Houston History of Medicine Society - My Experience of ... · 1/6/2016 · Houston History of...

Houston History of Medicine My Experience of Childhood Polio and Its Effect on My Life

January 6, 2016

My Experience of Childhood Polio and Its Effect on My Life

Date: January 6, 2016

Speaker: Caren Cowan

Abstract: Ms. Cowan is a polio survivor

Steve Greenberg, MD

00:20 Thanks for coming. This is really an honor for me to interview Caren Cowan who had a remarkable

life and a story to tell. This is about, anyways, a story of what happened in the past fifty or sixty years

with poliomyelitis. Most of the audience probably has not seen a case, an acute case of polio, in their

lifetime. Those of us who are old enough to have seen it understand what it can do. I thought before Caren

and I started going back over her experiences and her life, I'd just frame the story a little bit in the context

of the time and just remind you of some things that I think everybody either knows or should know.

Poliomyelitis was a scourge for centuries. And for thousands of years, it wasn't really decided to be a

virus and found to be a virus until the beginning of the twentieth century. And then over a period of time,

people tried to understand how we could develop vaccines to prevent it, but it took, at least, half a century

before that came to fruition.

One of the key architects of that whole enterprise was Franklin Roosevelt, who had poliomyelitis and

suffered from it. And Basil O'Connor, who was really the director of the National Foundation for Infantile

Paralysis, which was the name given for polio for many years and the development of the March of

Dimes and raising money for research. And so a lot of the research, up until the middle of the twentieth

century and the advent of NIH, really came through monies that were donated through the March of

Dimes. And they were instrumental in getting some of the funding done for the vaccines that were

implemented. The winners of the Nobel Prize in 1954 were these three gentlemen who, at Harvard, had

found a way to grow the virus outside of nervous tissue. And that turned out to be one of the—they got it

1954, but it was work they had done many years before. And that was important because now a vaccine

could be developed. And over a period of four to six years after this discovery, Jonas Salk and Sabin and

other people started to develop the vaccine.

http://www.polioplace.org/people/basil-oconnor

http://www.marchofdimes.org/mission/a-history-of-the-march-of-dimes.aspx

http://www.marchofdimes.org/mission/a-history-of-the-march-of-dimes.aspx

http://www.nih.gov/

http://www.salk.edu/about/history-of-salk/jonas-salk/

http://www.sabin.org/legacy-albert-b-sabin


January 6, 2016

02:39 Joe Melnick, who is the head of microbiology and biology at Baylor for thirty years, was

instrumental in this whole discovery of all the enteroviruses that cause polio and other similar syndromes,

but he actually turned out to be important because he developed a thermostabilized form of the oral

vaccine that was used in countries where they didn't have refrigeration. So it allowed the distribution of

the oral polio vaccine in the 1960s and 70s. It became very important for reducing the spread of the virus.

Jonas Salk is obviously an important person and did the vaccine trials for the inactivated vaccine in the

early 1950s. And I'll show you a curve of that. He went on to do other things in terms of starting the Salk

Institute in California, but he's best known for his work on the vaccine to develop polio. Albert Sabin also

was important because he developed the oral polio vaccine, which wasn't really brought into use

widespread until the 1960s.

So from the 1950s up until the beginning of the 1960s, it was really the Salk vaccine that really was used

in this country and other parts of the world. This was one curve looking at—and this becomes important

to Caren's story—even though the inactivated vaccine was used in trials, it was in 1954 and '55 that they

started. And as you can see, the rates of polio came down over a period of years, but there were still many

cases all the way through the 1950s in the United States. It took five to six years for those rates to be

reduced. And this is one just looking at what was the annual average number of cases in the United States

from '51 to '55 versus '61 to '65. It dramatically reduced. And that was true in other countries as well.

So the vaccine did have an effect, but you have to remember that in the 1950s there were still many cases

of polio. And it wasn't cleared for active cases of polio in the United States until the 1970s at that time in

terms of saying we're cleared of it. And now, there are only a couple countries that still have active cases

of polio and trying to get rid of those cases altogether. And this just shows you what went on, in terms of

the 1960s, still having cases all the way through 1967 at a low level. So Caren's story really starts in the

1950s right in the middle of all of this change. Even though the majority of individuals who get infected

with the virus really didn't have any trouble with it, 1 to 5 percent did and had all sorts of illness related to

that, which Caren will talk about. And even to this day, I don't think we know exactly why or what it is

that lead to some people having an asymptomatic infection and other peoples having much more

difficulties. That remains an open question at this time. So, Caren.

