Streams of Mercy (26 page)

“Thorliff said he and the others are working to bring us what supplies they can and to keep everyone calm.” Astrid shook her head. “I was on the phone with Chicago. The doctors said this is one of the worst outbreaks because people were confined in a relatively small space.”

“I am praying our good North Dakota wind can blow our land clean again.”

Elizabeth stared at the tabletop. “I don’t even know what to pray for anymore, other than for strength to keep going, for all of us, and to protect the people of Blessing. And that we are able to contain it.”

Solberg nodded. “And so we keep thanking Him for His continued presence. For His grace and mercy. That’s all I know to do. He says to love the unlovely, and that we are doing. Makes me think on leprosy, but this happens so much faster. Unclean.” He shook his head.

Astrid eyed him. “When did you sleep last?”

“On my way now.”

“Get something to eat first.”

“Yes, Doctor.” Even his usually ready smile was missing. He set his mug in the sink and left.

Astrid scribbled some notes about the tracheotomy. Record keeping was important, yes, but people’s lives were more so. She left her office to go stand at an eastern-facing window. The sun had yet to crest the line of trees but the sky said any moment now. Streamers of whitening clouds, the sky turning blue, birds singing, all heralded the new day. How could everything look so normal outside when death and disease inhabited the hospital and stalked her people like the worst black cloud ever seen? Had it only been two days since the train arrived? It felt like they’d been fighting this monster forever.

C
HAPTER 20

D
id the hours drag? Was the clock broken? Was the train late?

They moved patients in and out of the steam room, forced fluids, put ice packs on some, placed fever-reducing wet cloths on others. As much as they were able, they held the babies, small children too, in the steam room and on the wards. To contain the disease, mothers who showed no symptoms were not allowed in the hospital.

Elizabeth returned from her rounds on the train and collapsed in a chair in Astrid’s office. “Only three new cases. Perhaps intubation will save them.”

“Are any improving?”

“It’s hard to tell, but I think so. Looks to me like people either die or start to get well within a week.” She shook her head. “I guess it’s that way with all sicknesses. Forget I said what I did.” Tipping her head back to rest against the wall, she gave a deep sigh. “We’ll inoculate the hospital staff first, then all those possibly exposed. You agree?”

“Ja, that makes good sense. But what about the circus people?”

“Before our people here in Blessing?”

Astrid rubbed her forehead. “You know people are already demanding to know how we are going to do this.” She had talked with Thorliff on the telephone, their only means of communication. She didn’t tell Elizabeth that Sophie was insisting the families from Blessing should come before outsiders. No matter how they did this, there would be angry people. “It all depends on how much antitoxin we receive. Hospital staff and helpers who are not immune first, all those exposed that first night, and then God help us. I wonder how long the antitoxin needs to be in the body before it can fight off the disease.”

“You mean for those of us already exposed? Keep in mind that not everyone who is exposed develops diphtheria.”

Astrid nodded. “I know.”

Elizabeth’s weakened state concerned her far more than she worried about herself. As far as they knew, neither of them had ever had it or been exposed.

“I have scrubbed my hands and arms nearly raw and worn a mask.” Elizabeth held up her chapped red hands. “Even with Ingeborg’s salve.”

Astrid stopped and listened. “The train whistle! Thank you, Lord. Thorliff and Daniel will bring the antitoxin to the dock, and we can get started immediately. Please, God, let there be enough. Whatever enough means.” Her mor had reminded her on the telephone just this morning that God was still in charge of not only all creation but here in Blessing. She wished He would make it plainer.

When they left the office, the smiles on the faces of their nurses lightened the dark of the hospital in spite of all the coughing and crying.

“I have the list of everyone here,” Miriam said, “with checks by those who have either had diphtheria or been inoculated in the past. All forty of our syringes are sterilized, and I’m praying
they sent more of those too. Can you think of anything else?” She looked to both of them.

