100 Years Ago

Well, I used to think Scarlet Fever was eradicated. Like Polio and Smallpox.

So imagine my surprise when I took Mason in to the doctor to help us identify a strange rash that he had developed a few days before. She knew instantly (and so did another doctor) that it was Scarletina (or Scarlet Fever)  from a previous strep infection that came with a fever. The fever and tonsil swelling went away a few weeks ago, but the rash was all over his legs and arms and had just spread to his face yesterday morning. The rash is a result of toxins, being released by the Strep bacteria, that some kids are more sensitive than others.

I tried to get pics of his legs and arms today but after just 3 doses of Penicillin, it has improved dramatically!

More than 100 years ago Hellen Keller, born in 1880, got Scarlet Fever when she was a 1 year old. There was no cure at the time and when the fever was gone, she was blind and deaf.

Needless to say, I am thankful we have such a readily available medication making this so easy to treat. Our doctor said she never sees any problems result from Scarlet Fever for people living in the U.S. but she has seen a girl born in Haiti who's fever/rash were left untreated and she had the long lasting effects of Rheumatic fever and heart valve failure.

100 years ago Kaiah would have been dead.

In 1921 when children with Type 1 Diabetes were in the final stages of the disease, they went to large wards in hospitals where they went to into a coma waited to die. There were often 50 or more patients in the wards with their parents in attendance. When the discovery of insulin was made pure enough, they took a large vial of it and went from bed to bed injecting insulin into each patient. By the time they got to the last dying child, they could hear the joyful screams of their family members!

How thankful I am for those researchers and that we live in a time when much can be cured and lives can be saved! I wonder what reality people will be living with in another 100 years. Will they have figured out how to cure paralysis? AIDS? Pompei Disease?

Though I know that illness and death were not apart of God's plan, he does use them for his glory. He used Hellen Keller, he has used Kaiah's diabetes, and he has used the death of baby Selah (Pompei disease) among other people and their illnesses and deaths to bring many to Himself and to trust him in deeper ways.

1. Therefore, we can be thankful during the times of illness as well. My friends Anne-Marie and Kara are starting a list of 1000 things they are thankful for (along with the whole country/world :) and this seems to be a pretty natural starting point for me... :)