So it’s been a crazy six weeks here in the Marks’ household. I picked up an upper respiratory infection from one of the babies at work right before Thanksgiving. I was sick for a solid week. I was supposed to run the Pigskin Classic 5K. That didn’t happen. I never got my Ohio State tee shirt for the race. *sad face* At least it wasn’t Covid.

Then the center I work at closed for two weeks because of a Covid outbreak. That first week, my dad picked up the virus I had. He also got tested for Covid, but was negative.

That second week, we were both exposed to Covid and got infected. We were scheduled for our booster on the 22nd. We both went to urgent care and got tested. We were both positive. My dad’s O2 sat was 77% percent, so they transported him to the hospital via ambulance right then and there. When I left the ER that evening, he was doing okay on 6L of oxygen. My brother and I heard nothing for two days despite calling. Then I got a call from a social worker talking about discharge planning. When I asked if that was happening soon (mentioning the lack of communication) she said, no because he was on high flow oxygen. Well, color me surprised.

The next day I got a call from the ID doctor talking about what was going on. He was on steroids plus Remdesivir. She also talked to me about putting him on another immunosuppressant that had EUA for Covid. So I said yes to that.

Another couple days without hearing anything despite calling. When I next heard from the doctor, he was on 50L of high flow oxygen near the max level. The next step was CPAP. That didn’t work because he was too combative. They had him in soft restraints and medication to calm him. Billy, Chris and I talked about next steps, and given his wishes, we said if he didn’t turn a corner, then we would go to palliative care.

The 29th, about 4:30 am, we got the call that we were dreading. The doctor was recommending moving him to hospice. We elected to do that. Chris and his wife drove in from Pennsylvania that day. We visited that evening. He passed about 24 hours after starting hospice care.

We decided that we weren’t going to have a wake given the situation with Omicron. We held the funeral at our parish on Monday, December 30th.

Two weeks later, things have stabilized into a new normal. Ivory isn’t wandering around looking for him as much. He was her human. She is spending more time with me though.

I’m still dealing with a good deal of fatigue. I think it’s a combination of stress, grief, feeling overwhelmed and Covid. But I’m hanging in there.

And More! Billy Chris Cleveland Family Home Ivory Updates