases to fit in the Asian Flu. In l957 the Asian flu emerged, triggering a pandemic. The whole family had that; me and Ken too. By that time I hadn’t slept for months, at least it seemed that way. Their daddy was trying to help, but still had to get to work every day.
Everybody, baby included, finished up with a case of Strep Throat in time to celebrate Easter. We had the usual Easter egg hunt at the crack of dawn in our yard to see what the Bunny had brought, then church, and afterward a visit to one set of grandparents for lunch. Of course, later we were expected for the rest of the day at the other grandparents.
I had developed a touch of Bronchitis and suddenly that holiday evening I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I started to panic and hyperventilate and managed to partially paralyze myself. Ken hurried me down to Good Sam and they called our family doctor who had been our constant companion thru that winter; so wouldn’t he want to join us on Easter too?
The nurses got me calmed down a little and then I saw Dr. Craig striding quickly down the hallway, the overhead lights glinting off his glasses. I kept saying over and over to him, “tell them what’s been happening!”
He pulled out his Lucky Strike, lit up, and glanced at the chart. He took one look at me and said “ Get her a private room.” Then he turned to Ken and said,
“She’s staying here for a while and getting some rest. Don’t let anyone know she is here, except her mother.”
I stayed five days in my own room in a blissful blanket of quiet and did nothing but sleep. A huge, ‘Mother of all vaporizers’ murmured soft puffs of moist air beside my bed as I slept. When Dr. Craig came to sign me out I remember him muttering to himself, between drags on his cigarette as he slowly studied my chart, “Lets see. How can I word this so the guys in the ivory tower will cover it?”
When my frazzled young husband came to take me home that morning he whispered to me, laughing, “ I’ve got to tell you this. When I was trying to talk to Kathy and Mark about you, and explaining that they should try to not aggravate you, Mark said, “But daddy, she’s the mom and if we want to aggravate her, we can aggravate her.”
I got home just in time for Kathy’s next big surprise. I noticed her jawline looking strange. As time went by I realized she was swelling up with the mumps. And of course, right on schedule, a week or so later Mark started swelling and then Matthew the baby. More sleepless nights with high fevers and lots of baby aspirin all around.
Bit the fevers weren’t going down. Guess what. The German measles had joined the mix. More days and nights of very sick kids.
Then days later as I was giving my very busy mother a “triage” report, I mentioned that everyone’s fever was gone and they were all playing and seemed okay; just a little funny looking with swollen, rash covered faces. “Their daddy says we have three ‘purple-people-eaters’!
I received a surprise call from Mom the next morning, a Friday. “Pack a suitcase. I’m coming over this afternoon and when Ken gets home you two take off and don’t come back till Sunday evening. The kids will be fine with me”.
When she arrived I “hit the door running” and never looked back.