Weathered The Storm...sort of

[PrimeTimer]

For the most part we got through Winter Storm Uri. Sort of. Hubby went 5+ days without dialysis. Fresenius was without power and had to wait for generators to arrive. That took a few days. But when they were finally up and running, we ran into a transportation problem. We are still without a car and the volunteer medical transport and city taxis were not operating. Another day of no dialysis. The ER was turning people away for dialysis because as expected, they were swamped. Hubby didn't want to bog them down. Finally, on Day 6 the taxis were running and hubby had a treatment. And another this morning. He's a real champ, I tell ya. He said he felt okay but was starting to feel the effects of no dialysis and hung in there. Unbelievably, he only brought in 1.6 kilos of fluid! They were shocked. But he had restricted his food and fluid intake and obviously that paid off. Except that he was thirsty as heck and of course, could eat a horse. No one should have to live like that. It's brutal.

Next up, food! Grocery stores and restaurants have run out and waiting to be resupplied. Some had to toss their food out due to spoilage. Hopefully by tomorrow they will have food, something, anything. We are down to a few pot pies and half a box of cream of wheat. Our cats are about to have their last meal. Hubby took a cab to CVS to see what they have. He called them ahead of time and they said they are low on everything but have a little left. We'll see.

We never lost power to our apartment but we are literally just up the street from several hospitals. They said some didn't lose power because they are probably on the same circuit as a hospital, fire house or police station and those facilities were avoided for the targeted blackouts. We must be on the same circuit as the hospitals. It was freezing outside and I haven't ever seen this much snow in Texas before. The blowing snow and freezing temps kind of reminded me of my years spent in Colorado. And I don't want to ever live through winters like that again. Gotta hand it to a local kid here though. He didn't have a sled so used a kayak. My vote is on him, he's got a future as a real problem solver. No sled? No prob! I have a kayak! Hhmm...maybe Elon Musk should talk to him.

We had to boil water. Oh joy. But I'm not complaining, at least we had the electricity to do it. We can drink tap again but some are still having to boil theirs. The local water company (for water and sewer services) are distributing free water and food. It went on a first come, first serve basis. Not sure but wouldn't be surprised that they ran out in a matter of hours.

Breaks my heart reading stories about elderly people and children who died from hypothermia. What hubby and I went through was no picnic but at least we had heat. Some people fought Covid, others feared it and some were homeless but that's not what got them. The damn freezing temps did. Those "rolling blackouts" did. I cry for those people who lost loved ones.

So, that pretty much sums it up. We weathered the storm. It's in the 50's today. Too late for those without heat.

[MooseMom]

Oh gosh, Pea Tea, I'm glad you've survived.  I was born and raised in Houston and went to college in San Antonio, so Texas in near and dear to me.  I have so many friends and family members down there who have had power outages, burst pipes, and ruined homes.  No water, too.  I see the temps are finally warming up, and I hope the water issue will be resolved soon.

I also hope that sooner rather than later, you and hubby will get a new car.

Y'all have enough on your plates without having weather issues, too.  I am grateful you've weathered the storm...literally.

[PrimeTimer]

Thanks for your kind words, MooseMom. Hubby and I have it hard right now because we both have health problems at the same time but when I look at the bigger picture, we are still very fortunate compared to others. I feel for those who have lost loved ones. I feel for those who lost their home. They had homes and apartments burn because of no/low water pressure caused by the power outages and even fire hydrants freeze up. That's insane! Now those people are without a home. I cannot imagine how hard it must be for families with children. I had to ration my kitties food and felt terribly guilty, as if I had let them down and it made me wonder how parents of "human children" are handling food shortages. This kind of storm was rare for Texas but still, there doesn't seem to have been a plan in place for it and perhaps there should have been. Thankfully, today is better but no doubt this whole experience/winter storm has left it's mark. Like a scar.

I'm not suppose to drink but I think when I get better or start doing better I am going to have one. Bailey's Irish Cream comes to mind.

[iolaire]

He's a real champ, I tell ya. He said he felt okay but was starting to feel the effects of no dialysis and hung in there. Unbelievably, he only brought in 1.6 kilos of fluid! They were shocked. But he had restricted his food and fluid intake and obviously that paid off.

Kudos to him, that sounds like very good disaster control.  I'm glad you both are safe.

I'm following the Facebook group and various people are posting about how long they have had to wait to get into a clinic and it doesn't sound good.

