Sicknesses Abound
David had been puny, dragging his feet a lot for a few days. One night, he was sicker than he had ever been. The last few days, he’s had a dry cough, headache, fever, and muscle pain, along with some weakness and finding it more difficult to breathe. Looking at his fingernails while he slept, they were a bluish-gray color. All I could think was, “LORD, don’t take my brother too.”
“Emma, there is no more Ross or I can do. David is in the Lord’s hands and mercy now.” Papa told me.
I refused to stand by while my little brother succumbed to pneumonia. “What would mom do?” I asked myself. The Indians boiled Pleurisy Root and gave it to their people. What else did they use that we have? “Dear God, please clear my head.” I prayed. God reminded me they also used honeysuckles and dogwood for respiratory issues. Except I had no dogwood berries or flowers. I can use the bark off some soldier’s firewood. I’ll make an infusion.
“Emma, where are you going?” Papa asked me as I scurried around late that afternoon. I was rushing to get some honeysuckle extract from my herb chest, and I asked Papa to please find me some old dried dogwood. A freshly cut tree would upset his stomach. Ross grabbed us something to cut it with. Papa returned quickly with a piece of dogwood as Ross followed behind him with an ax. I took the ax and cut the wood into tiny pieces. Afterward, I steeped one tablespoon of bark in a pint of water for 30 minutes over our fire, then strained it with a part of thin cloth into a cup. I added a dab of extract. We sat up through the night while I administered David’s treatment of half a cup every two hours. By morning, we started seeing improvements. It looks as if we have defied death once more through God’s merciful grace.
Ross said I was quite the hero, but I only cared about saving my brother. It wasn’t long before David and I were goofing around and acting like siblings again.
But for a few days, I feared we would lose him.
Counting the epidemics from dysentery, pneumonia, typhoid, measles, smallpox, chickenpox, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and mumps to malaria within the camps, I’m surprised anyone is still alive.
Many here are more comfortable with the wounded than the sick. Some men hold to the idea God intends to kill us all off, “every bloody one of us,” as some say. However, Papa believes it’s the conditions we live in, crowded, and malnutrition.
Usually, I handle the cleaning and wrapping of the wounds. Still, as a nurse, I have to deal with infestations of maggots and lice, among a lot of other things. Not doing my studies in an academic setting causes people to frown on my education in the medical field. I have the proper training, but some thoughtless and unknowing soldiers call me a handmaid. When I get married, I think I’ll pursue researching herbs and become an herbalist. I have already started recreating some of mom’s recipes within her book.
I couldn’t help expressing my thoughts out loud yesterday as Ross watched me prepare dinner. “Ross, neither medicine nor prayers have stopped the advance of these pestilences. Maybe this war and these illnesses that plague us are God’s judgment upon us all.”
“I’d have to agree. Michael knows this is true, too. Despite the natural things we can improve within the camps, it is still all in God’s hands. I’m just thankful the Lord spared your brother.”
“So, is Papa wrong about the crowding and malnutrition being at least partly to blame?”
“Well, those two things don’t help the situation any. Your Papa is right in the fact God is not trying to kill everyone, or we’d all be dead by now. Still, the Bible talks about war and pestilences being judgments of God throughout the scriptures.”
Exhaustion, dehydration, sunstroke, allergies, and scurvy also contribute to the sick and dead within the camps. Then in the winter, people often suffer from frostbite, whooping cough, and a mystery illness that we call the ague. It brings on fever, chills, and fatigue. Some of our sick get sent to hospitals or even home on leave.
Many of the wounded are in poor condition; gangrene has exploded among the troops. Some of those who we thought were almost healed are now suffering gravely. A wound that was the size of a dime a few days ago is now eight or ten inches in diameter. While reading in my Bible today, I came across Leviticus 15:13. God instructed His people to cleanse their issues; by washing their clothes and bathing their flesh in running water.
