Scoliosis metal rods attached to a plastic or leather girdle, designed to straighten the spine. As a result of the constant pressure the brace inflicted on a patients' spine, it was particularly painful and inconvenient to wear due to physical limits it imposed. Wearing the brace was known to cause jaw pain, skin irritation, muscle pain and low self-esteem among patients. The 'Harrington rod' technique was the second major treatment for scoliosis to emerge and became the first significant surgical procedure to manipulate spinal positioning. This treatment was initially developed to treat paralytic scoliosis that resulted from the polio epidemic of
The Gifts of the Body the patients and the caregiver. The book contains ten short stories, the titles of each being associated with "gifts" which are various functions of the body, both physical and emotional: sweat, wholeness, tears, skin, hunger, mobility, death, speech, sight, hope, and mourning. The caregiver experiences each "gift", as he/she deals with patients who have AIDS, showing the different shared relationships in each case. Each patient is a distinct case, differing in terms of age, financial situation, attitude toward the illness etc., showing the reader that this disease affects all types of people. The book is written in the "no-frills style"