[kristina]

For the most part we got through Winter Storm Uri. Sort of. Hubby went 5+ days without dialysis. Fresenius was without power and had to wait for generators to arrive. That took a few days. But when they were finally up and running, we ran into a transportation problem. We are still without a car and the volunteer medical transport and city taxis were not operating. Another day of no dialysis. The ER was turning people away for dialysis because as expected, they were swamped. Hubby didn't want to bog them down. Finally, on Day 6 the taxis were running and hubby had a treatment. And another this morning. He's a real champ, I tell ya. He said he felt okay but was starting to feel the effects of no dialysis and hung in there. Unbelievably, he only brought in 1.6 kilos of fluid! They were shocked. But he had restricted his food and fluid intake and obviously that paid off. Except that he was thirsty as heck and of course, could eat a horse. No one should have to live like that. It's brutal.

Next up, food! Grocery stores and restaurants have run out and waiting to be resupplied. Some had to toss their food out due to spoilage. Hopefully by tomorrow they will have food, something, anything. We are down to a few pot pies and half a box of cream of wheat. Our cats are about to have their last meal. Hubby took a cab to CVS to see what they have. He called them ahead of time and they said they are low on everything but have a little left. We'll see.

We never lost power to our apartment but we are literally just up the street from several hospitals. They said some didn't lose power because they are probably on the same circuit as a hospital, fire house or police station and those facilities were avoided for the targeted blackouts. We must be on the same circuit as the hospitals. It was freezing outside and I haven't ever seen this much snow in Texas before. The blowing snow and freezing temps kind of reminded me of my years spent in Colorado. And I don't want to ever live through winters like that again. Gotta hand it to a local kid here though. He didn't have a sled so used a kayak. My vote is on him, he's got a future as a real problem solver. No sled? No prob! I have a kayak! Hhmm...maybe Elon Musk should talk to him.

We had to boil water. Oh joy. But I'm not complaining, at least we had the electricity to do it. We can drink tap again but some are still having to boil theirs. The local water company (for water and sewer services) are distributing free water and food. It went on a first come, first serve basis. Not sure but wouldn't be surprised that they ran out in a matter of hours.

Breaks my heart reading stories about elderly people and children who died from hypothermia. What hubby and I went through was no picnic but at least we had heat. Some people fought Covid, others feared it and some were homeless but that's not what got them. The damn freezing temps did. Those "rolling blackouts" did. I cry for those people who lost loved ones.

So, that pretty much sums it up. We weathered the storm. It's in the 50's today. Too late for those without heat.

Hello PrimeTimer,

I am so glad that you both survived so well ... so far !!!

... What a strange name to give to a destructive Winter Storm ...  I vaguely remember an interesting poem created and written many decades ago by a childless poetess, who stated that "If I (ever) had a son I would name him Uri" ...

Hopefully the two of you "soldier on" and keep going and I keep my fingers crossed and send you both my kind regards from Kristina.

[Simon Dog]

I'm following the Facebook group and various people are posting about how long they have had to wait to get into a clinic and it doesn't sound good.

Several hospitals in the DPRM had a decent system - the hospitals got vaccine and were able to administer it to their patient facing staff, eligible people, and additional people who were not yet on the state list but in medical need - for example transplant patients under 75.   It has been a "don't call us, we'll call you" system with the hospitals inviting eligible patients in.

In his excellency's infinite wisdom Governor "rhino" Baker had decided it is best for all vaccines to be administered under the watchful supervisory arm of the state.  Hospitals are only being given enough to honor existing appointments including 2nd shot appointments.  My town sent out a notice that it is no longer being allocated vaccine and that all subjects must go to a state run facility like the one in a local shopping mall.  My primacy care MD send out a notice "we may get some vaccine; it won't be enough; don't call us asking for status; if you can get it elsewhere please do so".

The website for appointments has been overloaded (naturally occurring DDOS event) and when it works people mostly get "no appointments available".   It is common for people to make appointments tens of miles away because their local area vaccine site is fully booked.

Add in that you prove your medical need by "declaring" that you have two medical conditions - no proof required other than self-attestation.

Our US Senator has stated that "equity" (translation: getting those who do not pay taxes vaccinated first) must the FIRST priority in deciding who gets a shot.

In short, it is a Cluster-F..k.

[iolaire]

I'm following the Facebook group and various people are posting about how long they have had to wait to get into a clinic and it doesn't sound good.

Several hospitals in the DPRM had a decent system - the hospitals got vaccine and were able to administer it to their patient facing staff, eligible people, and additional people who were not yet on the state list but in medical need - for example transplant patients under 75.   It has been a "don't call us, we'll call you" system with the hospitals inviting eligible patients in.

