Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio

By the next day, Peg can swallow orange juice and broth, and soon she can eat soft foods. Her chart continues to say, “NO MILK,” but whenever she asks for a milkshake, she gets one. Soon, Peg can swallow and breathe more easily, her deep aching pains go away, and the muscle spasms stop. Her favorite doctor, a young blonde intern named Dr. Bevis, removes the oxygen tent to see if Peg can breathe on her own without it, and she can. Peg is overjoyed when the nurses remove the threatening iron lung from Peg’s room, and the next day, the oxygen tent is removed as well. Shortly after, Peg moves out of isolation and is finally able to go through the dozens of get-well cards and gifts from family and friends. However, the nurse collects them to have them burned, in order to ensure that the virus doesn’t spread. Peg throws a fit, especially when they take away and burn the bear that Art gave her.

Peg is moved to a new room, which she shares with a small, 8-year-old boy named