Christmas at Lake Tawakoni

Christmas 2020 was definitely different for us--not only in the way it was for everyone else. 

Since we weren't able to take our hoped for two week vacation in November, we decided to go away in our RV over Christmas week. 

We chose Lake Tawakoni State Park partly because it was one of the few places that still had availability and partly because it was only an hour's drive from the nursing home where my Mom was staying for rehab following ankle surgery.

The poinsettia plant in the photo above right is one we got to take to her.  We bought it ahead of time and the only place it fit in the RV was on the dash. I enjoyed the cheerful splash of color. I hoped it would cheer her a little. It helped me get into a more festive holiday mood, anyway. 

It had been a difficult two months leading up to Christmas. 

For several years my 86 year old Mom, who has Parkinson's, lived with her caregiver, Billie, and Billie's husband in their home.  They have cared for many people in their home over the years like my Mom who needed a high level of care. Billie was such a good caregiver I hoped, and prayed, I would never have to find another place for my Mom to live. 

Sunday, November 1st I got a frantic call from Billie saying that my Mom had fallen and twisted her ankle. Billie was worried that it was broken. 

Billie called a mobile x-ray unit. They came the next morning and confirmed that it was fractured. 

We called 911. The paramedics took her to the ER. When she arrived they checked her temperature. It was 99.9 so they did a Covid test. It came back positive! I was stunned. So, in addition to having a broken ankle she also had Covid-19! 

It probably should not have been a huge surprise since Billie and her husband had been sick for a few days. They didn't know what they had but this tipped us all off that it was likely Covid-19 since that was seemingly the only way my Mom could have gotten it. They did get tested after my Mom was diagnosed, but test results from the free clinic they went to took several days.  

Billie wore a lot of PPE when she first got sick to try and protect my Mom and the other lady, but it obviously didn't completely work. Though it may have helped my Mom to not get a severe case of it.

The virus seems to have been brought into the home by the son of the other lady they were caring for. He apparently visited just at the start of his illness but since he didn't "believe in" Covid he refused to get tested. The whole household including his own mother ended up testing positive for Covid-19 (we heard later that she had a mild case). Even his own housemate got it.

Billie was determined to keep caring for my Mom but by the end of the week Billie was having trouble breathing and had to go to the hospital. Testing at the hospital confirmed she did have Covid-19 and pneumonia in both of her lungs caused by Covid. Her husband also had Covid and needed to be hospitalized. 

My Mom and the other lady they cared for had to be evacuated. Billie's daughter  helped bring my Mom to our house. She also came back a few times to show us how to do diaper changes. I assure you it is much harder to change an adult than it is a baby! 

We hired two, brave, part-time caregivers from an agency to help with her care.  They were the only ones the agency had available who were willing to risk caring for a Covid positive patient. I am so thankful for them. We could not have handled it without their help!

She needed a lot of care. In addition to all of her usual high level of care needs, she was of course non-weight bearing on her ankle which meant she was bed bound. She also had diarrhea. We don't know if it was from the Covid or from the antibiotic the ER doctor prescribed for some unknown reason. But whatever the cause it made things even more difficult for everyone, including her.

After eight days at our house we were finally able to take her to see the orthopedic surgeon. We couldn't get her in sooner than that due to her positive Covid test. Even the morning of the appointment the surgeon's staff called to say she couldn't come. But I insisted that since it was 14 days from her positive Covid test and she was not having symptoms or fever we were going to bring her! After waiting for two hours in the waiting room we finally got to see the doctor. He took one look at her x-ray and demanded to know why we didn't bring her in sooner! He scheduled surgery for the very next day! 

Surgery went well. He was able to put the bones back together despite it having been so long since the break. It took a lot of hardware to hold it together--screws and plates of various kinds--but that was due to the complexity of the break not the delay.

After that we tried to get her into a rehab facility that we have heard good things about. They said she could come but first they wanted her to be retested for Covid. 

The orthopedic hospital didn't have the ability to process the test themselves so it took a few days to get the results. I spent most of every day at the hospital that week. 

Friday morning I arrived to discover a large yellow warning device on the door to her room. When I went inside, the room was empty. Even the bed was gone.

The test was positive! And she had been immediately whisked into their isolation room. I wasn't allowed to see her and they ended up banning me from the building because I had spent so much time with her that week. Thankfully my husband had not already driven away after dropping me off so I was able to wait in the car for a while until we decided what to do and where she should go.

The rehab facility we were hoping she could go to wouldn't take her after all as they didn't have space available in their Covid unit.

The hospital social worker said we could take her home with us. But we didn't feel up to that. He found another rehab/nursing home that had a Covid unit that had space available.  He assured me it was a "five star" facility. I don't know what that rating was based on. But based on my Mom's several weeks there I would give them several blots! NOT stars!

Meanwhile we spent a lot of time trying to find another assisted living home for her to go to after she was done with rehab. We prayed that Billie and her husband would recover and be able to care for her again. But we knew that it might be a few months at best before they would be up to that even if they did make a full recovery. 

