Snow storm!

[tito]

Hi folks.

We are expecting a big, big snow storm in Boston tonight and tomorrow with blizzard conditions. This will be the first one since I started PD. I use the cycler, but have some manual bags just in case.

Guess I'm just a bit nervous - my wife left for México ahead of me (I'm here 'til Thursday). I'm all alone with the dog, own this three-family house, so I'm responsible for getting the place shoveled for the tenants - and Boston tickets you within hours if you don't shovel the sidewalk. I dare not shovel with a catheter.

I don't know what I think will happen - loss of power, inability to get out, something happening in the middle of the night? I've been through plenty of snowstorms - the blizzard of '78, hurricanes, an earthquake in Panamá, but being on PD somehow makes it different. I feel more vulnerable with this.

Maybe I'll just get into bed early with the dog, take some lorazapam and sleep through it!

[galvo]

Good luck, mate. Here in Oz, the bushfires are raging and it's going to be a traditional hot Christmas.

[jbeany]

One of the other family have a teen willing to earn money shoveling?  Should be cheaper than tickets!  Good luck!
Got your flashlight ready?  Extra water?  Food that can be eaten without power sources needed to fix it?  Nothing worse than can goods you can't open for lack of a manual can opener!

[tito]

The other families don't have children. We live in a "trendy"neighborhood - not too many children around. Anyway, they don't seem to want to shovel for money. When I was their age...... (my students hate it when I say this!)

I could literally live off the food in my pantry for three weeks. Have a manual can opener, a Swiss Army knife, a space blanket, solar shower, inflatable raft, lots of drugs, gauze pads....

It's mostly psychological - I really don't know what I expect is going to happen. Maybe being hooked up to a cycler somehow makes me feel less capable.

[willowtreewren]

I totally understand. It's being in a "new" situation that makes you feel vulnerable.

We do home hemo, and every time we travel to a different place I feel that uneasiness. Even if we have been there before. After the new wears off, things feel more "normal."

It is a new normal, though. I hope it doesn't get too bad. We will be heading up to Western Mass on Monday!

Fifteen hour drive at one time. Can't miss two days of dialysis in a row. 

Aleta

[tito]

Thanks for your thoughts-- the storm is pretty much over and I lived through it. Nothing happened, which I expected intellectually. Now for digging out. Maybe they'll call off school tomorrow (I teach)

(Willowtreewren: Western Mass didn't get hit as hard - it was more of a coastal storm. You should be ok.)

[del]

Glad you survived tito!! I am hoping that that storm is going to head out to sea and not to Newfoundland (where I live). We do get a lot of the storms that come up the eastern coast. By the way I'm a teacher too!!  School was closed here on Friday because of snow.

[plugger]

Sounds like Southeast Mass. got it a bit though!  I'm hearing another storm is brewing for the Midwest later this week.

My son is still stuck in New York City at JFK, had to stand in line for about 5 hours to get a standby ticket.  Looks like the planes are getting out now though, just everything is backed up.

Glad to hear you are fine!

[texasstyle]

We got about 22 inches here in the Philadelphia area. Haven't seen that much in a while lol. I understand where you're coming from. I worry about my husband getting to dialysis in foul weather. With you being alone and having to care for yourself that seems like an extra worry. Like you said, the power etc.. All these things you have to think about when most other people are just worrying if they can get to work or not. for people on dialysis it's a whole different game. try to always have an emergency kit or something if you can. It helps take a wee bit of stress off the mind and any wee bit makes a difference.

[kitkatz]

If all else fails call the local radio station and ask for public help in shoveling the sidewalk.  Explain your situation. There are good people out there waiting to help.

[texasstyle]

That's a good idea Kitkatz. And you're right, there are lots of good people out there!

[hurlock1]

I know this won't help you in the short term, But if it was me, I'd move! You have no business shoveling snow. I lived in Houston Texas and it was so hot in the summer. My electric bills were unbearable. With the AC on full blast it was still hot in the house. I moved to Albuquerque, NM. It gets hot here, but it gets hot Between 1:00 PM and 5:00 pm, instead of 9:00 am and 9:00 pm, and it only gets hot between June 15 and August 15. The AC is an evaporative cooler. It's much cheaper to run than a compressor in refrigerated air. My family, daughter and her spouse and our grandchildren moved here. I know how hard it is to make such a change, but desperate situations call for desperate measures. I know, I know, Boston has all of those sports teams. BUT! there's all kinds of entertainment everywhere. I'm not saying for you to move to Albuquerque, but get away from that snow shoveling!

[tito]

We have friends from Boston who moved to Albuquerque and they love it. We have a condo in Puerto Vallarta, México - that's where I plan to retire. Winters are wonderful there, but the summers are extremely hot and humid. We're across the street from the beach, though - so it's easy to cool off!