Caren Cowan

Hello.

Steve Greenberg

Hi. Thank you for coming. Remarkable story. Why don't we start at the beginning? You're a Houstonian?

Caren Cowan

I was born in Houston.

Steve Greenberg

And family was here at the time?

Caren Cowan

Yes.

https://www.bcm.edu/departments/molecular-virology-and-microbiology/about-us/history-of-the-department/joseph-melnick


January 6, 2016

Steve Greenberg

And what were you told or what do you remember about that initial episode of illness?

Caren Cowan

06:09 Well, I do not remember anything from the onset. I was told that I developed flu-like symptoms. I

was taken to the doctor and immediately rushed into isolation in the hospital and where I had no contact

with my parents. Once again, I was about eighteen months old.

Steve Greenberg

Which hospital was it?

Caren Cowan

I don't know the initial hospital.

Steve Greenberg

Initial? Okay. But once the febrile stage passed, I was treated at the old Jeff Davis Hospital which was,

for quite a while, a polio hospital.

Steve Greenberg

That's correct. And then you convalesced where?

Caren Cowan

Well, I convalesced there at the Jeff Davis. And then for rehab, I was transferred to a place called Wolf

Home.

Steve Greenberg

Which was a rehabilitation center?

Caren Cowan

Yes, yes. And I was taught to walk again. Before I learned to walk, I was taught how to fall safely.

Steve Greenberg

Fall safely?

Caren Cowan

Yes.

Steve Greenberg

I'd like to learn that now.

Caren Cowan

It is useful.

Steve Greenberg

Yeah. And you stayed there six months?

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Jeff-Davis-Hospital-several-Houston-houses-4996185.php


January 6, 2016

Caren Cowan

Approximately. I think so.

Steve Greenberg

07:34 And then returned home?

Caren Cowan

I returned home, continued having physical therapy three times a week for several years.

Steve Greenberg

Do you remember much about the physical therapy aspect?

Caren Cowan

I really don't. I just have heard stories about how difficult it was because I had a younger brother He was

born during this time period. He was carried along to all the physical therapy sessions as an infant. So my

mother had her hands full.

Steve Greenberg

So what age did the rehabilitation part of this appear to stop as far as you remember?

Caren Cowan

I seemed to have reached my maximum muscle recovery about the time I was four.

Steve Greenberg

Were you wearing braces at age five?

Caren Cowan

I was wearing braces from about the time I was two. I wore two long leg braces, and I used crutches. And

about the time I was five, I recovered enough muscle use in my right leg that I was able to walk without it

and went many years just on the one brace and the two crutches.

Steve Greenberg

You ended up going to private school first?

Caren Cowan

I was in private school my first—first through third grade just to assure my parents that I would make the

transition comfortably.

Steve Greenberg

And did you have any surgeries after that?

Caren Cowan

I had many surgeries.

Steve Greenberg

What kind of things did they have to do?


January 6, 2016

Caren Cowan

09:25 Well at the beginning, the primary concern was to make sure my legs were the same length because

with the difference of length that is very common with this can cause so many mechanical problems with

back and the joints and everything else. So my doctor, Paul Harrington, was very aware of problems

with—that followed with scoliosis and other back problems that this was his primary concern at first. And

when I was six, the first surgery—they went in and broke the bones in my leg in one place in—they did

the surgery. They didn't do it outpatient or anything. So I had a break above the knee and a break below

the knee just to stimulate the growth because without any—that leg, the left leg, is totally flailed. There is

absolutely no muscle capacity there at all, and without the muscle capacity, the blood flow, and then the

growth was going to be different. And so that was my first procedure. And there was a little problem with

the anesthesia.

Steve Greenberg

Yeah.

Caren Cowan

It took me about three days to wake up. So I thought it was wonderful because I didn't know how anxious

my parents were and the doctors and were concerned about my recovery. I woke up. Everybody was glad

to see me. And they gave me all the ice cream I wanted. So.

Steve Greenberg

And that was not atypical for individuals with polio getting anesthesia. They had a difficulty waking up.

