His son’s brush with testing for COVID-19 reawakens fears stemming from a dimly remembered CT scan in a Tennessee man’s youth. Will our own children remember today’s fears in generations to come? John Gullion shares his thoughts in an editorial in the Morristown, Tenn.-based Citizen Tribune:
I remember the feeling on the floor when a girl my age died of spinal meningitis just down the hall.
I remember sitting in a wheelchair in a dark room, waiting for a test – maybe the CT scan. The technician left me alone for a few minutes to get things ready and I remember being alone and cold and frightened.
When the technician came back, I was crying. I wondered if I was going to die, I remember that.
They never figured out what was wrong with me that summer 33 years ago, a virus that caused inflammation in my spinal cord. They treated me with steroids and the problem went away and never returned.
That memory came flooding back Friday as I experienced it again, this time from the outside, looking at a scared little boy.
Read more in the Citizen Tribune.
