My Katrina Story

I got to looking at my profile after I set it up and, in it, I had mentioned that I was a registered nurse until Katrina hit us in late 2005. I guess I should have some self therapy and talk about this some more, it's going to gush out on my blog eventually (among other tragedies turned bittersweet) so I may as well do it now, at least I will be interesting for a minute.
Wasn't it the end of August that year? the 30th, I think. Details like that escape me, plenty of other details will be as vivid in my mind unitl the day I die and, I swear to you, I was certain my number was up then. Ugh..I can feel already my muscles tensing up and my gut balling up just knowing I'm about to go back to that place in my mind. This may be something I do over several posts, so bear with me.
Okay, August 2005. I was a Registered Nurse at Chalmette Medical Center just south of New Orleans. Getting prepared for a hurricane was not new to any of us. All of the hospital employees were well aware of the policy that if you are scheduled to work when a hurricane is supposed to hit, you must take whatever steps necessary to be sure you are there when it does. I was terrified of the thought of loosing my job, my children and I had been through terrible hardships during the previous two years, I could not allow us to suffer again after we had just began to get on our feet,. So that is where my head was, it's very important that you understand this and, in the future, after this venture is complete I will go into detail what that is all about. I wasn't even thinking that hospital would be destroyed and there would be no job to go back to regardless.
The storm was supposed to make landfall Monday morning. The contraflow was going to start Saturday and the Twin Span would be closed Sunday. I packed supplies, clothes, my camera, and my cell phone....my MIRACLE cell phone. My boyfriend decided he would come with me. Can you believe I was scared for him to stay in Picayune, Mississippi alone? What a joke. I was so clueless. So off we went. Crossing the Twin Span was earie. The contraflow had not began yet so we were the only vehicle crossing the lake TOWARD New Orleans. We got there Saturday afternoon. We settled into an unoccupied patient room near the nurse's station where I worked. My boyfriend decided that he would see if he could go find some ice and some drinks at a nearby store and I decided, since I was there, I might as well pick up a shift even though I wasn't scheduled to work until Monday. Things were kind of quiet, so far, in the hospital. Doctors were trying to disharge as many patients as they could. Other employees were making their way upstairs to get settled in. Some brought their entire families with babies as young as 2 months old! I had left my three kids (ages18 months, 5 and 7) with my parents. They were going to stay at a church in Picayune. That was a common tradition in our little community. I felt pretty confident that they would all be okay, why would I worry about myself? About an hour after my boyfriend took off in my car I got a call from him on my cell phone. My car had broken down. "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" I screamed. I had just made my 12th payment on that car. The entire year that I had owned it I had maintained it meticulously and it ran like clockwork. My safety net for retreat was just blown to hell. Yes, I had kept at the back of my mind that if it looked like all hell was going to break loose, I could leave before the Twin Span was closed and worry about a job later. I wouldn't be abandoning my patients as long as I didn't accept any on Sunday. Seemed like a plan to me. I was starting to get nervous at that point. After my shift was over I retreated to my room and watched the news. I could hear the pace picking up in the hallways. Everyone else was watching the news as well and I assumed their nerves matched mine. My boyfriend had found a ride back to the hospital via some gracious mexicans who found the time to tow my car back to the Emergency Room parking lot. Chalmette City officials were pleading with everyone to leave. It was clear that the levees around us would not hold and very minimal authorities would stay behind to ride it out. I decided to try and get some sleep.

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Gotta stop here for now. The dishes don't do themselves and the laundry fairy is on strike. I will be able to tell my story better if I do it a little at a time anyway.