Memory by Anne Wheelis

A long and bright memory of my mother is how she cared for me when I went to bed with rheumatic fever in the spring of my first grade in school. I didn’t eat a meal at the table until Christmas of that year. I was 6, Jeanne was a very active 4 year old, and Bill was an infant just five months old. I am amazed to think of how she juggled all that respon-sibility, kept up the regular household chores, and patiently cared for me. Mom home taught me through the end of first grade, and then worked with a visiting teacher in second grade. I was well enough to go back to school in the spring of second grade, but had a re-lapse, so back to bed again. I think I was in bed for almost a year in total. Mom and Dad made sure that I took part in family life. Daddy got a small mattress and put it in the wheelbarrow, and that became my bed and transport for the outside word. I could be wheeled anywhere to follow the action and be part of the neighborhood activi-ties. One of the effects of extended bed rest, at any age, is muscle atrophy. Mom learned the then controversial passive muscle rehabilitation devel-oped by Sister Kenny for the treatment of polio patients, and began daily pas-sive exercises of all the muscles in my arms and legs. This she did once or twice a day. I remember times when I would awake crying from the muscle pain, and Mom or Daddy would come to give me an alcohol rub. Although I was never physically talented in sports, I recovered from rheumatic fever with-out muscle weakness. I also have no discernable heart valve problems, which is another testament to the care that Mom gave me in those long and long ago days.
— Anne Yallalee Wheelis