I
y
ILLUSTRATION BY RICHARD GREEN
The car struck Mary's bicycle,
but, despite her injuries, she
pedaled home without a murmur.
-3 -AT 4 Alv I W M V A Jl ' 5 "
That's when a child is most active and careless. Even more
frightening is the fact that this is the period when other
children pose an overwhelming problem.
A doctor told me of a little boy of 5, brought to him in
pitiful condition. Bones were broken in his left foot. Both
arms were covered with blisters. There were cuts and bruises
on his body.
His little friends had discovered he didn't cry when he cut
himself or got hit by a stone. Fascinated, they stuck the boy
with pins, pinched him till he was black and blue, burned
his arms with matches. Finally, an older girl dropped a
heavy stone on his foot. And because he was "different,"
he's going to be a cripple for life.
Since learning of her unique condition, Mary has become
a "new person" to me. I used to think she was being stub
born when she didn't cry if we spanked her. And I often
wondered how she and Alice could be so different. Mary
always took Alice's howls of pain with what I thought was
a "hard" indifference. "It doesn't hurt, what are you scream
ing about?" she'd say when they got injections.
Her condition also explains why she is so much more "dar
ing" than her older sister. Mary will attempt anything and
usually excels in whatever she tries, particularly in sports.
The rest of us are definitely on the cautious side. Now I real
ize that she has never felt our need of caution because
she's not afraid of being hurt the way we are.
Mary, of course, doesn't feel she's "different" from other
children. Never having felt pain, it's as difficult for her
to imagine what it's like as for someone born color-blind
to imagine what "red" and "yellow" are. To Mary, things
she touches, or that touch her, are hard or soft, smooth or
rough, and so on. If she touches the point of a pin in the
dark, she knows it's a point because it feels so small.
This was not at all clear to me until the doctor explained
that the sense of "pain" is entirely different from that of
"touch," that we have more than five senses and that the
sense of "pain" is an extra one.
The cause of insensitivity to pain isn't yet known. But
since the sense of pain is lacking all over her body, not
just in a localized area, doctors believe the network of nerve
fibers and endings is all right that the trouble lies in some
part of the brain itself.
I had never heard of "painasymbolia" before I met Dr.
Reuben. But since then, strangely enough, cases keep crop
ping up. A doctor tells of a man who's been coming to him
for years with this condition. An old friend suddenly remem
bers a relative who was "like that"
And, Dr. Reuben explained, many cases may pass un
noticed simply because the children die often because of
this very condition before anyone is aware of it. That's
why if a child of yours doesn't cry easily under conditions
that would seem to be painful, don't decide he's just plain
"stubborn" or "brave." It's not pleasant to find this condi
tion in a loved one, but once the condition is recognized the
risk can be considerably reduced.
Frequent and regular checkups are imperative, and they
must be thorough. Teeth, ears, throat, lungs, heart every
thing must be periodically checked to make sure a nor
mally "painful" condition doesn't exist
X rays will show whether any bones are splintered, or
reveal hidden growths. And of course the family should
take careful note of any unusual swellings, and see that a
doctor examines them at once.
Today if Mary even hints that she isn't feeling just right,
she goes to the doctor immediately for a blood count and
checkup. He has warned us that to take chances is to gam
ble with her life.
- Painlessness has its blessings as well as its dangers. Mary
might easily live to be 90 and be very happy, as well as free
from pain. While if she were "normal," she'd suffer pains
which all the rest of us suffer in the normal course of liv
ing. So in spite of my concern for her, I sometimes wonder
whether Mary didn't get the better part of the bargain.
Family Weekly, January 31. 1960
13
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Backache 6
Nerve Tension
SECONDARY TO KIDKET ROTATION
MXW YORK Special: Thanks to new,
scientific laboratory formulation, thou
sand of men and women now escape
feelinc old. tired. Irritable and depressed
from lostns sleep and worryine about
"Bladder Weakness" Oetttna Up Nltbta
or Bed Wettlna. dm to common Kldner
or Bladder Irritations, which often re
sult In secondary Backache. Headache
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Ins relief by combatlne irritatina eerms
In acid urine: and by relaxing, analaesle
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