Written 9/20/20
“Squeeze my hand, honey!”
Carl strokes Peggy’s limp hand and mumbles his refrain like an incantation. Sitting in the dark of the intensive care unit with the faint flickering of monitors and the hypnotic hiss of the ventilator, he feels almost numb. Time is out of joint. He has lost track of the days in this sunless place of perpetual waiting. How long has his wife Peggy been ill with COVID-19? It is a month; but it seems like years. He feels hope draining away.
Marching Orders
Imagine the intense battle taking place in a person suffering from COVID-19. The virus strikes first. It is a sneak attack from an unknown foe, assailing the body before there is time to respond, spreading quickly through the circulation to threaten every organ.
But the immune system strikes back, activating its various military branches, which hunt down and kill viruses and devise smart weapons to keep them away permanently. Soon enough (at least in those with normal immune systems) every invader is dispatched. At this point in most infected people, the immune system then stands down, and its members go about the job of cleaning up the mess and promoting repair in the body. All is restored to health.
But in an unfortunate subset of COVID patients, those like Peggy, the revved up immune system won’t quit, despite having vanquished the virus. Something – we don’t yet understand what – triggers even more cytokine release. In so-called “cytokine storm” the chatter between cells reaches a cacophony. Although there may be no enemy combatants left, the soldiers are more worked up than ever. The firefight reaches a crescendo, spilling over into the civilian population.
The frenzy triggered by the cytokine storm is like all the old war movie stereotypes playing out simultaneously at the microscopic level. You know the scenes I am referring to, where the jittery private fires too soon during a tense standoff, needlessly escalating a conflict. Or a raging machine gunner shoots crazily into the jungle at a phantom foe. Or maybe a panicked radioman misinterprets a transmission and calls in an airstrike that rains down death on his own compatriots.
In cytokine storm friendly fire from the powerful arsenal of the immune system damages the body. Organs that should be recovering from the infection are pushed to the brink.
(For some background about cytokines, read “THE EYE OF THE STORM,” and if you are interested in learning more about the possibility of new treatments for severe COVID-19, you can read “A SILVER LINING IN THE STORM” soon, when it is posted.)
A Closing Admonition
Cytokines are good things. They are a normal, healthy system of communication that enables the body to respond to infection or injury with a measured degree of inflammation.
Cytokine storm is a destructive state, somehow provoked by coronavirus, in which the deadly tools of the immune system are marshalled against the body. In a flurry of cellular signals, the commands get stuck in a screaming loop: “Charge! Fire! Attack!”
Cells that should be standing down after the war instead go berserk. They no longer seem to acknowledge their role as protectors and healers or recognize their fellow cells as friends. They wantonly attack and infiltrate, rather than rebuild, war-ravaged organs.
Once again, the microscopic mirrors the global.
I cannot help but notice that what has happened in Peggy’s body is also occurring in our society at large. As a nation we are enduring a sort of cytokine storm of ideologies. Somehow the coronavirus pandemic has triggered something in us, and we are overly-inflamed. This is making it hard to heal the national body, as well as the body of Christ, the church.
Immune cells under the influence of excess levels of cytokines no longer recognize the body’s own members as belonging to them. In the same way the toxic effects of social media amplify minor differences between people, so that we can fail to recognize others as belonging to the body of humankind.
Respectful and thoughtful dialogue that is a part any healthy group is drowned in a storm of fury. Discussions degenerate quickly into bitter recriminations. Chronic outrage smolders. Differences of opinion are treated as treasonous or blasphemous. We attribute diabolical motives to anyone who disagrees with us.
Revved up by a torrent of inflammatory messages, we imagine enemies all around. Friendly fire abounds. Instead of marshalling to heal and help others, we have no regard or patience for their weaknesses. We distort and dehumanize. The gentlest of us can be inflamed by the cytokines of social media and the constant news cycle.
“Charge! Fire! Attack!”
We are destroying ourselves as surely as a patient with cytokine storm is war torn from within. Love and graciousness are on life support. Our culture is slipping into a delirium of hatred and division.
Will we survive?
Consider these messages from the Bible:
Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3.
Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish…” Philippians 2:14,15.
Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart and a humble mind.” 1 Peter 3:8.
Epilogue
As she lies unconscious in the ICU bed, Peggy’s mouth has been hanging agape for weeks, giving her the inhuman look of a corpse. But Carl can still see the person beneath the shell. He knows the woman he loves is there. It takes some effort to pierce the horror, but love and hope are powerful forces. Love impels him to get up and rub Peggy’s withering limbs. Hope pushes the words from him once again.
“Peggy! Peggy! Squeeze my hand, honey!”
This time her lips come together a little. There is a flicker of an eyelid and a weak, but unmistakable, grasp in Peggy’s fingers.