Covid vs Wayne & Dorleen 1-23-21

So, long story short....

My parents both tested positive for Covi-19.  My dad had first symptoms on Jan 4, my mom had symptoms just a couple days after that.  They finally decided they were sick enough to go get a covid test, and both came back positive.  

My dad is diabetic, and my mom has asthma.  They are both 81. 

On Monday, January 11, dad was very sick, and not able to keep his oxygen level up.  My brother Jeff had Covid in December, so as we understand it, he isn't supposed to be able to catch it again, so he came up from Kanab to help make decisions, and take care of the sick people.

That evening, Jeff took my dad to the Emergency room. My mom was too sick to go with them.  Her oxygen levels were not great, but ok.  They admitted my dad, and I understand we were very lucky Jeff took him in when he did.

Tuesday, they gave my dad treatments for Covid.  Wednesday they gave him the next treatment.  He responded really well to the treatments, meaning they thought he was fighting the covid virus really well.  Meanwhile, his oxygen was terrible, he was using up to 4 & 5 liters, and at 6 he would need to go to intensive care.  His heart rate was in the 30's.  His white blood cell count kept climbing, which means his body was fighting an infection in his body.  His immune system was working way too hard, and that is bad for his organs.  He also had viral pneumonia. No one was allowed to visit.  We were told if dad was going to die, they would let my mom come in to see him.  This time in the hospital was very hard on both of my parents.  If dad could get his oxygen use down to 2 liters, they would let him try to recover at home.  With his low heart rate, and low oxygen, alarms kept going off, and he just wanted to go home.  The dr wanted him to stay, but agreed that with his oxygen at a 3, and a heart monitor, he could be release from the hospital. 

Sunday, Jan 17, he went home. The oxygen was delivered to the house, but not the heart monitor.  My mom basically was his heart monitor and pace maker, and oxygen monitor.  His oxygen went up to a 4, and heart rate was still a problem.  He was not getting better.  After spending that whole week staying with my mom while Dad was in the hospital, Jeff returned home to Kanab.

Dad  needed to get his blood checked, so we got him portable oxygen so he could make the trip to the hospital for a blood draw.  Mom started to drive him, got about a block from her house, and watched his oxygen level drop from 92 to 55!  She turned around and got him back to the house where he was able to get hooked up to his plug in oxygen machine (concentrator).  Dean and I went up to get the portable ones and return them to the company and get ones that worked.  When we got to the house, we were able to talk to the oxygen company on the phone, and they were able to walk us through getting the portable tanks to work.  We got home, and got a call from my mom around 10 pm that the concentrator broke while she was hooking up the humidifier.  In a panic, she was able to go get the portable tanks that we had just hours before got working, and hook my dad up to those while we waited for the company to come out with new parts for the concentrator.  Two close calls just a couple hours apart!  We feel so lucky we didn't take the tanks in to the store that evening, he would have had no back up oxygen!

The decision needs to be made as the whether to take my dad back to the hospital.  His oxygen drops too low while he is on 4 liters, and his heart rate drops while he is sleeping.  If he gets up, he can raise his heart rate, and we could crank up his oxygen, but above 4 should be done at the hospital.

So that brings you up to date.  He is home, its not a great situation, but doable, and he is more comfortable in his own home with my mom around.  Mom is still recovering from being sick, and she can't have people come in to help because of the risk of Covid.  She is tired.  She spends much of her nights watching dads levels, and waking him to get his heart rate up.

Each morning, the decision is made to take him to the ER, and then his levels stabilize, and they decide to watch it for a few more hours.  By evening, they are both beat, and the decision is made to wait till morning, and then we continue in this cycle.

Right now, plan is to take Dad to the hospital tomorrow morning.

Stay tuned...

Halloween 2020

Halloween 2020

Trying to keep things semi normal during covid19.

We had soup and roasted hotdogs around the fire.

Several of our neighbors stopped by for dinner.  We ended up having more trick-or-treaters than we have other years!  People need to get out I guess, and the weather was awesome! 

Erika, Rex, Lucy, Livy and Deaner

Braden and Lucy

Dex and Miles

Nora

10-21-2020 Alaska is beautiful!

 Finally!  We got to travel to Alaska!  It's been a year since I've been there....it missed me!

This is looking out to the Mendenhall Glacier, and the Mendenhall Valley as we flew in.

To enter into Alaska, you have to have proof of a Covid test, and if you don't have results, you have to self isolate until you get results.  We had to show proof of a test in the Juneau airport, and proof of a place to isolate.  They take this covid19 serious up there!

Side note, while we were driving to the airport, we got a call that we had been exposed.  Our neighbors, Norbert and Susan, both tested positive.  That made me a little anxious while we waited for our results.  Last we heard, Susan is mostly over it, Norbert is still in the hospital.

One of my favorite places in Juneau is Nugget Falls.  So first on our list of "to do's", go check out the falls.  We dropped Caitlyn off at work, at took her car.

...and headed to the falls.  We were the only ones out there!  It was amazing!

The reflection on the lake was so pretty!

Since we aren't allowed into any restaurants or stores, we got drive through and parked at Brotherhood Bridge, pretty great view of the glacier while eating breakfast.

Dean had never done Dupont Beach trail before, and I love it, so off we go.

We had company on this hike.  Hello Mr. Porcupine!

It was cold, which made this trail much easier to hike.  Last time I went it was super soggy!  The ground was frozen, and much easier to walk on.

We misunderstood what we were allowed to be doing, and we weren't supposed to be hiking until we had received our results.  

So, the next day, we got our results, and then went out hiking.  We both tested negative.

Caitlyn took us on the Treadwell Ditch trail.  It's right above her house!  All these years and we have never hiked this one.  

Barley, our grandpuppy, was a spaz while trying to take this picture!  The one below she did much better!

We took a drive out to Tee Bay.  Caitlyn's friend has a family cabin right on the water.  Even on a gloomy weather day, this place is awesome!

This picture above is what Caitlyn looks like when she isn't at work, but still working!  We saw this a lot!  She puts in long hours.

Of course, we needed to make cookies for Caitlyn's co-workers, and for her friends.

Another hike we did was called Outer Point Loop Trail.  It's almost at the end of the road on Douglas Island.

The lake that the beavers created had frozen over.  Caitlyn is holding up a sheet of ice.

On low tide, you can walk out to the island off to the right.  Wasn't quite low enough for that when we were there.

Another amazing trip to Juneau!  

Thank you Caitlyn, and Alaska for finally letting us in!

More deer pictures 10-3-2020

 

Bear Lake, 9-30 thru 10-2, 2020

Our friend Odette has a place on Bear Lake, and she invited us to go up for a few days.  Never want to pass that up!  While we were there, we decide to do the ride around the lake on our bikes.  It didn't matter that we haven't trained one bit for this 50 mile ride, it sounded fun anyway!

This list was from the first time I rode around the lake, Odette and I measured this so we would know where water stops and potty stops were.  She still had a copy of it!  It was helpful to see how far we had gone, and how much further we still had to go.

It was perfect weather!  A little cool, and no wind.  My favorite part of the whole ride is up on the north shore.

So relaxing and beautiful up at the lake!  Odette's roof was being replaced, so we supervised.  JK