March 2020
I have been eagerly anticipating the beginning of March because that means spring is on its way and the doom and gloom of January and February would be over. On the first day of March, we got snow and I joyfully quoted the old adage, "March comes in like a lion and will go out like a lamb" as I dealt with the snow and didn't even complain.
Sadly my joy was short-lived. Joan rallied a little in the hospital, but then she started declining. After many consultations between family, nurses, and the doctor, Joan made the decision to come home from the hospital on hospice. They discontinued all of her medications except for morphine and lorazepam. Her double bed was moved out of her bedroom and a hospital bed was brought in.
Taylor is a paramedic/firefighter in Utah Valley. He talked with his Captain who said, "Firefighters take care of their own" and gave Taylor permission to drive the ambulance here to the local hospital (about a two hour drive) to transport Joan home for the last time. Not only was Taylor able to bring the ambulance, he and his partner, Rackman, were both scheduled to work that day and his co-workers came in on their day off to cover them. It was such a wonderful blessing. Each and every movement was severely painful for Joan, so to be taken on a stretcher in a truck designed to transport made the trip so much easier for her. I wasn't there, but Kim filmed it all and I watched it during a break at work. I was overcome with emotion as I watched how tenderly Taylor and Rackham moved her. It was one of the most touching things I have ever seen.
By the time they got her home, Joan slipped into a coma.
We called Tasha to tell her that her grandmother was not going to live much longer, and she decided to fly up with Ish. It was hard to ask her to make the trip, especially since we didn't actually know if and when Joan would pass away, but we thought it would be best for her to come just in case.
We all were surprised by Joan. She never really regained consciousness and the last food and water she had were at the hospital before she came home. We expected that she would pass quickly because she didn't ingest anything, but she hung on and on. It was a very long and drawn-out death. The family struggled with long nights and little sleep, worried that Joan was in pain and trying to decide if the oxygen was helpful or harmful in easing her out of this life. We all really were anticipating that she would go quickly because she was so anxious to see her beloved Ross, but she fooled all of us. She finally left this earth on March 8, 2020, at 1:32 am.
Mont had to traveled to Utah for work and so he stayed in town for a few days. Fortunately, he was able to come to the house to visit with us and to say good-by to Joan. He was picking up his parents to take them back to Texas for Maddie's homecoming. It was so good to see him! He truly feels just like family and it felt good that he was there.
The viewing and funeral were very nice. David gave the family prayer, Justin and Stephanie gave the life sketch, and Doug and Cheryl Moffit both spoke. Tyler Fox played a piano solo of Joan's favorite song, the theme from Dr. Zhivago, Lara's Theme, and all of the grandchildren sang "Families Can Be Together Forever". Kim's cousin, Aaron, who is a professional pianist was going to play, but he was unable to fly here due to the coronavirus and the need to quarantine afterward, so Tyler filled in. It was too bad, I was looking forward to hearing Aaron play again, he is so good! Kim dedicated the grave.
As it turned out, Joan's was one of the very last funerals that was able to be held, within a couple of days all public gatherings of more than 10 people were canceled. Schools from kindergarten to universities were closed and immediately switched to online. There was panic everywhere with people racing to the stores to start hoarding toilet paper, bottled water, and hand sanitizer. The coronavirus - or COVID-19 - had officially become a pandemic. Thousands of people have died in China and Italy. Italy has been completely overrun with so many patients needing to be on ventilators that they can't handle them. It is pretty scary. Our prophet has come out and stated that we are to not meet in the church or temples for any gatherings during this time. We are to hold private church in our own homes using the Come Follow Me manuals, conference talks, and other Church materials.
Anyway, Tasha and Ish have been here (they left just before the pandemic shutdown), and it has been so great! We got together with my sisters for lunch at Wingers, played at the park, played lots of games, and basically had a great time (along with the time we were with the Olsens dealing with Joan's passing). I just about went crazy when I first saw Ish - he has grown so much! He is so cute, talking and singing up a storm. He and Little Miss got along - most of the time. And I just love spending time with Tash, I miss her so much when she isn't here. Shandra and I both had a lot of time off so I got to spend lots of time with my two favorite girls.