Caren Cowan

I carry a card in my wallet that says that if I need emergency surgery, that I use about half the amount of

anesthesia, twice the amount of pain killers, and twice the amount of recovery time—so—what seems to

be what they figured out as the standard. My second operation was about probably four years later where

they did the same surgery again because it was very effective. And then about the time I reached puberty,

they closed the growth centers in my good leg because I had reached the full amount of growth I was

going to get in my left leg, and they wanted to make sure my legs were the same length. I gathered just

looking at my family history, I might have had—I'm pretty short. You can tell. But I might have had

another three inches just looking at my family. I came from a long line of short people.

Steve Greenberg

How many operations did you have by the time you were eighteen?

Caren Cowan

Probably seven or eight. There was one year where I had three in a calendar year. It was scheduled. None

of them were surprises. But I had to have some vascular surgery done because a previous surgery I had

had, they had some blood flow problems during surgery and then again after surgery. So they did a

sympathectomy to increase the blood flow to my left leg.

Steve Greenberg

And you then went from private school into public school?


January 6, 2016

Caren Cowan

I went in—in fourth grade, I went into public school, and I was very fortunate. I really don't remember

being the receiver of any kind of bullying or people making fun of me. I was very accepted. I couldn't

compete on the playground, but it was a neighborhood school where competing in the classroom seemed

to be a value that was shared by most of the families in the neighborhood.

Steve Greenberg

And this is in Houston?

Caren Cowan

This was in Houston.

Steve Greenberg

13:48 And did you have to have the surgeries during the summer?

Caren Cowan

I had a number of summers ruined.

Steve Greenberg

Yeah.

Caren Cowan

I missed other activities. I did have one summer where I was sent to camp, sleep-away camp. I think it

was a week. It was—

Steve Greenberg

A special camp?

Caren Cowan

Yes. And it really was not a good match for me. It was the Lion's Club at that time, and probably still

does, sponsors a camp for crippled children. And right away, the terminology was just something that was

very difficult for me to swallow. And I was much more able than the other campers. And—but regular

camps would not accom—

Steve Greenberg

Accommodate?

Caren Cowan

Acc—well, they wouldn't accept me because at that time I really didn't require accommodation. I was

very active on my brace and crutches and needed no assistance. I was very independent. I had a bicycle. I

would ride it with one leg, so I was pretty much off-balance—the other leg, I locked the brace so it would

stick out like this. And I would kind of just have it off to the side. The other leg would be pedaling

around. Needless to say, I never got rid of my training wheels. I was pretty off-balance, but I got around

with—I got around with the other kids and kept up. I do remember when I was in elementary school

skating, roller skating parties, were very popular. And, of course, I had to sit on the side and watch

everybody having fun and falling down. And after about the third party, I said, "This is ridiculous. I know


January 6, 2016

I can do this." And I went and I got one skate, and I put it on. And I used my crutches to push myself

around. And I was the steadiest person on the rink, you know? But the mother of the birthday girl called

my mother and the two of them freaked out, and I never did it again. So—

Steve Greenberg

You have a few pictures. You want to show a couple of those now?

Caren Cowan

Okay.

Steve Greenberg

Let's see. Here's lollipop mountain.

Caren Cowan

16:24 I did a little bit of publicity. This was a bank that had donated lollipops for the children who were

going to get the vaccines. And so this appeared in one of the Houston papers just advertising the vaccine

availability. And that encouraged people to get their children vaccinated. And then this is just a view, a

couple of views, you can see my equipment. And I think I was about three there just kind of looking at

my size. The older man was my dad. And you can see in this picture where I had the left leg locked so

that allowed me to put weight on that leg because otherwise it would just collapse.

Steve Greenberg

Who's the woman in the other picture there?

Caren Cowan

She's the little boy's mother.

Steve Greenberg

Okay.

Caren Cowan

This was my doctor, Paul Harrington. Can we go into that now?

Steve Greenberg

Sure. Yeah.

