Seniors

MARCH 30, 2020 — In their 80-plus years of life, Marion and Marlene Ceglar have seen the world change.

Marion remembers horse-drawn carriages on the road alongside cars during his childhood in Ohio. When it snowed, the mailman used a horse and sleigh.

Marlene remembers World War II changing life for her family, her father and brother quitting their jobs and moving from their hometown in Kentucky to work for Ford Motor Company in Michigan, building airplanes for the war.

Marion fought for the Army in the Korean War. He remembers rubbing charcoal onto his skin and pinning his sleeves down so the enemy wouldn’t see him at night.

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The two married 1958, when he was 25 and she was 22. In their 62 years of marriage, they’ve raised two daughters, worked all sorts of jobs, built their own log home in Samsula and watched their three grandchildren grow into adults.

Yet, with all they’ve seen, neither Marion nor Marlene recall anything shaking up the world and affecting lives as intrusively as the coronavirus pandemic they’re currently living through.

Marion likens the pandemic most to World War II. He said he finds many “parallels” in the ways society has had to change.

“When I was a little guy, in World War II, you know, everybody’s doing things for the war effort like they’re doing now, with cars and how they’re making this instead, and now they’re making face masks and all that,” he said. “This is a parallel to way back in the 1940s, it’s the same thing.”

He compares WWII’s ration books, which listed how much coffee, sugar, flour, gasoline and other necessities you could buy, to the limits grocery stores are now enforcing for certain products.

“I don’t think this has ever happened worldwide like this in any of our lifetimes,” said 84-year-old Marlene.

The pandemic has sent nearly everyone, especially the elderly, into quarantine to prevent the virus from spreading. The Ceglars have isolated for the past two months, since they’ve been regularly visiting Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach for Marion’s heart problems. They’re worried about spreading disease to others.

“We could be carrying something and not even know it, you know, even if we’re not having any symptoms,” Marlene said.

While they said they aren’t worried about getting the virus themselves, it’s a significant threat to people over 65 years old and those with underlying medical issues.

According to the CDC, fatalities among patients in the U.S. with COVID-19 are highest among people older than 85, ranging from 10% to 27%, followed by 3% to 11% among people ages 65-84, 1% to 3% for ages 55-64, and significantly lower for younger people.

The threat is greatest for people like Marion. He’ll have surgery Monday to replace a valve in his heart. There are already many risks, with Marion’s kidneys functioning at only 20% of the level that they should. Being in the hospital during the coronavirus outbreak adds yet another risk.

The surgery is overdue. He was supposed to have the procedure done Feb. 6, but it kept getting pushed back because of the coronavirus, Marlene said.

“It was supposed to be done a couple of weeks ago, and now with the coronavirus it’s been postponed,” Marlene said. “It’s really put people, and him, in danger, because it was it was not possible to go ahead and do the valve replacement as quickly as it would normally have been done.”

Marlene hopes the surgery won’t be postponed this time “because his heart valve is very bad,” and Marion’s breath “gets very short” after walking only a few steps.

Limited visitation at Halifax is a big disruption for the Ceglars. Before a different surgery Marion had earlier this year, “a whole room full of people” between family and friends visited and prayed with them, Marlene said.

“It was good, because it just filled the time and was relaxing and took your mind off of the waiting and all of the things that go through your mind,” Marlene said.

Now, Marlene will be the only person allowed to be with Marion before and after surgery. She will stay for all of the two days he has to be in the hospital.

″(Marlene) has been my nurse, advocate, my lawyer, my chauffeur, and then the go-between with my nurse and my doctor and everything,” Marion said.

Beyond the hospital, the pandemic has affected their everyday lives.

One of the biggest parts of life for the Ceglars is going to church each week in DeLand. They’re grateful for the ability to live stream the service on their phone, but they miss seeing their friends and “wonderful people” in person.

At their recent visit to the grocery store during the designated 7 to 8 a.m. time frame for seniors, “We were only allowed to get one package of toilet tissue,” Marlene said laughing. “It’s funny. And we could only get one roll of paper towels, and I went to the meat counter, and you’re only allowed to have two of each item.”

The Ceglars also can’t go out to eat anymore, something they like to do once every one to two weeks. They have been cooped up at home much more than usual. They don’t get to see their daughter, Trina, as often. She normally comes over to visit or help out. Making arrangements with the hospital has become much more complicated and stressful.

But the Ceglars are positive people with strong faith. They don’t dwell on the negative consequences of the coronavirus too much. Instead, they’ve seen the good this crisis has brought out in humanity.

They’ve seen it in a woman they barely know who works at the post office they use. She gave them her cell phone number and offered to buy groceries, run errands or do anything they need.

They’ve seen it through their friends at the church, who all joined in to pray for Marion’s health and offered their help should they need it.

They’ve seen it in the many people straying from their normal jobs and lives to help others affected by coronavirus.

While they have faith in the good of humanity, the Ceglars said they rely most on their faith in God, especially to get them through their biggest hurdle of all regarding the coronavirus: Marion’s surgery.

“There’s no fear there,” Marlene said. ”(Marion) is so looking forward to going to have this done. And I know that even though I’m going to be all alone this time, I’ll still be OK because of that. It’s a relationship with a God that you trust it’s all going work out the way it’s supposed to work out somehow.”

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