One of my favorite people, Stephanie Hicken, got married early in March and I went to her shower. It was really fun. I was surprised to see her mother there because she is currently serving a mission with her husband in Germany. But they were allowed to come home for the wedding. Stephanie looked so happy! Unfortunately, we couldn't attend the reception because it conflicted with the Olsen happenings.
The spread of the COVID-19 of coronavirus has been so rapid that many hospital facilities have become overrun with people needing to be in ICU with respiratory support. The virus isn't as deadly as influenza, but it is more easily spread and it has a two week incubation time, so someone could be infected and over the next two weeks infect many more people without even knowing he was sick. Thus the leaders of our nation, as well as President Nelson, our prophet, have instructed that social gatherings be curtailed as a way to flatten the curve to stop the spread. This graph shows how limiting people's contact with each other flattens the curve.
My school followed others across the nation and decided to conduct classes online. We were told at first that it would be for two weeks, but then it was pushed out for two more weeks. Administration decided to have us skip one week of classes and push the end of semester back one week. Faculty was to use that week to convert our classes to an online format. Lucky for me I had just finished a class at Liberty that discussed using technology to enhance teaching which helped me make the transition. This was a difficult week in that it seemed like changes and new guidelines were changed every day, and sometimes several times a day. At first, we heard that our students could still do clinicals at the hospital facilities, and then we received word that none of the facilities wanted to have students - besides we didn't want to risk any legalities if someone got sick from our students or if our students got sick from being at a clinical. So new plans were made to use virtual simulation clinicals.
On Wednesday, March 18, I was sitting at home at my computer before work when all of a sudden everything started moving! It was the weirdest feeling! I could actually feel the room swaying back and forth. Of course, I immediately got online and found that other people from all over had felt it too. It was an EARTHQUAKE! The epicenter was in Magna and it was a 5.7 magnitude. It even knocked the trumpet from the statue of the Angel Moroni on top of the Salt Lake Temple. I didn't feel any aftershocks, but several people I know said they felt many aftershocks. I found it interesting to see comments about the earthquake. Many people, including my sisters, were extremely panicked thinking that on top of the virus, the earthquake was a sign that the end of the world was starting.
For some reason, the earthquake didn't bother me much after the initial shock, and Kim didn't even feel it! But a lot of people were nervous.
All over the nation schools and businesses have been transitioning, closing, or changing the way they did business. Restaurants closed dining rooms and started offering curbside pickup. Hospitals canceled all elective surgeries to prepare to handle COVID cases. Playgrounds have been cordoned off and all professional sporting events are canceled. Elementary and secondary school students and teachers scrambled to figure out how to deal with online school - and parents became panicked because they knew they would have to take over the role of the school teacher as well as principal.
In the midst of this, we got the troubling news that Zane had been laid off because his company needed to cut costs due to the virus. A few days later we heard that because there were no elective surgeries Shandra would not be needed in the OR at work. Gratefully they paid her for a couple of weeks while they were working out how to keep her on the payroll. After just a few days of going in to work while the students stayed home, my administration decided that we should "shelter at home" and everyone was sent home with our computers and told to stay at home until further notice. Two of the Eagle Gate staff were laid off. Fortunately, my job is considered essential right now so I still have lots of work to do.
Working from home has been both good and not so good. Overall I have been able to make the adjustment to online without too many hitches. However, I hate that sometimes I feel like I am talking to a blank screen. My students prefer to mute their mics - which does make it easier for us to not have interruptions - and they like to type their comments and questions in the group chat area. However, as we all know, it takes longer to type than to speak so I often have to wait to figure out what they are saying. When I am explaining information from a PowerPoint I frequently feel that I speaking only to myself because I can't see their faces or hear their voices. It makes it hard to know if they are understanding or not. I will have to work on some ways to help them be more engaged. Also, because they can't go to clinicals at the hospitals, we are all impatiently waiting for whatever administration is going to assign them to make up those hours. The longer it takes, the less time they will have to get it done. I feel so bad that over half of the class will not get any hands-on experience this semester. But, we do what we have to, right? One positive is that I do not have to drive to work!!! That has been amazing! I still get up every morning and get dressed as if I were going to work so that it feels like I am really at work. Another tough thing is all of the meetings that have been scheduled. Things are still changing all of the time and we are still being pushed to make sure that our students are ready for the NCLEX (when it opens back up for testing).