It was difficult to find an assisted living home near us that could handle her care needs and was willing to risk taking her without a negative Covid test or two. The rehab facility followed the CDC guidelines that said that people should not be retested until 90 days after their first positive test as retests often come back positive even when the patient is no longer considered contagious. But assisted living facilities still wanted a retest before admitting her. And most insisted it had to be negative no matter what. 

We did find a couple of facilities that said they would take her even with a positive test but they said they would keep her in quarantine if it was. 

We chose one of them. (In the end they were willing to take her even without her being retested.) We put a deposit down on it in early December to hold the room until she could leave the rehab facility. 

We felt that she needed to stay at the rehab facility for a little longer since we thought the therapist was doing a good job, even though we weren't very pleased with some other aspects of her care. 

I was sad that she had to be there over Christmas. But I was glad that I, at least, could visit her. The first twenty days she was there she was not allowed visitors. After she moved out of the Covid unit and into a regular room she was allowed one visitor for one pre-scheduled hour per week. I was also required to prove that I had tested negative for Covid within the previous two weeks. 

I scheduled my visit that week for Christmas Eve morning. John drove me there. On the way there we amused ourselves by singing Christmas carols. I looked up the lyrics on-line. It was fun especially to sing some of the older carols our church never sings, like "Once in Royal David's City."

We arrived in good time and I went through the usual screening before they escorted me back to her room.

She was glad to see me of course.

She liked the poinsettia plant, too. 
 The pop-up nativity scene in the right corner of the photo was our card to her. I love pop-up cards! They bring out the kid in me. It was also a fun reminder of what Christmas is really about.

The next day was Christmas. My brother came out to the park to celebrate with us. It was the first time we had been together since March. John made chicken fajitas and apple crisp for our non-traditional, but still delicious, Christmas dinner. 

Apple crisp. We ate it with vanilla ice cream and homemade caramel sauce.

After lunch we went for a walk down to the lake. We also watched our church's delightful children's Christmas play

After dark we went looking for the "Christmas Star." As you may have heard the 2020 "Christmas Star" differed from the original one in that it was an alignment  of Saturn and Jupiter, whereas the original is thought to have been an alignment of Saturn and Venus. 

The best night to see the 2020 version was supposed to be December 21st. So we were several days past the main event. But my brother said that the planets would still be visible just not as closely aligned. 

John and I did try to see it on the 22nd. But since they were no longer aligned we didn't realize we were in fact seeing Saturn and Jupiter. We thought they were two stars. So Christmas night we showed him what we had seen. He confirmed that it was in fact Saturn and Jupiter. Here they are as they were on Christmas night--obviously no longer aligned!

The first part of the week we spent a lot of time exploring the park. Here are some pictures from that:

Moss on tree branches looking almost floral

Fungi covered stump fascinates me as usual

We watched this deer for some time. I took numerous photos. Then just when it stepped onto the path a few yards from John, I pressed the shutter for what I was sure would be best photo of all--the deer and John in the same frame--and then my camera stopped and gave an "empty battery" message!
It had started warning me the battery was low earlier in the morning but I ignored it. Lesson learned--as soon as my camera starts to give me a low battery warning I will change to a fresh one!

This cute little bird photo and the one below I extracted from videos on John's camera. He accidentally pushed the video button when he was trying to take photos. These were from some of the inadvertent video portion.

I found myself fascinated by paths on this trip. I took nearly 2 dozen photos of them. There was something about them that tugged at me. 

This one looked completely blocked and like we should just turn around and go back.

 

But when we got up to what looked like an impassible barrier we discovered that the path took a turn to the left and so we could keep going after all.

 

It's sort of a like life lately. Maybe that was part of why I was was stirred by them. Our personal path has gone a way that we never imagined and didn't want. I didn't know what was ahead. Stopping or turning around wasn't really an option. I just had to keep moving ahead, hoping for better things around the next bend. 

As a Christian, I do believe that this life is not all there is. The next life with God will be better by far so I have hope for the future. But this life sometimes goes in a way that is hard to accept. 

On December 26th, Billie's path took a turn that none of us wanted. Her daughter texted to say that her Mom had "transitioned to Glory." We were stunned. I still have a hard time accepting it. 

I believe she is with Jesus. She was a strong Christian. As Paul the Apostle said, to be with Jesus is better by far. But he also said he was torn between going to heaven and staying on earth to be a blessing to others. 

I believe that is how Billie felt. Her life was all about serving Jesus and caring for others. Even when she was in the hospital and struggling to breath she was still thinking about what my Mom needed and telling her daughter things to tell us about my Mom's care. 

Her husband is home now and is over Covid. But of course he is really missing his wife! And the rest of the family also feels bereft without her.

BILLIE SANDRA (LEWIS) WALKER
October 7, 1943 ~ December 26, 2020 (age 77)

On January 9th we moved my Mom into her new assisted living home. She seems to be getting reasonable care. The change has been a shock, though. Billie definitely spoiled us! 

No one can replace her.