My stay in isolation did not not last too long. They discovered that people were coming and going from my room and not coming down with any terrible diseases! It was fabulous to be moved out of isolation and into a regular room where I could sometimes talk with other boys. There were no TVs or ipods so I kept myself occupied reading, talking with others and fantasizing about walking again.
I was very fortunate to have many Aunts and Uncles living in Grand Junction. It seems like someone came up nearly every day. My family friends were also frequent visitors and visitors provided me with the best medicine on the road to recovery.
My Doctor was Dr. Dunn. He was a big, jovial man with a heart of gold and it was always good to see him-even though he asked me the same question every day ; Can you move your toes? Frankly after weeks and months of this I grew tired of this question. Unbenounced to me, my physicians had diagnosed me with post-measles myelitis. Long story short-they determined that the measle virus had attacked my spinal column and had literally blown out some of the nerves in the central nervous system. Nerves in the CNS do not regenerate but they were not sure of the extent of the damage. So, they now believed that I might get some movement back!!
I recall spending countless, lonely hours trying to get those silly toes to move. I would tell them to move and try to move any portion of my legs-but nothing happened. Good old fashion depression was starting to set in. I just wanted to go home. I missed my family, the smell of a home cooked meal on Sunday and the warmth and comfort of my own bed.
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