Kalel is not a fan of this Shelter in Place policy. He has struggled with online school (lucky for him, I have enjoyed helping him - most of the time). He is really missing the social life he had a school and even hanging out with his cousins, Tristan and Corbin. And to make matters worse, he had to celebrate his 13th birthday alone with only immediate family. We did have a great time eating brownies (Kalel's request) and playing games.
I saw this quote from Bill Gates and really liked it, so I decided to include it here.
Bill Gates in an open letter, entitled ‘What is the Corona/ Covid-19 Virus Really Teaching us?’, he wrote:
“As I meditate upon this, I want to share with you what I feel the Corona/ Covid-19 virus is really doing to us.
1) It is reminding us that we are all equal, regardless of our culture, religion, occupation, financial situation or how famous we are. This disease treats us all equally, perhaps we should too.
If you don’t believe me, just ask Tom Hanks. (Actor Tom Hanks and his wife were both infected with the virus.)
2) It is reminding us that we are all connected and something that affects one person has an effect on another.
It is reminding us that the false borders that we have put up have little value as this virus does not need a passport. It is reminding us, by oppressing us for a short time, of those in this world whose whole life is spent in oppression.
3) It is reminding us of how precious our health is and how we have moved to neglect it through eating nutrient-poor manufactured food and drinking water that is contaminated with chemicals upon chemicals. If we don’t look after our health, we will, of course, get sick.
4) It is reminding us of the shortness of life and of what is most important for us to do, which is to help each other, especially those who are old or sick. Our purpose is not to buy toilet roll.
5) It is reminding us of how materialistic our society has become and how, when in times of difficulty, we remember that it’s the essentials that we need (food, water, medicine) as opposed to the luxuries that we sometimes unnecessarily give value to.
6) It is reminding us of how important our family and home life is and how much we have neglected this. It is forcing us back into our houses so we can rebuild them into our home and to strengthen our family unit.
‘OUR TRUE WORK’
7) It is reminding us that our true work is not our job, that is what we do, not what we were created to do. Our true work is to look after each other, to protect each other and to be of benefit to one another.
8) It is reminding us to keep our egos in check. It is reminding us that no matter how great we think we are or how great others think we are, a virus can bring our world to a standstill.
9) It is reminding us that the power of freewill is in our hands. We can choose to cooperate and help each other, to share, to give, to help and to support each other or we can choose to be selfish, to hoard, to look after only our self. Indeed, it is difficulties that bring out our true colours.
10) It is reminding us that we can be patient, or we can panic. We can either understand that this type of situation has happened many times before in history and will pass, or we can panic and see it as the end of the world and, consequently, cause ourselves more harm than good.
11) It is reminding us that this can either be an end or a new beginning. This can be a time of reflection and understanding, where we learn from our mistakes, or it can be the start of a cycle which will continue until we finally learn the lesson we are meant to.
12) It is reminding us that this Earth is sick. It is reminding us that we need to look at the rate of deforestation just as urgently as we look at the speed at which toilet rolls are disappearing off of shelves. We are sick because our home is sick.
13) It is reminding us that after every difficulty, there is always ease. Life is cyclical, and this is just a phase in this great cycle. We do not need to panic; this too shall pass.
14) Whereas many see the Corona/ Covid-19 virus as a great disaster, I prefer to see it as a *great corrector* It is sent to remind us of the important lessons that we seem to have forgotten and it is up to us if we will learn them or not.
Well said, Mr. Gates!
Here are Kim's memes for the month!
Honestly, I have no idea what April will bring!