“No, you’ve done a good job. Once we take care of everyone here, Sandra will prepare those waiting with a scrub of carbolic acid on their upper arm, and Dr. Commons and you will give the inoculations.” Astrid glanced to Elizabeth, who nodded.

“And the others?”

“It all depends on how much the hospital sent us.”

Miriam turned to answer a question, and Astrid looked out a window to see the rising steam from the train behind the boardinghouse, which blocked the view of the train itself.

“Can you hold this little one for a bit?” Mercy asked, coming down the hall. “I think she is not getting worse, at least.”

Astrid took the child in her arms and rocked her gently. While her breathing was still difficult, Mercy might be right. “Oh, little one, please get better. We need some good news here.” She laid the child down in the nearest empty crib as soon as she saw Thorliff and Daniel out the window, each with a handcart loaded with boxes and crates. They parked them and stepped back.

Astrid stared at her brother and husband. Oh, how she wanted to go out there, go home with Daniel, back to her own bed to sleep for a week. To go out to the farm, to get out of this pestilence, the sounds, the smells, the fear. But she couldn’t. Miriam and Sandra went out and brought the carts back to the hospital.

“Thank you,” she called from the door and opened it for the two to wheel the carts in and to the supply room. The boxes on one cart were labeled
Carbolic acid
. There were four boxes on the other cart. Once in the supply room, she peeled the envelope off the top box and slit it open. With the sheet unfolded, she read the contents. One hundred doses of antitoxin, fifty intuba
tion kits, a box of tracheal tubes, a box of scalpels, and a few other miscellaneous supplies. She unfolded the letter behind it and read it swiftly.

Dear Drs. Elizabeth and Astrid,

I’m sorry we could not send more, but we need to keep a certain amount here for emergencies. We have ordered more delivered to you from New York, but that will take a couple more days. They said it would ship yesterday.

I suggest you use your best judgment on how to use what we could send. This must be kept cold to keep it viable. That is why we included ice and shipped it in the refrigerated car. They do not have those on all the trains, as you well know.

We are praying for all of you and are so grateful we implemented inoculations for all our nurses in training. We’ll be sending three more nurses in training, along with one resident, just as soon as we can, to help take the pressure off. Please let me know if there is anything else we can do. We well know the power of praying and both have been and will continue.

Dr. Red Hawk has had a breakout on the reservation too. That is part of the reason why we had no more to ship.

With heartfelt prayers,
Nurse Korsheski

She had signed it with her usual illegible signature.

Astrid looked up. “Sorry, I’ll read it aloud.” She did so and, when finished, folded it back up and said, “Open the boxes. Put the crates over in the corner for later. Let’s get started. Oh, and we need to sterilize all the syringes in the box immediately
and the other things after.” She knew she sounded like an army general and that they already knew what needed to be done, but she couldn’t stop herself. All she could think was
Get as many people protected as quickly as possible.

Using the sterilized syringes they already had on hand, Miriam started with Elizabeth and then Astrid.

“Do you have a sore throat, fever, or cough?” She asked that of every person she inoculated while the others continued caring for their patients.

“I’m going to intubate the man in room one as soon as the OR is set up,” Astrid told Miriam. “If we can’t get that down his throat, we’ll do a tracheotomy.”

“It’s all scrubbed and set up ready for you.”

Astrid motioned to Reverend Solberg and Tonio to carry the man in while she scrubbed.

“I thought you were sleeping,” she said when Deborah showed up at the sink beside her.

“I was. Got my shot, and now I am here.”

Astrid nodded toward the reverend. “John, would you scrub too? We’ll immobilize him as much as we can, but we might need more muscle.”

Before she had Vera start the anesthetic, she tried to explain to the man what she was going to do, but she knew he did not comprehend her. “Put him under. We’ll need to block his mouth open, so he can’t bite, and see if we can slide this down. And tie down his arms and legs.” She tossed the belt, which had been fashioned from three saddle cinches, over his chest.