Caren Cowan

He really gets so much credit for many of the successes and the abilities I have been able to have during

my life. He treated me, but he also treated my whole family. And in terms—just—it was more of a

holistic sort of situation. I just have visions of—I remember sitting in his office and speaking with them

for an hour. We'd go semi-annually, get a check-up to see where I was, and he was very kind, spent a lot

of time with my parents on raising me and being independent And he—[cough]—excuse me. When I

needed surgery, I remember vividly where he'd sit me on his knee and draw pictures of what he was going

to do and what I should expect. And I always was well-prepared before I went into every surgery, and I

really didn't feel terribly afraid because he worked very hard to make me comfortable. And I knew he was

going to take good care of me. Sometime after the number of polio patients started dropping, he went into


January 6, 2016

a different interest treating scoliosis patients. And it was one of the reasons I used crutches all my life

was—even during the time where I really didn't need them—was to make sure that my back was strong

and straight. But I continued with him even though he was specializing in scoliosis patients. He kept a

dozen or two dozen polio patients that he saw our lives until he died. And he did all of my surgeries, and

the only problems I ever ran into is when I'd checked into the hospital for my surgeries, and they'd want to

prep me for those scoliosis operations. And they just didn't believe a fourteen-year-old knew what the

plans were. So—

Steve Greenberg

20:18 Dr. Harrington, for those who don't know that name, was one of the leaders in the field of the

surgery related to scoliosis, and the famous Harrington Rod was his development. He was a faculty

member at Baylor and was at Jefferson Davis and Methodist Hospital, a key person in the medical center.

A whole list of wonderful physicians and your experience bears up the kind of person everybody spoke

about in terms of his interaction with his patients, a real gentleman.

Caren Cowan

He really was.

Steve Greenberg

A wonderful physician. So after that you ended up going to public school.

Caren Cowan

I did.

Steve Greenberg

And you're—go to high school.

Caren Cowan

Here in Houston.

Steve Greenberg

The high school was—?

Caren Cowan

Bellaire High School.

Steve Greenberg

The Bellaire High School.

Caren Cowan

The Bellaire High School.

Steve Greenberg

Okay, for those of you that know the Bellaire High School. And what was that like being in high school at

that time? Where you using crutches then and walking around? Did you have a brace? How did the other

students view you?

http://www.houstonisd.org/bellairehigh


January 6, 2016

Caren Cowan

I was still using a left leg brace and my crutches. Carrying all my books around, my textbooks, was

something of a challenge. And we ended up checking out a set of textbooks at home and I had a set of

textbooks in the building so that at least I wasn't carrying them back and forth. But I was still climbing to

the third floor with my satchel of books. That was before people, students, had backpacks. And so

everybody just carried them in their arms except me. And I felt like I was very accepted. I was very

visible. And even to this day, my husband doesn't understand why I'm so surprised when people

remember me. And he says, "Well, you look different than everybody else." But that just never has been a

part of my consciousness. And I think, to some extent, that affected the way people saw me. And I was

active in the school.

Steve Greenberg

22:55 Class officer?

Caren Cowan

I was a senior class officer. In junior high school I was the president of the Student Council. I was used to

talking to people, in front of people, carried a full academic load.

Steve Greenberg

And then after graduating from Bellaire, you went off to college.

Caren Cowan

I did.

Steve Greenberg

At Washington University.

Caren Cowan

23:18 I graduated from Washington University.

Steve Greenberg

Your major was?

Caren Cowan

Mathematics.

Steve Greenberg

Why math—tell us about why mathematics. There must be a reason.

Caren Cowan

Well, I enjoyed math. I enjoyed the beauty of it. I enjoyed the solving, and the logic just was very

comfortable to me.

Steve Greenberg

At that time, computers weren't very available, so you learned a different kind of math?


January 6, 2016

Caren Cowan

Well, I did, but we did do, learn to do, a little bit of coding. But my father was a bit of a pioneer in the

computer history. And he'd been using computers since 1952. And we do have a story where some—a

package came in the mail—this must have—I was still in elementary school. And I was able to determine

from the packaging that it would be something interesting. And I opened it up, and it was a bunch of

plastic pieces and a few metal pieces. And I proceeded to put it together before my father ever got home.

And he had ordered this computer that could do binary functions, manual—it didn't have a motor or

anything like that. And he was rather disappointed that he didn't get to put it together.

Steve Greenberg

You graduated WASH U and what happened then.

Caren Cowan

Yes, I got married.

Steve Greenberg

Got married. And where did you meet your husband.

Caren Cowan

Well, we had—

Steve Greenberg

They all want to know this.

Caren Cowan

It will be in the tabloids tomorrow? We knew each other in high school. And we started dating right after

I graduated from high school.

Steve Greenberg

Okay, so—?

Caren Cowan

25:19 Three years later we got married.

Steve Greenberg

And then he went to law school.

Caren Cowan

He did in Dallas.

Steve Greenberg

And you followed him there?

Caren Cowan

I did. We were married. We liked being together.