Sadly my joy was short-lived. Joan rallied a little in the hospital, but then she started declining. After many consultations between family, nurses, and the doctor, Joan made the decision to come home from the hospital on hospice. They discontinued all of her medications except for morphine and lorazepam. Her double bed was moved out of her bedroom and a hospital bed was brought in.
Taylor is a paramedic/firefighter in Utah Valley. He talked with his Captain who said, "Firefighters take care of their own" and gave Taylor permission to drive the ambulance here to the local hospital (about a two hour drive) to transport Joan home for the last time. Not only was Taylor able to bring the ambulance, he and his partner, Rackman, were both scheduled to work that day and his co-workers came in on their day off to cover them. It was such a wonderful blessing. Each and every movement was severely painful for Joan, so to be taken on a stretcher in a truck designed to transport made the trip so much easier for her. I wasn't there, but Kim filmed it all and I watched it during a break at work. I was overcome with emotion as I watched how tenderly Taylor and Rackham moved her. It was one of the most touching things I have ever seen.
 |
| Rackham and Taylor |
We called Tasha to tell her that her grandmother was not going to live much longer, and she decided to fly up with Ish. It was hard to ask her to make the trip, especially since we didn't actually know if and when Joan would pass away, but we thought it would be best for her to come just in case.
We all were surprised by Joan. She never really regained consciousness and the last food and water she had were at the hospital before she came home. We expected that she would pass quickly because she didn't ingest anything, but she hung on and on. It was a very long and drawn-out death. The family struggled with long nights and little sleep, worried that Joan was in pain and trying to decide if the oxygen was helpful or harmful in easing her out of this life. We all really were anticipating that she would go quickly because she was so anxious to see her beloved Ross, but she fooled all of us. She finally left this earth on March 8, 2020, at 1:32 am.
Mont had to traveled to Utah for work and so he stayed in town for a few days. Fortunately, he was able to come to the house to visit with us and to say good-by to Joan. He was picking up his parents to take them back to Texas for Maddie's homecoming. It was so good to see him! He truly feels just like family and it felt good that he was there.
 |
| Little Miss's antics while hanging out with Grandma Great. She kept trying to climb up and sit with Joan and to adjust her pillows for her. She got frustrated if anyone sat in Grandma's special chair. She even tried to wear the nasal cannula just the way Grandma did. She tried to give Grandma a tissue and ended up dragging toilet paper all over the house! |
The viewing and funeral were very nice. David gave the family prayer, Justin and Stephanie gave the life sketch, and Doug and Cheryl Moffit both spoke. Tyler Fox played a piano solo of Joan's favorite song, the theme from Dr. Zhivago, Lara's Theme, and all of the grandchildren sang "Families Can Be Together Forever". Kim's cousin, Aaron, who is a professional pianist was going to play, but he was unable to fly here due to the coronavirus and the need to quarantine afterward, so Tyler filled in. It was too bad, I was looking forward to hearing Aaron play again, he is so good! Kim dedicated the grave.
 |
| Barb, David, Jan, Jody, Kim, Doug |
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| Barbara, David, Jan, Jody, Kim, Greg (family friend from California) and Doug |
As it turned out, Joan's was one of the very last funerals that was able to be held, within a couple of days all public gatherings of more than 10 people were canceled. Schools from kindergarten to universities were closed and immediately switched to online. There was panic everywhere with people racing to the stores to start hoarding toilet paper, bottled water, and hand sanitizer. The coronavirus - or COVID-19 - had officially become a pandemic. Thousands of people have died in China and Italy. Italy has been completely overrun with so many patients needing to be on ventilators that they can't handle them. It is pretty scary. Our prophet has come out and stated that we are to not meet in the church or temples for any gatherings during this time. We are to hold private church in our own homes using the Come Follow Me manuals, conference talks, and other Church materials.
