<P> In September 1949, Peg collapses at her school in Austin, Minnesota . She goes home with a high fever, and around midnight, she starts to vomit . Her parents take her to the hospital where she is diagnosed with three different kinds of polio . She spends a little time at Sheltering Arms before she is transferred to University Hospital because she needs a respirator . Peg is placed under an oxygen tent to help her breathe a little easier . After a few days, she is allowed to move out of isolation but all of the things in her room are burned because they may contain the virus . Her new room has a roommate named Tommy who is put into an iron lung . Peg reads to him when she's feeling better, and they listen to The Lone Ranger . Every day, she changes the hot pack part of the Kenny treatment to hot baths instead . After she starts to recover, the so - called Mrs. Crab does the stretching exercises . After Peg improves, she is moved back to the Sheltering Arms hospital where she rooms with four other girls who have polio, Dorothy, Shirley, Alice and Renee . </P> <Ul> <Li> Peg: Main character and narrator of the story, diagnosed with polio . </Li> <Li> Karen: Peg's best friend at school </Li> <Li> Tommy: Peg's hospital roommate at University Hospital, in an iron lung . </Li> <Li> Renee: Sheltering Arms roommate, who goes home for Christmas . </Li> <Li> Shirley: Sheltering Arms roommate, who has the worst polio . </Li> <Li> Alice: Sheltering Arms roommate, who has been there for ten years . Her parents didn't want to take care of her because she was so badly crippled, and she became a ward of the state . </Li> <Li> Dorothy: Sheltering Arms roommate, who longs to be in leg braces to go home . She is able to return home, because her family builds her a ramp . </Li> <Li> Mrs. Crab: Peg's physical therapist at University Hospital, whom Peg doesn't like . She gives her Torture Time: hot packs and stretching . Peg highly disliked her . </Li> <Li> Art: Peg's older brother whom Dorothy adores . Art is a college student . </Li> <Li> Dr. Bevis: Peg's doctor at University Hospital . Peg promises to walk for him one day . </Li> <Li> Miss . Ballard: Peg's physical therapist at Sheltering Arms that Peg is very fond of and she is also very good friends with Pegs parents . </Li> </Ul> <Li> Peg: Main character and narrator of the story, diagnosed with polio . </Li> <Li> Karen: Peg's best friend at school </Li>

Small steps the year i got polio chapters