This month is one that has been dominated by illness for our family.  Many around us have in our county have tested positive for COVID-19 and an epidemic of strep has hit the church family at the same time.  Every member of our family has been ill this month, and the illnesses have been more debilitating than the usual 24-hour stomach bug.  As I write this, I have been ill since Monday of this week.  Not since I had the chickenpox in the 6th grade do I remember being so sick.  The good news is that it seems that we are on the way up after a very trying time with illness.

Josiah had a serious incident after one of our Sunday’s of ministry late last month.  The pastor ordered gluten-free pizza from Domino’s for him as we ate the normal pizza from the same establishment.  They brought the smaller size typical of their gluten-free pizza, but they had not made it with the gluten-free crust.  Josiah had a couple of pieces and the allergic reaction began.  It was not a long drive back to our house from this church, but on the way, he vomited several times.  That brought the allergens into contact with his throat once again, causing his throat to begin to swell shut.  By the time Sarah got him to the local emergency room, he was so swollen that he was unable to speak.

The foolishness of the reaction to COVID-19 nearly made things very bad from the beginning.  As he sat in the emergency room struggling for every breath, he was told to don a mask.  Sarah immediately intervened and protested, “He is in the middle of anaphylactic shock due to an allergic reaction and is here because he can’t get air, and you want him to wear a mask?”  At what point they checked the box for “problem parent,” I don’t know, but the problems were not yet done.

After Josiah was taken back to the emergency room, Sarah went with him.  He was still unable to speak, so swollen was his throat and soft pallet.  Early in the treatment process, Sarah was told that she would have to leave him.  At that point, she flatly refused.  In her mind, only she could inform the doctor of his extensive allergies.  The chances of their giving him something that would harm him are great.  After all, he has nearly died of medical error on more than one occasion in his 19 years of living.

Eventually, the hospital relented and allowed her to remain with Josiah.  After that, Sarah said that their pre-corona virus training kicked in and everyone was far more pleasant and understanding after that.

Josiah spent the night in intensive care and was later moved to the corona virus ward because he declined to take a test.  Having only recently been restored his ability to breathe, he did not relish the idea of someone probing a swab high up in his sinus cavity.  I suppose that he was reported as a COVID hospitalization even though he did not have the virus.  The entire firsthand experience made me question more than ever the numbers reported about this virus.

In all, Josiah lost a week of work due to the reaction that he had.  When he finally returned, he could tell how much the reaction had weakened his body.  Josiah’s job in the construction industry is installing stone countertops.  It is often very hard physical labor: they haven’t made a light stone countertop yet.

Next week, things are supposed to get back to normal again, whatever that is.  Josiah will go back to school in his new car (see last month’s update), and we will be back in meetings again.  Our meetings are to take us to the inter-mountain west this fall.

The recording project is taking longer than we had anticipated.  We will give more information as it becomes available.

Thank you for your prayers.