Stubbornness Leads to Illness
By
Lynne G.
“I am so worried about my youngest son, Little Joe. The boy is extremely
ill with pneumonia and he has been fighting for his life for the last several
days. His fever is dangerously high and it seems like everything we try
to do to get it to come down hasn’t helped.”
“He keeps crying out to us to please help him. He is delirious so he doesn’t know what he is saying to us.”
“Adam! Adam…Hoss…Pa…help me, I’m on fire! So…so..hot….so hot!” He keeps crying this over and over pleading and begging us to help him and to please put the fire out.”
“It is so hard for a father to see his baby boy so ill and we all feel so hopeless as what else we can do to help him and try to keep him comfortable. We are constantly sponging him down with cool water, touching him and talking to him, but nothing seems to be helping. The fever just keeps ragging inside of him.”
“This whole thing started back several weeks ago while we were having weeks of cold rainy weather that wouldn’t end. For some reason known only to him, Little Joe will not wear a rain slicker, so he ended up getting soaking wet on his way to school everyday. Just the thought of him sitting in that classroom in wet clothes all day long really upset me, and then he got soaked again on his way home from school!”
“We keep trying to make him wear a slicker, but he simply won’t do as he is told! That boy can be so darn stubborn when he wants to be and nothing we say will get him to change his mind, and now look what has happened to him, he is fighting for his life from the pneumonia that has taken over his young body.”
“I know I should have put my foot down and not sent him to school with the weather so bad, but he has missed so much school lately, so I made him go even with the storms. That showed my stubbornness too, and now my boy is suffering because of stubbornness.”
So as the result of being over chilled daily it’s no wonder he got ill. Should I have been surprised that he came down with a cold, no not really? I actually didn’t know he wasn’t feeling well as he tried his very best not to let his coughing be heard. That boy never says if he is ill, he just hides it the best he can.”
Then the other day I heard him coughing which sounded just awful, so I ‘ordered’ him straight to bed. He didn’t seem to have a fever for which I was very grateful for but at the same time I decided to keep a close watch on him for any sign of fever. We gave him cough medicine every six hours and that seemed to keep his cough in check.”
“I wasn’t sure if I should send Adam and Hoss a telegram since they were in San Francisco on business to let them know that their little brother was ill. I decided against it since it was only a cold.”
“Then on Wednesday Little Joe started to have trouble breathing. He couldn’t get a deep breath for anything and when he coughed he couldn’t catch his breath. He had a fever and he was starting to cough up bits of blood now.”
“I sent Hank into Virginia City to get Dr. Paul Martin out here as fast as he could. Hop Sing and I began to sponge down Little Joe with cool water hoping to keep his fever from going any higher.”
“By the time Paul arrived at the Ponderosa, the boy was burning up with fever and he was now delirious. We kept trying to reassure him that he wasn’t on fire hoping that he would settle down and rest, but as ill as he was he wouldn’t stop moving around in his bed. He was so weak.”
“Paul gave me the news that I didn’t want to hear, that my boy had pneumonia. He has had it before and the last time he had it, it nearly killed him. I hope and pray that he will survive it this time too. I prayed to God to let my boy live. I can’t stand the thought of my boy dying. He is the heart of our family and we love him more than life its’ self. Please dear God, please let my baby live!”
“I had Hank send a telegram to Adam and Hoss asking them to please get home as fast as they could, that their little brother was extremely ill.”
“Paul stayed here for several days to help keep Little Joe alive. Just having him here was a blessing. We took turns sponging down Little Joe constantly with cool water and finally we ended up wrapping him up in ice blankets trying desperately to get his fever to break.”
“Hop Sing had put some special herbs in the water we used in a steam tent to help the boy with his breathing and thank God, which seemed to help him breathe a little easier. Now if we could only get his fever to break.”
Little Joe seems to be getting weaker each day and that scares me to death. We are feeding him broth several times a day hoping to keep his strength up but he keeps getting weaker. I don’t know how much longer I can stand to see my boy suffer like this. Please God, let my boy live!”
“Adam and Hoss made it home in record time. They were shocked at just how ill their little brother was and they too helped us keep him sponged down with cool water and ice blankets. They kept trying to reassure the boy that he would be alright in a few days. Just touching Little Joe seemed to calm him down for a few minutes at a time.”
“Adam!. Adam…Hoss…Pa..help me I’m on fire. So..hot…so..hot! Put the fire out!” He kept begging over and over. We kept telling him that we were putting the fire out, but we weren’t sure if he could understand us or not.”
“Finally on the sixth day Little Joe’s fever broke in a drenching sweat. We quickly bathed him and put dry sheets on the bed and he quickly fell into a deep restful sleep. His breathing sounded much easier now too. Thank God!”
“He slept for about two days straight and when he slowly began to wake up he was surprised to see all of us standing or sitting next to his bed. He gave us a tiny little grin which broke out hearts as we weren’t sure if we would ever see that special little grin of his again.”
“We told him that the fire was out just to see what he would say. He looked up at us with a very confused look on his pale and very thin face and he mumbled, “What fire?” We explained to him about what he kept begging us to do and just how ill he had been which was all a surprise to him.”
“It took at least another three weeks for that boy to fully recover this time and whether he likes it or not, he will be wearing a rain slicker from now on when it rains, even if we have to tie it to him, he will wear a slicker! I love that stubborn little rascal more than anything else in this world.
The end.