January 6, 2016

Steve Greenberg

And after law school, you came back—?

Caren Cowan

We came back to Houston. We did.

Steve Greenberg

Okay and you had a position in Houston for some time with an oil company?

Caren Cowan

I did computer work, some financial modeling, for a couple of— mostly smaller oil companies. I also

worked for a big oil company.

Steve Greenberg

And had children?

Caren Cowan

We had two sons.

Steve Greenberg

And they're now grown?

Caren Cowan

They are grown; one's married.

Steve Greenberg

26:06 Tell us a little bit about how it was being a parent of young kids with your situation and what were

some of the problems that you faced?

Caren Cowan

Well, first I'd like to mention just a bit about my pregnancies.

Steve Greenberg

Oh sure.

Caren Cowan

I had normal pregnancies. And I did have to wear a corset to help support the babies because I did have

some abdominal muscle involvement. But we quickly found out that without a lot of muscle fighting, the

uterus really was able to push the babies out very quickly. And I had very short labors, easy labors. I was

lucky, healthy babies. But that nobody had told me to expect that, so it was quite a pleasant surprise. I had

talked with my obstetrician about epidurals. And he said, "Well, given your paralysis you probably need

to go talk to the anesthesiology group." So I went and I talked to the anesthesiology group. And we talked

about and we documented my paralysis because they were a little nervous working around my spinal

cord. And we got it—they fiddled. They agreed there would be no problem; I could have an epidural if I

wanted one. And it turned out on July—on the morning—the early morning of July 3, the anesthesiologist

came by to meet me. And my doctor was out of town for the holiday weekend. And all of the


January 6, 2016

anesthesiologists in the group that I had talked to were out of town. And this doctor did not want to touch

me and especially since my husband wrote down on my appli—when I registered—that his occupation

was a lawyer. And so we had some words and some raised voices on my part. And he finally agreed

because he was pretty sure I wasn't going to need an epidural. And I didn't. So just some of the little

obstacles.

Steve Greenberg

Any other obstacles once they're delivered, once you take them home?

Caren Cowan

Well, carrying them and diaper bags and purses and two crutches were sometimes a lot to keep track of. I

remember when our first child was about three weeks old, and I went for my followup checkup, and I

locked him in the car. I was a very panicky new mother, but it worked out. People came and helped me.

And we got him out before it was a problem. But because my use of the crutches was really not as much

for support as for just taking care of my back, I could have been seen walking around with my crutches

hiked up under my armpits so that I could use my arms to carry a baby. I had to train everybody who ever

came into the house to help that you could not calm our children by walking and jiggling them like most

people do because I wasn't able to do that. And so nobody was allowed to do that so the babies learned to

calm themselves differently, in a rocking chair or whatever.

Steve Greenberg

Respond to the voice.

Caren Cowan

30:17 Respond to the voice and the touch and that sort of thing, but nobody could walk with them. We

had—once they were walking and running, we had to train them not to run from me when—as children

tend to do—as entertainment. They think it's funny to run away when someone's chasing them, but the

fear that they would run into a street—we really worked very hard on a certain, using a certain tone of

voice of "Stop" that they learned to respond to.

Steve Greenberg

And that worked?

Caren Cowan

On the whole. But luckily everybody was safe.

Steve Greenberg

And are they in Houston now?

Caren Cowan

The younger son is in Houston. Our older son and his wife live in St. Louis. They—they are starting to

become very protective of me at this point in my life.

Steve Greenberg

What do you think about that? Do you like that?


January 6, 2016

Caren Cowan

I think—well—I do; it makes me proud of them that they're mature human beings, and they have

empathy.

Steve Greenberg

So we didn't talk a lot about your mother and your father in terms of that. How did they influence all of

your response to this illness?

Caren Cowan

Well, my dad had serious hearing problems from birth and was amazing in his overcoming. And he was

working on his PhD before he ever got a hearing aid. And so it was—you know, he really was an amazing

role model for me on how you deal with a disability. It—both of them had the attitude and shared the

attitude with me that it was my responsibility to be independent and to make things work. And my mother

worked very, very hard. I remember, or have heard stories, of in between physical therapy sessions she

would walk me around the block training—so that I'd have the right gait. If any of you have physical

therapy experience, there are different gaits that you use with crutches and whether you swing through or

whether you use—so you use both feet together or you use one foot first and then the crutches and the

other foot follows or you use one—one foot first then the other foot and then the crutches. And there were

different gates by different names and I had to learn them all and be able to do them automatically.

