“Promoting Positive Solutions,” Post-Polio Health, Volume 29, Number 3, Spring 2013 Question: I am a 79-year-old male who had mild polio. At every annual medical visit, my doctor urges me to manage my stress and feels strongly about meditation. I have tried it and don’t like it. Sitting in a room, closing my eyes focusing on my breathing feels boring, and I …
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Frightened of Cortisone and Surgery
Post-Polio Health, Volume 29, Number 2, Spring 2013 Ask Dr. Maynard Frederick M. Maynard, MD Question: Several years ago my right ankle muscles gave out after a cortisone shot. I wear a brace to steady this leg. Now, after two bad falls, my left hip will need replacement. My current orthopedic physician wanted to give me a cortisone shot, and I …
EMGs
Post-Polio Health, Volume 29, Number 2, Spring 2013 Ask Dr. Maynard Frederick M. Maynard, MD Question: I am posting this question for my husband who had polio at age 2. He was affected quite seriously and was not able to stand on his own. He recovered completely, and now at age 52, is seeing signs of post-polio syndrome (PPS) that include …
Slow Healing
Post-Polio Health, Volume 29, Number 2, Spring 2013 Ask Dr. Maynard Frederick M. Maynard, MD Question: I scraped and cut my leg that is most affected by polio. It has not healed after two months. (I am not diabetic.) My family physician is sending me to a wound clinic. What can I expect at the wound clinic? Have you seen slow healing …
Losing Speech
“Promoting Positive Solutions,” Post-Polio Health, Volume 29, Number 2, Spring 2013 Question: I am a 62-year-old happily married mother of two. I have a history of bulbar polio and have started speech therapy for new swallowing difficulties and problems with vocal endurance. Thus far, I have been able to adjust to every change brought on by post-polio syndrome, but this new change …
A Gentle Death, Part II
Part II of a three part series published in Post-Polio Health, (Volume 29, Number 3) in 2013. Nancy Baldwin Carter, BA, MEd Psych, Omaha, Nebraska Surely we don’t need studies to prove that planning ahead is a good idea, yet plenty of them exist, even when it comes to end-of-life issues. The goal, of course, is to assure that a patient’s medical …
A Gentle Death, Part III
Part III of a three part series published in Post-Polio Health, (Volume 29, Number 4) in 2013. Nancy Baldwin Carter, BA, MEd Psych, Omaha, Nebraska At the far end of the end-of-life spectrum lies palliative care, a set of services created to benefit the chronically ill. In fact, it’s so far from the end that, at times, it may not appear …
“They just want me to be like I was.”
Post-Polio Health, Volume 25, Number 4, Fall 2009. Dr. Stephanie T. Machell is a psychologist in independent practice in the Greater Boston area and consultant to the International Rehabilitation Center for Polio, Spaulding-Framingham Outpatient Center, Framingham, Massachusetts. Her father is a polio survivor. Question: I am getting weaker and my friends and family encourage me the find “the answer” and get …
Tired Husband: Guilt and Talking about It
Post-Polio Health, Volume 25, Number 4, Fall 2009. Dr. Rhoda Olkin is a Distinguished Professor of Clinical Psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology in San Francisco, as well as Executive Director of the Institute on Disability and Health Psychology. She is a polio survivor and single mother of two grown children. Question: “I recently attended PHI’s 10th Conference in …
Rebuff My Attempt to Help
Post-Polio Health, Volume 26, Number 1, Winter 2010. Dr. Rhoda Olkin is a Distinguished Professor of Clinical Psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology in San Francisco, as well as Executive Director of the Institute on Disability and Health Psychology. She is a polio survivor and single mother of two grown children. Dr. Stephanie T. Machell is a psychologist in …