Chicken Pox ~ Part Two

Daddy went to the phone shanty to call a driver to come and take them to the hospital with David. Since it was such short notice most drivers were running errands with other Amish and it took Daddy quite a long time to locate someone who could take them.

When he came in he told us it might take a little while till the driver got here. They got David ready and then sat there and waited anxiously for the driver to get there. When he arrived Daddy had to help David to the vehicle since he couldn't stand upright any longer.

John and I were left in charge of everything while they were gone. I was hoping the doctors could give David some kind of medicine and they could come home before long. The rest of the day passed slowly as I took care of Ivan and Raymond who were still quite sick from having chicken pox. Wondering what was wrong with David didn't help.

Bedtime came and they were still at the hospital so rather than waiting up for them to get home we went to bed.

The next day Daddy came home and told us that David's appendix had burst and they had to do emergency surgery. Mom would be staying with him until he was released.

I was kept busy with caring for my sick brothers, and doing all the household chores by myself. It wasn't long before Mahlon was sick too and I did everything I could to try to make him comfortable. That afternoon a butcher delivered five hundred pounds of hamburger from the steers we had sent to be butchered earlier. Daddy helped mix and season the meat while I stuffed jar after jar and then carried them to the basement where we had a huge canner that we used to set the filled jars in and then boil them for three hours. Aunt Emma came to help out one day but my days still felt dizzying busy.

Then one afternoon while everyone was sleeping I decided to take this opportunity to do some sewing. I spread out the fabric and was cutting quilt blocks. Before long I felt too tired to continue. Thinking that it was because I hadn't had a moment to rest in the past week since David had been in the hospital, I sat down in a chair to rest a little. As I sat there I noticed a few ugly pox on my arm.

I felt like crying. I didn't have time to be sick with Mom at the hospital with David, who would do all the work that needed to be done?

To be continued