33:27 When you want to walk, you think, "I'm going over there," and your body does that. And when I

want to walk, I had to be taught to instantaneously go through the process. "Okay, you have to do this,"

and then make my legs respond. And so it was hours and hours of training as a small child. So for most of

my life, it seemed like I was able to do what you did because of all of that training. I was never allowed a

pity-party. That just didn't happen in our house. There was no saying, "I can't do that." And this was very

typical of people who had had polio because the recovery process required you to push your muscles and

to do things that seemed impossible.

And then when you got to the point where you just couldn't do any more, you still had to do more. And

so—and especially since I was so young learning this, it was really engrained to push and push, very

much a type A personality. Anything was possible. You could even be president of the United States even

if you had had polio. And that was the standard. And I was held to that standard as most polio survivors

were. It was an interesting when my mother died a few years ago, I got notes from some of the people I

grew up with. And they said, "Your mother seemed so strict and so demanding." And now that I'm a

parent, I understand so much and what she did for you.

Steve Greenberg

And how has it been, since she's gone now, in terms of you interacting with your own children in that

regard? Do you use some of the things she taught you in parenting?

Caren Cowan

Well, there are a lot of things I've tried not to do. And yet, I think all of us who've said that slip back into

those molds.


January 6, 2016

Steve Greenberg

Yeah.

Caren Cowan

Those things you say, "I will never say that to my children." You will. But hopefully we've set high

standards in terms of achieving everything that they are capable of.

Steve Greenberg

So in terms of your situation in terms of your medical condition now, how have things changed, or have

they changed? And when did you notice not going as well as they had been?

Caren Cowan

About thirty to thirty-five years after onset, I was diagnosed with what they were calling then post-polio

syndrome. I don't know what they call it now.

Steve Greenberg

Still.

Caren Cowan

Still that. I had been reading about it. It was occasionally in the paper. And it was—I think once a year—

they did a segment on the local news. Basically, all of those muscles that we were pushing and pushing

were suddenly failing and hurting, really hurting. And I had started with different doctors. And you go to

your local internist, or whatever, and they say, "Well, you have two small children at home. What do you

expect? You're going to be tired." And I knew that was wrong. I became aware of TIRR.

Steve Greenberg

37:40 Let me just—for those of you who don't know, this is Bill Spencer, William Spencer, who led

TIRR for many years, very important person in the history of the medical center and Houston and was

instrumental in bringing, at that time before it was TIRR, it was the Southwest Polio Foundation here.

And it really started out as rehabilitation for polio. And then over the fifties and sixties, it got converted

into the Texas Institute for Rehabilitation and Research and is internationally known for its work

including the post-polio syndrome. And then one of—many people here may have been a part of that, but

the post-polio syndrome, as you know, is worldwide. There are people worldwide who suffer from this.

And it's estimated that twenty-five to fifty percent of people who have survived an acute attack will come

down with this. Symptoms are just what you described: muscle weakness, pain in the muscles, fatigue.

Don't know why. Don't know—people have tried to sort out who is going to come down with it. There are

all sorts of treatments that have been tried but without much specific success. And one of the key people

in Houston, who's also been working on the post-polio syndrome before he passed away, was Carlos

Valbona who ran the post-polio center at the TIRR. And I think he interacted with you for many years.

Caren Cowan

Yes. Yes.

Steve Greenberg

Tell us about your experiences then with TIRR and that particular aspect of the post-polio syndrome.

http://tirr.memorialhermann.org/about-tirr-memorial-hermann/history-of-tirr-memorial-hermann/

http://tirr.memorialhermann.org/physician-directory/dr-carlos-vallbona/

http://tirr.memorialhermann.org/physician-directory/dr-carlos-vallbona/


January 6, 2016

Caren Cowan

Well, I had been in and out of TIRR, not as an inpatient, but using their physical therapy departments,

rehabbing after surgery. And so I was familiar with the setting. When I heard that they had started a post-

polio clinic, I went over there. And the diagnosis of post-polio involved using—doing an EMG on

muscles all over my body, which was, became, the longer—the more muscles they did, the more it

became excruciating. It was so many. But they did in fact verify that I had had polio, which we knew, and

that—so then they started treating the weakness and training me to conserve my energy. And that

included everything from getting a scooter, like this, so that I could continue working, continue going to

my children's baseball and soccer games.