In his excellency's infinite wisdom Governor "rhino" Baker had decided it is best for all vaccines to be administered under the watchful supervisory arm of the state.  Hospitals are only being given enough to honor existing appointments including 2nd shot appointments.  My town sent out a notice that it is no longer being allocated vaccine and that all subjects must go to a state run facility like the one in a local shopping mall.  My primacy care MD send out a notice "we may get some vaccine; it won't be enough; don't call us asking for status; if you can get it elsewhere please do so".

The website for appointments has been overloaded (naturally occurring DDOS event) and when it works people mostly get "no appointments available".   It is common for people to make appointments tens of miles away because their local area vaccine site is fully booked.

Add in that you prove your medical need by "declaring" that you have two medical conditions - no proof required other than self-attestation.

Our US Senator has stated that "equity" (translation: getting those who do not pay taxes vaccinated first) must the FIRST priority in deciding who gets a shot.

In short, it is a Cluster-F..k.

My comment was in context of Texas residents who could not receive dialysis due to loss of power and/or water at their Dialysis centers.  I believe one said they had a dialysis friend that died from lack of treatments.

[enginist]

Uri is a Hebrew name meaning "my flame, my light."  As you say, Kristina, it's a strange name to be given to a deadly storm.  It reminded me of the mentalist Uri Geller, a fraud who bent spoons on TV with psychokinetic powers, and the writer Leon Uris, who wrote some long, accomplished novels but is little read today. 

Have yourself a drink, PT.  Or even more than one.  It's pretty hard to get a buzz on Bailey's.

[kristina]

Uri is a Hebrew name meaning "my flame, my light."  As you say, Kristina, it's a strange name to be given to a deadly storm.  It reminded me of the mentalist Uri Geller, a fraud who bent spoons on TV with psychokinetic powers, and the writer Leon Uris, who wrote some long, accomplished novels but is little read today. 

Hello enginist,

The poem was written by Rachel Bluwstein Sela (20th September 1890 - 16th April 1931) and her early work was written in Russian, but later she switched to write in Hebrew and spent her life travelling and living in Tel Aviv, eking out a living by providing lessons in Hebrew.

Because of her poor health, she had - to her great regret, never any children ...  and, after her poem was published the name "Uri" became very popular ...
   
Barren
Oh, if I had a son, a little son,
with black curled hair and clever eyes,
A little son to walk with in the garden
under morning skies
a son,
a little son.
I'd call him Uri, little laughing Uri,
a tender name, as light, as full of joy
as sunlight on the dew, as tripping on the tongue
as the laughter of a boy -
"Uri"
I'd call him.
And still I wait, as mother Rachel waited,
or Hannah at Shiloh, she the barren one,
until the day comes when my lips whisper,
"Uri, my son."

[kristina]

Hello enginist,

... I forgot to mention that I have not bothered to find out about Uri Geller, because I don't think anyone could possibly be able to bend a spoon or any stainless steel, so therefore the "Uri-Geller-spoons" were obviously already "semi-bent" by being specially re-heated to a high degree and then "splashed" into ice-cold water, to create some brittleness beforehand? Mind you, I am not a metallurgist, just read a few books on decorative ironwork ...

... I also must admit that I have not yet read any of the books written by Leon Uris, because I have heard them to be a little bit too "long-winded" and I have not yet had the time. Perhaps later, I don't know ... 

[Hereware]

Thanks for sharing your story. Glad you survived. Know that better days are coming.

[PrimeTimer]

Looking at even the smallest, slightest positive thing in each day and thinking ahead of what good may come is what helps me. I know it's not possible to be positive every day but trying sure helps. For instance, I have a rare incurable lung disease. I may die an early death. Or maybe not...I recently had one of my 30-day medications refilled and noticed that it was written with another 94 refills. I've never seen a prescription written for that many refills before. Either that was a typo or my doctor is thinking I will be around for that long. Well, I've decided not to bring it up. I am going for the "long term survival". 

[cassandra]

   Good girl 

[bhall777]

Im in South Central Texas and you are correct, this storm was brutal.

I must say though, I “Lucked out” with my dialysis treatments. I say “Lucked Out” because I was in the hospital most of the storm and had my treatments and only missed one because I asked to go home before the second round of snow and ice fell. I live an hour from the hospital i was at. So, im grateful to be there and only miss ONE treatment. Out clinic was closed for just over a week and many missed all of those treatments.

But hopefully we never see a storm like that again...

[PrimeTimer]

  Good girl  !

Thanks for the applause, Cass! Good to see you on here! BTW, I get some of my inspiration from you. The positivity you have towards challenges has taught (and served) me well. We gotta be like a Timex...

Meanwhile, positivity grows and so did the beard my husband grew during the pandemic. He let me shave it off yesterday. Was the most fun I've had in a long time!

[cassandra]

O PT that does sound like fun