There is so much unknown in the medical field, but we could learn more from the scriptures than we give merit. Maybe in the days to come, I can search the text for more answers. “Lord Jesus, show me what you’d have me see to open the eyes and ears around me. Amen.”
“Emma, there is no more Ross or I can do. David is in the Lord’s hands and mercy now.” Papa told me.
I refused to stand by while my little brother succumbed to pneumonia. “What would mom do?” I asked myself. The Indians boiled Pleurisy Root and gave it to their people. What else did they use that we have? “Dear God, please clear my head.” I prayed. God reminded me they also used honeysuckles and dogwood for respiratory issues. Except I had no dogwood berries or flowers. I can use the bark off some soldier’s firewood. I’ll make an infusion.
“Emma, where are you going?” Papa asked me as I scurried around late that afternoon. I was rushing to get some honeysuckle extract from my herb chest, and I asked Papa to please find me some old dried dogwood. A freshly cut tree would upset his stomach. Ross grabbed us something to cut it with. Papa returned quickly with a piece of dogwood as Ross followed behind him with an ax. I took the ax and cut the wood into tiny pieces. Afterward, I steeped one tablespoon of bark in a pint of water for 30 minutes over our fire, then strained it with a part of thin cloth into a cup. I added a dab of extract. We sat up through the night while I administered David’s treatment of half a cup every two hours. By morning, we started seeing improvements. It looks as if we have defied death once more through God’s merciful grace.
Ross said I was quite the hero, but I only cared about saving my brother. It wasn’t long before David and I were goofing around and acting like siblings again.
But for a few days, I feared we would lose him.
Counting the epidemics from dysentery, pneumonia, typhoid, measles, smallpox, chickenpox, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and mumps to malaria within the camps, I’m surprised anyone is still alive.
Many here are more comfortable with the wounded than the sick. Some men hold to the idea God intends to kill us all off, “every bloody one of us,” as some say. However, Papa believes it’s the conditions we live in, crowded, and malnutrition.
Usually, I handle the cleaning and wrapping of the wounds. Still, as a nurse, I have to deal with infestations of maggots and lice, among a lot of other things. Not doing my studies in an academic setting causes people to frown on my education in the medical field. I have the proper training, but some thoughtless and unknowing soldiers call me a handmaid. When I get married, I think I’ll pursue researching herbs and become an herbalist. I have already started recreating some of mom’s recipes within her book.
I couldn’t help expressing my thoughts out loud yesterday as Ross watched me prepare dinner. “Ross, neither medicine nor prayers have stopped the advance of these pestilences. Maybe this war and these illnesses that plague us are God’s judgment upon us all.”
“I’d have to agree. Michael knows this is true, too. Despite the natural things we can improve within the camps, it is still all in God’s hands. I’m just thankful the Lord spared your brother.”
“So, is Papa wrong about the crowding and malnutrition being at least partly to blame?”
“Well, those two things don’t help the situation any. Your Papa is right in the fact God is not trying to kill everyone, or we’d all be dead by now. Still, the Bible talks about war and pestilences being judgments of God throughout the scriptures.”
Exhaustion, dehydration, sunstroke, allergies, and scurvy also contribute to the sick and dead within the camps. Then in the winter, people often suffer from frostbite, whooping cough, and a mystery illness that we call the ague. It brings on fever, chills, and fatigue. Some of our sick get sent to hospitals or even home on leave.
Many of the wounded are in poor condition; gangrene has exploded among the troops. Some of those who we thought were almost healed are now suffering gravely. A wound that was the size of a dime a few days ago is now eight or ten inches in diameter. While reading in my Bible today, I came across Leviticus 15:13. God instructed His people to cleanse their issues; by washing their clothes and bathing their flesh in running water.
There is so much unknown in the medical field, but we could learn more from the scriptures than we give merit. Maybe in the days to come, I can search the text for more answers. “Lord Jesus, show me what you’d have me see to open the eyes and ears around me. Amen.”