Did Truman have GBS?
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April 25, 2007 at 12:10 pm
I’m reading the book “Truman”. On page 43 is this paragraph:
“…in early 1894, both he (Truman) and Vivian (his brother) came down with diptheria, and though Vivian recovered quickly, Harry took a dramatic turn for the worse. He became paralyzed in his legs and arms and could only lie helplessly. For months Matt (his mother) wheeled him about in a baby carriage, until abruptly. miraculously he recovered, and from that point on was seldom sick again.”
Harry would have been 10 years old at the time.
When I got this book off Ebay I didn’t realize it was 2 1/2 inches thick, over 1,000 pages and weighs about 4 pouinds I think. With my lack of strength I almost dropped it on my face while readin it in bed. It is a very interesting book about a very colorful man with an interesting way with words. Don’t want to view the movie til I finish the book.
Mari
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April 25, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Mari,
Im sorry, but I just had to giggle when you said you dropped the book on your face. I have done that too, I felt rather silly 😮 . Interesting about Truman, I had never read that before and I think I would love to read the book. Im sure you read the article about the possibility of Roosevelt having GBS, will past the link underneath my post. I went to Warm Springs with a fellow GBSer a few weeks ago, it was extremely interesting. I muttered under my breath the hole time about him probably suffering from GBS and not polio 😉 .
Cut and paste
www .gbs-cidp.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1017&highlight=Roosevelt
[B]Edit :[/B] They are the last few posts of the thread
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April 25, 2007 at 1:27 pm
From what I know of Diphtheria, it can cause paralysis and death.
My Dad’s sister Ruth died from Diphtheria when he was very small.
That had to be around 1932. She was 8 yrs old.
Diphtheria comes from a bacteria which is easily spread. It starts as a mild sore throat, then a membrane forms in the throat and can move down to block the windpipe.
It also spreads through your bloodstream as a toxin, which can cause paralysis, heart failure and death.
The D in DPT shots we get our babies is Diphtheria Vaccine.
Trudy, natesmom -
April 25, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Ali:
I’ve dropped a number of books on my face but none as big and heavy as this one. Guess I overestimated my strength. Had visions of a purple, green and yellow complexion! I usually read paperbacks as they are easier to handle. I’m not usually into history type books, some of the war facts go right over my head, but I’m really getting into this book. I usually read true crime and have all of Ann Rule’s books. Sounds gory but I had to have something really gripping to keep me on that bed every day. I do read other kinds. My apartment looks like the library! I would like to have done jury duty when I was called recently but knew I couldn’t manage that. Besides if they knew I read all these crime books I’d probably be the last person they’d want on a jury.Trudy:
Thanks for the info on Diptheria. I did not know that. Now I’ve got something else to look up. Wonder what I did before I got this computer!Mari
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April 25, 2007 at 4:25 pm
We had to go to horrible libraries and try to keep our kids quiet. LOL
I used to take my kids just to kill the boredom in the summer.
If you wanted to look up something like a medical condition, you had to rifle through hundreds of books before you found what you were looking for.
I’ll take my puter and Google anyday!
Trudy -
April 25, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Mari,
When I thought of the book falling, to be honest I did cringe a little just after the giggle. I can imagine the pain, OW 😮 .
Im having to deal with trying to get rid of all the books I have. Most of them I’ve read over and over again. But there are some books I will not let go of. Our library has a a section of books that have been donated that people can take without checking out and bring back, or not, when they have read them. I have taken most of mine there, it makes me feel less guilty – I hate giving books away. Now I try not to buy books anymore, just make several trips to the library to check out books. we should resurect the [I]’Book Recommendations'[/I] thread in [I]’On the Lighter side'[/I] again as I’m always looking for good books to read.
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April 25, 2007 at 10:21 pm
Ali
I forgot to tell you I did read that article on Roosevelt. Guess we’ll never know for sure but it sure sounds like a possibility that he had GBS.
I like the idea of the book recommendation.
I have about 12 books on the O.J. trial, several on the Scott Peterson trial, John Walsh’s books. Also “Among the Heroes” about 9/11.
If you want to read something very moving get Mitch Albom’s “Tuesdays with Morrie”. It is also a movie that has been on TV. He also wrote “The Five People You Meet In Heaven” that really makes you think about who that might be.
My son-in-law was born in Cuba and I thought the stories he told us about growing up were a bit far-fetched til I read “Waiting for Snow in Havana” Guess they really did tie razor blades to the kite tails to cut the competitor’s kite strings. And they threw a lot of rocks and fruit. No wonder they make good baseball players.
I also have a number of GBS books and especially like “Bed Number Ten” and Byron Comp’s book.
Mari
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April 27, 2007 at 1:58 pm
I was always told that he had Polio and the history books all say that, but it very well could have been GBS causing his paralysis instead of Polio. In that time period, GBS was not very well known but Polio was. It would be easy for his docs to just call it Polio.
Trudy, natesmom -
April 29, 2007 at 1:59 am
Trudy,
Did you read those articles on Roosevelt? On the old forums, before Marge passed on there was great debate on how, in an unreal world, if Roosevelts diagnosis was changed to GBS how great that would be for all of us, finally we would get more ‘recognition’. Of course we know that he had Polio ….. or did he????:D If by some odd chance he ever did have GBS, history books would never be rewritten. But it was always interesting to speculate. I wasnt implying at all that he really did have GBS, I found the article interesting and in a strange way made me feel akin to such a great man thinking that he suffered in similar ways to some of us.
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April 29, 2007 at 2:23 am
Mari,
I am going to resurrect the ‘Book recommendations’ thread In the “Lighter Side” section as I said earlier. Please join in with some more book suggestions 🙂
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April 29, 2007 at 1:14 pm
I cut and pasted the link but it doesn’t work for me. I did find this on a Google Search though.
Sounds like GBS to me too.
[url]www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/10/31/roosevelt.polio.reut/index.html[/url]
Trudy -
April 29, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Trudi,
Im sure that is the same article, even though I didnt check I know the one from the post is from cnn and was in 2003 🙂 . when I posted the link, I put a space between the www and the dot, I think thats why you were not able to get to the link, sorry. I need to pm compact disk and see how she posts her links so that it doesnt include the brackes and url.
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April 29, 2007 at 6:32 pm
When I highlight one like the one I put up, I don’t highlight the word url front or back and it works just fine.
Trudy, natesmom
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