I also had to be more aware of what activities I spent energy on and what activities didn't come to the

level of being that important. I had to change my attitude. I could no longer push myself. There was no

more type A personality. And that was a big change. That was—that took, all of these things, took a long

time adjusting and making a change in my lifestyle and the way I did things because I was always able to

do whatever I wanted. And I could make my body do it. Now, I could make my body do it, but I was

going to pay a heavy price in pain and exhaustion. I continued working for a number of years. And then I

went to part-time. And then I eventually took disability. And I just remember when I took the disability, I

slept for about six weeks, obviously not straight through, but ten, twelve hours a day I was sleeping. So I

had worn myself out so much it took me six weeks of sleeping to be able to resume some life activities. I

remember about a year after I stopped working, I walked into my closet, and I was like, "Oh my god,

everything in here is black. Everything I had bought and worn for a year is black." And so I really wasn't

in tune that whole time with how I was feeling, but I clearly was acting out.

42:49 So I spent my time on doing some volunteer work that I could control how much time. And when

that came to be too much, I started doing volunteer work that I could do computer work for people at

home. The whole process with the post-polio has been a series of downturns and then a plateau, which

may last a year or more. And then more deterioration and more plateaus. And it's been twenty years—

no— twenty-five years since I stopped working, that I've been dealing with the real deterioration. And so

now, I'm—I use a motorized wheelchair at home. I get to conserve energy. I can—I'm trying to conserve

the little bit of muscle use I still have in my right leg, which I still call my good leg. Now it's not so good

anymore. About two years ago, I had to go back to a brace on my right leg, which I hadn't had in sixty

years. When I go out, I use my scooter. I can walk across the room and back with my crutches without it

being a strain. But if I had had to walk around the medical school, I couldn't have done it.

Steve Greenberg

But your breathing's okay?

Caren Cowan

Thankfully, I was—I was—my breathing was never affected.

Steve Greenberg

Which is one of the problems that some individuals have.


January 6, 2016

Caren Cowan

Absolutely. They didn't have the respirators like they do now. And they were in iron lungs using the

negative pressure, possibly that's what.

Steve Greenberg

Yeah, yeah. Negative. And so—but before the deterioration in the last few years, you did an awful lot of

traveling too, didn't you?

Caren Cowan

I'm still doing traveling.

Steve Greenberg

Okay, tell us one of the places you have been.

Caren Cowan

Well, we have been on all seven continents.

Steve Greenberg

45:14 Antarctica?

Caren Cowan

Two years ago, we went to Antarctica.

Steve Greenberg

Have you been to the arctic too?

Caren Cowan

Well, we've been in Norway and Iceland.

Steve Greenberg

Greenland? Norway?

Caren Cowan

Greenland we found was a stumbling block. We couldn't do Greenland because you couldn't—well—it's a

long story, but that's how we ended up in Antarctica because we couldn't do Greenland. We have

become—we used to be—I have always traveled on our own because we need to accommodate my needs.

My husband is a whiz on making travel arrangements over the internet and finding places that are

accessible. We've got a number of friends who have traveled with us who were trying to convince him to

plan their vacations. And so we have done Europe extensively. We've been to African safaris three

different trips. I love that.

Steve Greenberg

Tell them the story—I enjoyed hearing the story about Singapore and all the issues related to that.

Caren Cowan

We lived in Singapore for two years. My husband's job took us there. And it's a very unaccessible—

inaccessible place. And it—the feeling I got was almost that that was on purpose, that I was not supposed


January 6, 2016

to go everywhere and be seen. The people, the local people, were very uncomfortable with my disability.

And I found this a lot in other parts of Asia. I went with some friends to Hong Kong for a few days. And I

couldn't take the subway which was the easiest way to get around. The taxi drivers would not pick me up.

And someone, Chinese descent, explained to me that I had the bad—bad luck. And so I could—they

didn't want to be—make contact with my bad luck because it could affect them and their family.

And so not knowing that and not being sensitive to that and needing a taxi, I would send a friend out, and

I'd kind of stand off to the side and get her to call the taxi. And she would get in, and then when I showed

up, they couldn't drive away. And I would get in. And they would take us wherever we needed to be. But

on the other hand, Singapore was a great place to travel from. It was—we—our children were old enough.