Anyway, Tasha and Ish have been here (they left just before the pandemic shutdown), and it has been so great! We got together with my sisters for lunch at Wingers, played at the park, played lots of games, and basically had a great time (along with the time we were with the Olsens dealing with Joan's passing). I just about went crazy when I first saw Ish - he has grown so much! He is so cute, talking and singing up a storm. He and Little Miss got along - most of the time. And I just love spending time with Tash, I miss her so much when she isn't here. Shandra and I both had a lot of time off so I got to spend lots of time with my two favorite girls.
 |
| In tribute to Grandma Great, we had a game night with the cousins. Fun times! |
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| This is a picture of where Little Miss colored on the wall and her mother making her clean it! |
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| I asked Ish if I could take his picture and he put his hand up and said, "No, no, that is not what I need right now". He talks like he is a little grown-up! |
Last month during the President's Day sale I bought a new sectional sofa for the family room. I got such a good deal on the sofa, that I had enough left over to get a new kitchen table also! They were back ordered so they didn't arrive until the middle of March. I am so excited! They look great and are very comfortable for lounging. The table is counter height which is nice become I have so little counter space in the kitchen, so I can work on the table easily. Fun!
Mark Update
Mark seems to be responding a little to his new medicine, although it makes him run a fever and feel sick. The doctors are still taking a wait and see approach to see what happens as he continues to take his medicine.
The spread of the COVID-19 of coronavirus has been so rapid that many hospital facilities have become overrun with people needing to be in ICU with respiratory support. The virus isn't as deadly as influenza, but it is more easily spread and it has a two week incubation time, so someone could be infected and over the next two weeks infect many more people without even knowing he was sick. Thus the leaders of our nation, as well as President Nelson, our prophet, have instructed that social gatherings be curtailed as a way to flatten the curve to stop the spread. This graph shows how limiting people's contact with each other flattens the curve.
On Wednesday, March 18, I was sitting at home at my computer before work when all of a sudden everything started moving! It was the weirdest feeling! I could actually feel the room swaying back and forth. Of course, I immediately got online and found that other people from all over had felt it too. It was an EARTHQUAKE! The epicenter was in Magna and it was a 5.7 magnitude. It even knocked the trumpet from the statue of the Angel Moroni on top of the Salt Lake Temple. I didn't feel any aftershocks, but several people I know said they felt many aftershocks. I found it interesting to see comments about the earthquake. Many people, including my sisters, were extremely panicked thinking that on top of the virus, the earthquake was a sign that the end of the world was starting.
For some reason, the earthquake didn't bother me much after the initial shock, and Kim didn't even feel it! But a lot of people were nervous.
All over the nation schools and businesses have been transitioning, closing, or changing the way they did business. Restaurants closed dining rooms and started offering curbside pickup. Hospitals canceled all elective surgeries to prepare to handle COVID cases. Playgrounds have been cordoned off and all professional sporting events are canceled. Elementary and secondary school students and teachers scrambled to figure out how to deal with online school - and parents became panicked because they knew they would have to take over the role of the school teacher as well as principal.
In the midst of this, we got the troubling news that Zane had been laid off because his company needed to cut costs due to the virus. A few days later we heard that because there were no elective surgeries Shandra would not be needed in the OR at work. Gratefully they paid her for a couple of weeks while they were working out how to keep her on the payroll. After just a few days of going in to work while the students stayed home, my administration decided that we should "shelter at home" and everyone was sent home with our computers and told to stay at home until further notice. Two of the Eagle Gate staff were laid off. Fortunately, my job is considered essential right now so I still have lots of work to do.
