Polio Place

A service of Post-Polio Health International

relationships

Building Bridges

Nancy Baldwin Carter, BA, M Ed Psych, Omaha, Nebraska is a polio survivor, a writer, and is founder and former director of Nebraska Polio Survivors Association.

At first she irritated me. A relative newcomer to a literature study group I attend was heading my way, and I didn’t want to deal with her. The previous week she had given me a condescending pat on the head as she threw a bit of baby-talk at me, a common reaction of some folks when they first encounter a person with a disability, and I didn’t want any more of that.

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Support Group Dysfunction

From the series, Polio Survivors Ask, by Nancy Baldwin Carter, B.A, M.Ed.Psych, from Omaha, Nebraska, is a polio survivor, a writer, and is founder and former director of Nebraska Polio Survivors Association.

Q: I am 58 years old and I attended a support group meeting recently. I will never go back.

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Married 52 Years with Medical Problems

From the series, Polio Survivors Ask, by Nancy Baldwin Carter, B.A, M.Ed.Psych, from Omaha, Nebraska, is a polio survivor, a writer, and is founder and former director of Nebraska Polio Survivors Association.

Q: My wife, who had polio, and I are in our late 70s and have been married for 52 years. We had our interactions down pat until we both started having medical problems. Do you have any ideas on how to keep the problems from overwhelming our relationship?

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Can't Care for My Wife Like I Used to Do

From the series, Polio Survivors Ask, by Nancy Baldwin Carter, B.A, M.Ed.Psych, from Omaha, Nebraska, is a polio survivor, a writer, and is founder and former director of Nebraska Polio Survivors Association.

Q: I have been my wife’s attendant for many, many years. I am getting older and can’t do what I used to do, but it is still expected of me. How I can broach this topic, without her feeling like she is a burden to me?

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A Sister Remembers

Mary Navarre, OP

When Joan L. Headley, the Executive Director of the Post-Polio Health International, asked me to be on a panel of family members of polio survivors at the convention in St. Louis, I was hesitant to do so as it was, and still is, difficult to talk about my life with my sister who contracted polio at the age of 6 – and even more so to speak about her death four years ago at the age of 64.

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Coping

Indicators of coping were first described by Beatrice Wright (1982). Coping individuals focus on what they can do, rather than on what they cannot do; play an active role in their lives, rather than respond as passive victims; and participate in areas of life seen as worthwhile and meaningful. Problems are perceived to be manageable, rather than overwhelming. Personal problems are not kept at the forefront of their attention.

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Positive Attitudes

A positive attitude about health and wellness is maintained by becoming an active participant in one’s health care, planning an individualized program, accepting the fact that some aspects of life will change with age, and believing one can control one’s health.

Attributes relevant in maintaining a positive mental attitude include:

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