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Show I rmaDil possible. But Shirley was adamant. Consequently I was slid out on the tray of my Iron lung. I began to gasp for air. The shell was fitted over the upper part of my body. Suddenly a blow of pressure hit my chest. . . . Then the pressure was released and air flowed into my starving lungs I couldn't talk at could first tolerate it for only a few I ... minutes. . me again. The Iron lung was closed over I felt I was safe once more. Day after day Shiriey and the nurse strapped the chest respirator on me. Slowly I began to lose a little of my fear. Finally, after a th battle, I was able to spend a whole night out of my iron lung, sleeping on for the first time in a year and a half. Just to sleep oh a bed again was a triumph to me. A special low cart was made and I could be wheeled around the house trailing behind the power unit for my chest respirator. Carolyn appropriated the foot of the cart as her special "horsie" and rode all over with me. With a battery-operatpower unit, I could be wheeled up a ramp and through the back door into our station wagon and see my city . . ... six-mon- a-be- d ed again. I had forgotten how green and beautiful it was. I was happy at first but a cloud began udY .rmimrmeF? merit of Dr. Kraft, we began to make concrete .. , plans. With Carolyn acting as my page turner, I began an intensive study of new professional books and pamphlets that had come out since polio had paralyzed me. I was determined to know everything possible about veterinary medicine. There were times when I thought I might end up with a veterinarian daughter as Carolyn learned to recognize some symptoms just from looking at the pictures and asking questions. Shirley did some studying also so she could act as my hands while I did the diagnosing. But the big hurdle was to get enough money to build some treatment pens behind the house where pets could be kept for a' few days. For surgery or labutests we would send them to the veterinary hospital I had been connected with earlier. I called a bank and discussed a loan with one of the officials. He suggested I drop in and talk to him. I explained that I was somewhat disabled so he agreed to come out to the house. He was flabbergasted when he arrived and found me a respirator patient. As it turned out, Dr. Kraft guaranteed the loan before the bank would make it. I could understand their feelings because I guess it's hard to assay the repay- - ment Value of a handicapped person's grim determination to succeed. And so the pens were built, I studied harder than I ever had at college and rehearsed the techniques I would have to use again and again. Our own dog got diagnosed so many times that I was afraid he would become a hypochondriac. Gradually I began to feci confident THERE were, no fireworks, no band, but on a sign went up in front of our house Dr. Fred Cummings, DVM. I was open for business at last. Now 20, 1052, I can stay out of even my chest respi- rator about three hours during the daytime and hope to gradually extend the period. In August, 1053, the National Foundation paid for a month's stay at the Hancho Las Aminos Respiratory Center In California. Here I received a complete evaluation of my case. As a result, I can spend my nights on a rocking bed Instead of wearing my chest respirator. You can't help but develop a new philosophy when you go through such an experience. I can give mine very briefly: Soma people who have become crippled tend to be. morbid. They paint the picture as one of overwhelming tragedy. To me, the tragedy lies not In the disability ItzzU though that is unfortunate but in the failure to accept and to cope with it. Why be and refuse to talk about ourselves; to consequently make other people uneasy around us? We must develop th3 will over-sensiti- ve I) i ) hy i f r i Dr. i i if i to live and to better ourselves. No one can smooth the whole path before us. We must do our share. SFtre! Ci . forming in my mind. I was a man once the breadwinner of my family. Financially, I had nothing. My father and the March of Dimes had paid the medical bills and were still carrying us. Shirley and I had started a magazine subscription service and it brought in a little money. I could take subscriptions over a special phone operated by a micro-switattachment moved by the toes on my left foot. But this was no work for a man with a family to support. Ever since the day I started recovering, had dreamed of returning to my veterinary practice. I was brought up on a farm and always loved animals. My favorite game as a kid had been to play animal doctor and take care of sick chickens, dogs, cats, calves even an old sow. As I grew older I never had but one idea and that wasto be a veterinarian. I was graduated from Colorado A&M in 1941 and hung out my shingle in Seattle. My childhood dreams had come true. r u tr 'As , ' ch xniiiiui Si!!'.. " J 7 l I had to find a way to start all over again. But how? Shirley and I made and discarded a hundred plans. I counted and recounted iny professional assets my years of practice and education, my diagnostic eye, my love for the work and tried to balance them off against my grave physical liabilities. We began to feel more hopeful. Then, in the summer of 1951, with the aid and encourage- - v V TVTOW "With o batftry-eptrefs- d unit, I could b whctltd up a ramp and through lH beck dssr Into evr ttsi'.sn wcjsn." |