We were able to take them all over Asia and expose them, and enjoy ourselves, just meeting people in

different places, seeing the wonders of that part of the world. We just really enjoyed that part of it.

Steve Greenberg

48:28 Any thoughts for the physicians and the healthcare people in the audience in terms of interaction

between you and your physicians and you and healthcare individuals in terms of things that could help us

provide care to other people in a better way?

Caren Cowan

Be Dr. Harrington. Be Paul Harrington. Get a—and I know doctors don't have the kind of time they can

spend an hour with a patient now, but it was so important to my life and also my family to—for him to be

involved in not just my physical wellbeing, but also my emotional wellbeing and making sure that I was

set to be successful in life. I had a problem with my shoulder a few weeks ago. I'm now at the point where

I'm having those mechanical problems that come with a certain age and using crutches for sixty-three

years, sixty-two years. And I went to an orthopedist who had no background in post-polio—you know,

knows the basics that you can't exercise, you can't do—and he said to me, "I know how important your

arms are to you. So I will treat this maybe a little more aggressively than I would another patient because

you use your arms to transfer. You use your arms to walk." And so he saw me as a whole person, not just

my shoulder. That was so appreciated. It was just—try to be where your patients are that day at that time.

And it will mean a lot to them.

Steve Greenberg

So you've obviously had a great deal of resilience in terms of your own life. Any advice as to how—

where did it come from? Where did that spring from?

Caren Cowan

I think I was born with a positive personality. I think I was raised that you don't focus on what's bad that's

going on. There are people who have it a lot worse off than you do. And my mother would periodically—

when things weren't going the way I wanted them to, periodically we'd have to go visit the children in the

hospital and see really sick people, people who really are having a hard time. And so it's given me some

perspective, or it did as I was growing up. And I've had a wonderful life. I've been very, very lucky. I

have a wonderful husband who was able to, at the age of nineteen, to see me as more than just my

physical disability. I think that's just amazing. So I'm very, very fortunate.


January 6, 2016

Steve Greenberg

I know actually for everybody, this has been a wonderful hour, and really a remarkable person and a great

life as you say. [applause]

Caren Cowan

Thank you.

51:49 (end of audio)


January 6, 2016

A

anesthesia ....................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Antarctica .................................................................................................................................................................... 16

B

Baylor University ...................................................................................................................................................... 2, 8

C

Cowan, Caren ........................................................................... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

crutches ...................................................................................................................................... 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, 17

H

Harrington, Paul .................................................................................................................................................. 5, 7, 17

Harvard .......................................................................................................................................................................... 1

Houston, Texas ................................................................................................................................ 2, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14

I

iron lungs ..................................................................................................................................................................... 16

J

Jeff Davis Hospital ........................................................................................................................................................ 3

L

leg braces ....................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Lion's Club .................................................................................................................................................................... 6

M

March of Dimes ............................................................................................................................................................. 1

Melnick, Joe .................................................................................................................................................................. 2

N

National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, (NFIP) ...................................................................................................... 1

NIH ................................................................................................................................................................................ 1

Nobel Prize .................................................................................................................................................................... 1

O

O'Connor, Basil ............................................................................................................................................................. 1

oral polio vaccine........................................................................................................................................................... 2

P

physical therapy ................................................................................................................................................. 4, 13, 15

polio ....................................................................................................................................... 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 13, 14, 15, 17

poliomyelitis .................................................................................................................................................................. 1

post-polio syndrome .................................................................................................................................................... 14


January 6, 2016

R

Roosevelt, Franklin ........................................................................................................................................................ 1

S

Sabin, Albert .............................................................................................................................................................. 1, 2

Salk Institute in California ............................................................................................................................................. 2

Salk, Jonas ................................................................................................................................................................. 1, 2

scoliosis ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5, 8

Singapore ............................................................................................................................................................... 16, 17

Southwest Polio Foundation ........................................................................................................................................ 14

Spencer, William ......................................................................................................................................................... 14

St. Louis ....................................................................................................................................................................... 12

T

Texas Institute for Rehabilitation and Research, (TIRR) ...................................................................................... 14, 15

V

Valbona, Carlos ........................................................................................................................................................... 14

W

Washington University .................................................................................................................................................. 9

Houston History of Medicine Society - My Experience of ... · 1/6/2016 · Houston History of...

Documents

Transcript of Houston History of Medicine Society - My Experience of ... · 1/6/2016 · Houston History of...