Jeff's Journal

Home, Again

We made it to Shelley’s parent’s house on Wednesday after 14 hours on the road. (There was one hour of waiting for a 10 car pile up to be cleared on Hwy. 90 outside of Rosenberg, so that made the trip a bit longer.) Several of our friends evacuated to the Texas Hill Country. This was not a coordinated plan, but it was nice to have those friends around for Shelley and the boys to commiserate with.

The plan was to return on Tuesday. I called our house on Thursday and Friday and got our answering machine, so I knew we had electricity. Several friends trickled back and gave us reports that our house had no damage. The story that motivated us home was when our friends, whose car broke down while they were getting out of Houston, called to let us know the traffic on I-10 was flowing and the Beltway was moving. That call came at 10:00 on Sunday night and by 10:30 we were packed and on the road.

The trip back from Lockhart was a breeze compared to the journey to Lockhart. The traffic was full and flowed on I-10. The Beltway was empty as there were only five cars on the road. When we got to I-45, no one was on the road. We made it home around 1:30 am. Since we did not take much with us, it did not take too long to unpack.

We were in bed by 2:00 am and then up early to look around and survey the damage. Houses were on slabs. Roofs were in tact. There was no flood water in homes. Neighbors are slowly coming home. There were limbs down all over the neighborhood, but nothing substantial.

In addition to my calls, there were messages on our answering machine from the city telling us there was a mandatory evacuation for our neighborhood. We have a tree that leans in a new direction and some large pine branches that will need to be removed, but all in all, nothing to complain about. Someone came and raked up our limbs. Thank you whoever you are.

As we have watched the news, I have tried to explain to our boys that the destroyed homes they see on TV were on target to be our homes. They cannot fathom that destruction. After going through floods with my parents, I don’t want to deal with that type of destruction. But, there are two more months of hurricane season.

Shelley’s folks were delighted we were there and it was good to see them. Since I have been tethered to Clear Lake since May and then the surgery, we have not made plans to visit with them. This was a survival serendipitous visit. It was also good to enjoy Lockhart BBQ. For the past five years, with a low protein diet, I have not had the pleasure of Lockhart’s fame.

The clinic hunted me down today and labs are scheduled for Thursday, so it will be a day at the hospital to see what is happening with the transplant. We got one report back and the kidney functioning has declined a bit. I’m a little concerned, but it could be that a different lab did the testing. (I’ve had this experience before.) It will be better to have it done back at the hospital and to do the full day of testing to determine the levels. Swelling was not too bad today, but I understand why you should take it easy after surgery!

There will be soooo many stories in the weeks to come; sagas of people taking 24+ hours to get to other places. There is one family I know whose dad is a shuttle commander. Dad went into commander mode. He kept calling his family “a good crew.” They were stuck in Katy for six hours. He attempted to dehydrate the family so they would not have to go to the bathroom; he rationed the supplies and did not allow the AC to be on for the 24 hour trip to the Hill Country. On his way back home, he said he had heart palpitations when he went through Katy. (I think if they have another child, they need to name her Katy!) Weston kept calling their son asking where they were and what he was doing through their trip. All the son could say was, “I’m not drinking water.” Since I am still in medical seclusion, I will miss all these stories. I wish I were able to hear them all in person.

All in all, we are home and thankful. We are trying to get stuff back to usual. School starts again on Thursday, so the boys are enjoying the hurricane holiday.

posted by Jeff Waldo @ 4:32 PM