Working from home has been both good and not so good. Overall I have been able to make the adjustment to online without too many hitches. However, I hate that sometimes I feel like I am talking to a blank screen. My students prefer to mute their mics - which does make it easier for us to not have interruptions - and they like to type their comments and questions in the group chat area. However, as we all know, it takes longer to type than to speak so I often have to wait to figure out what they are saying. When I am explaining information from a PowerPoint I frequently feel that I speaking only to myself because I can't see their faces or hear their voices. It makes it hard to know if they are understanding or not. I will have to work on some ways to help them be more engaged. Also, because they can't go to clinicals at the hospitals, we are all impatiently waiting for whatever administration is going to assign them to make up those hours. The longer it takes, the less time they will have to get it done. I feel so bad that over half of the class will not get any hands-on experience this semester. But, we do what we have to, right? One positive is that I do not have to drive to work!!! That has been amazing! I still get up every morning and get dressed as if I were going to work so that it feels like I am really at work. Another tough thing is all of the meetings that have been scheduled. Things are still changing all of the time and we are still being pushed to make sure that our students are ready for the NCLEX (when it opens back up for testing).Kalel is not a fan of this Shelter in Place policy. He has struggled with online school (lucky for him, I have enjoyed helping him - most of the time). He is really missing the social life he had a school and even hanging out with his cousins, Tristan and Corbin. And to make matters worse, he had to celebrate his 13th birthday alone with only immediate family. We did have a great time eating brownies (Kalel's request) and playing games.
I saw this quote from Bill Gates and really liked it, so I decided to include it here.
Bill Gates in an open letter, entitled ‘What is the Corona/ Covid-19 Virus Really Teaching us?’, he wrote:
‘A SPIRITUAL PURPOSE’
“I’m a strong believer that there is a spiritual purpose behind everything that happens, whether that is what we perceive as being good or being bad.“As I meditate upon this, I want to share with you what I feel the Corona/ Covid-19 virus is really doing to us.
1) It is reminding us that we are all equal, regardless of our culture, religion, occupation, financial situation or how famous we are. This disease treats us all equally, perhaps we should too.
If you don’t believe me, just ask Tom Hanks. (Actor Tom Hanks and his wife were both infected with the virus.)
2) It is reminding us that we are all connected and something that affects one person has an effect on another.
It is reminding us that the false borders that we have put up have little value as this virus does not need a passport. It is reminding us, by oppressing us for a short time, of those in this world whose whole life is spent in oppression.
3) It is reminding us of how precious our health is and how we have moved to neglect it through eating nutrient-poor manufactured food and drinking water that is contaminated with chemicals upon chemicals. If we don’t look after our health, we will, of course, get sick.
4) It is reminding us of the shortness of life and of what is most important for us to do, which is to help each other, especially those who are old or sick. Our purpose is not to buy toilet roll.
5) It is reminding us of how materialistic our society has become and how, when in times of difficulty, we remember that it’s the essentials that we need (food, water, medicine) as opposed to the luxuries that we sometimes unnecessarily give value to.
6) It is reminding us of how important our family and home life is and how much we have neglected this. It is forcing us back into our houses so we can rebuild them into our home and to strengthen our family unit.
‘OUR TRUE WORK’
7) It is reminding us that our true work is not our job, that is what we do, not what we were created to do. Our true work is to look after each other, to protect each other and to be of benefit to one another.
8) It is reminding us to keep our egos in check. It is reminding us that no matter how great we think we are or how great others think we are, a virus can bring our world to a standstill.
9) It is reminding us that the power of freewill is in our hands. We can choose to cooperate and help each other, to share, to give, to help and to support each other or we can choose to be selfish, to hoard, to look after only our self. Indeed, it is difficulties that bring out our true colours.
10) It is reminding us that we can be patient, or we can panic. We can either understand that this type of situation has happened many times before in history and will pass, or we can panic and see it as the end of the world and, consequently, cause ourselves more harm than good.
11) It is reminding us that this can either be an end or a new beginning. This can be a time of reflection and understanding, where we learn from our mistakes, or it can be the start of a cycle which will continue until we finally learn the lesson we are meant to.
12) It is reminding us that this Earth is sick. It is reminding us that we need to look at the rate of deforestation just as urgently as we look at the speed at which toilet rolls are disappearing off of shelves. We are sick because our home is sick.
13) It is reminding us that after every difficulty, there is always ease. Life is cyclical, and this is just a phase in this great cycle. We do not need to panic; this too shall pass.
14) Whereas many see the Corona/ Covid-19 virus as a great disaster, I prefer to see it as a *great corrector* It is sent to remind us of the important lessons that we seem to have forgotten and it is up to us if we will learn them or not.
Well said, Mr. Gates!
Here are Kim's memes for the month!
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