Intubation kit. This must be the latest thing in Chicago. She pulled the cardboard box open to find tubing, a rubber device to hold the mouth open, and a dose of morphine neatly labeled. “We won’t need everything in this kit; for instance, the morphine. He’s already under. But when you open one of these,
throw nothing away. Not even the box. We don’t know what we will need next.”

By the time they’d finished, all of them were dripping wet. But the man could breathe. While Reverend Solberg was praying for healing and peace for the man, Astrid nearly buckled under a wave of exhaustion. She gripped the table for a moment, then headed for the scrub room to remove her apron and hair covering, along with the mask.

Back on the ward floor, she could see a group of townspeople gathering about a hundred feet in front of the hospital door. Thorliff was trying to get their attention. “Didn’t he post something about us using the school for inoculations?”

“I thought so.” Solberg heaved a sigh. “Fear can do terrible things to people. I’ll go talk to them. Your plan is a good one, Astrid. Just get Miriam ready to go.”

“She has to take a bath and get dressed in clothes that have not been in here. Trygve is waiting with them out back. We’ve curtained off a bathing area. Tell them an hour.”

“You’re going to do them before the train people?”

“Yes.”

“And you can live with that?”

“Yes. These are my people and this hospital is supported by them. I pray I am doing the right thing. Well, if not the right thing, the best thing. Since we know more antitoxin will be here in two days . . .”

“How many doses have you given?”

Astrid counted down the list. “Six including you. Since you weren’t sure . . .”

“I know and I appreciate that. So first we do those who have been exposed. I will give the list to Thorliff.”

“Read him the list and let him write them down. The paper may be contaminated. After those are finished, give the shot to
those who run businesses here, as they are in contact with more outsiders. Then all the immediate town children. Unless this travels on the wind too, the farmers should be safe. As long as no one has come to town.” She heaved a sigh.

“You are doing the best that you can. Do you want me to start telephoning people to make sure everyone goes over there?”

“Good idea. If only we had been wiser and not allowed anyone to leave the hospital after that first night.”

“Hindsight is always perfect. You do your best and count on God to take care of the rest.” He took the list and headed out the door.

Astrid answered the ringing telephone.

“I have Sophie on the line,” Gerald said.

Astrid heaved another sigh. She seemed to be doing a lot of that. She also knew that Sophie had gotten furious with Thorliff. “Put her on.” The connection clicked. “How can I help you, Sophie?”

“You would not believe what just happened. That Stetler just stormed out of here because I refused to serve him supper. I thought the train was quarantined.”

“It is!”

“That man should be shot. He brought this on us all and then he comes in here like nothing is wrong. Does he have no principles at all?”

“All right, Sophie, this is what you need to do. Do you have carbolic acid?”

“Some.”

“Good. Use that to scrub every surface he may have touched or breathed on. I’ve not asked him if he has immunity, but still, he is contaminated. Scrub, dump the water, and scrub again. Who all did he talk to?”

“Just me. The others were in the kitchen.”

“Scrub the porch and steps too and slosh the wash over your walkway, just to be careful. You need to get over to the school as one who is possibly contaminated. But first come here and bring clean clothes. You can come here, wash in our special place, and get dressed to go get your inoculation. Our people here will then boil the clothes you are wearing.”

“I heard to burn everything.”

“Carbolic acid works the same.” Astrid fought to keep the simmering rage under control and out of her voice. “Please, Sophie, I beg of you, do not tell the others about this, or we might have a lynch mob on our hands.”
Lord, please, let no one be on the line for this conversation.

“In Blessing?”

“In Blessing. I’m afraid it may have come to that.” Astrid thought back to her conversation with Thorliff. Obviously, Sophie had had time to cool down. “I never dreamed we’d have something like this. And to think a circus coming to town is usually such a happy event. Do you understand what you need to do?”

“Ja, I do. Thank you.”

Astrid hung up. Should she call Gerald, since he’d been the operator? Surely he didn’t listen in. Surely.
Please, Lord, let this be so.
Probably it is a good thing people are not getting together.

When Reverend Solberg came back in the hospital, she told him what had happened.