General Discussion

I had measles, chicken pox and the mumps. My family had 6 kids, we all got sick. My mom was terrified my teenage brother would become sterile because of me. (I was the one who first got sick with mumps, I was about 13.) I also remember the whole family years earlier, parents included, lining up in the cafeteria/auditorium to get our polio sugar cubes when they were first available.

I also remember my second grade teacher telling my class, how back when the small pox vaccinations were first available, people didn't want to take them because they were afraid they would turn into cows. We all laughed and then lined up to receive our small pox shots. Nurses were set up in the hall giving students small pox shots. In my class, only one student didn't have to because she had a family doctor and was already vaccinated.

I lived in the country, spent a lot of time on the bus, I can remember talking about scarlet fever and heart damage about a girl who had stopped coming to class. (She must not of had access to antibiotics.) After our polio vaccinations, we started taking small camping trips. I can only surmise, we didn't go camping earlier, was because of the threat of polio. Sorry for the long boring story.