For several months now, rumors about Derick Dillard’s health problems have been circulating amongst Duggar family fans.
Trailers seemed to promise that Dillard would confront those issues during the current season of Counting On, but thus far, the nature of his ailments remains a mystery.
And now, it seems the young Dillard clan may have even greater cause for concern, as Jill Duggar has received some frightening news from doctors.
On this week’s episode of Counting On, Jill went in for a routine checkup and was informed that her arteries appeared to have narrowed.
Jill took the news in stride, but no one wants to hear that their arteries have narrowed, particularly during a pregnancy.
The 25-year-old scheduled some follow-up tests, but the episode ended on something of a cliffhanger.
(Hey, with Counting On ratings plummeting, the Duggars are doing what they can for storylines these days.)
The episode filmed several months ago, and there have been no further updates on Jill’s condition, so it’s probably safe to assume that there’s no immediate cause for grave concern.
Still, between Derick’s issues and Jill’s recent diagnosis, fans are left with a lot of questions.
The first and foremost of which is:
What exactly is going on with these two?
As fans of Counting On know, Jill and Derick recently returned from ten months in El Salvador, where they performed missionary work in one of the Central American country’s more impoverished communities.
They frequently spoke of the sub-standard living conditions in their community, and fans expressed concerns about Jill and Derick living in the Zika zone.
Jill didn’t get pregnant until after the couple had returned to the states, and the Dillards claim to have gotten the go-ahead from a doctor before conceiving.
In all likelihood, the Dillards’ health concerns are in no way related to Zika (though many questions remain about the virus’ effects on grown-ups).
However, now that both of them are ailing, it seems unlikely that their issues are in no way related to the time they spent abroad.
Our thoughts go out to the Dillards during this difficult time.
Watch Counting On online to stay up to date on the couple’s health concerns.