As previously mentioned, Northwest Indiana (and a portion of Illinois) experienced power outages after a horrific storm crashed through the area on August 11th. Some areas like Munster (Don and Juan live there) won't see power again until the 25th at the earliest. I spoke to Juan on August 18th and he's suspecting it may be later than that given all the damage their area has experienced. I reached out to Don and Juan since then and they mentioned that they got their power back on the 26th but they are still dealing with home damage and the other damages to their neighborhood.
So our first day after power went out, which was Wednesday August 12th, I debated whether I should go into work or stay home with Dom. He was having an aftercare nurse come to the house but she wasn't sure she could make it Wednesday since she was dealing with issues brought on by the power outage. I decided to stay home and told my manager so I could take that day off.
I helped Dom with setting up the equipment needed for him to get his daily antibiotics. He was confident that he would be able to take his shot on his own. Dom was a medic when he joined the Navy in his late 20's so he picked up plenty of medical knowledge from his own experiences. We set up the IV bag holder initially and he had a powdered form of the eraxis antibiotic. Dom had to extract a saline solution from a small bottle to transfer to the powdered antibiotic. Extracting it with the thick needle proved to be a challenge.
After he mixed enough of the saline, he then extracted the mixture from the bottle into a second needle. He used that needle to connect directly to his IV and then he shot the medicine into his system.
I was impressed that Dom was able to figure things out. But later that night Dom started experiencing chills again. We were debating if we should go to the ER but decided to wait until the nurse came in the next morning.
Dom felt better the next morning. I wasn't sure if I should go to work but both my work and home phone were dangerously low and in need of charging. I did not have an AV charging station for my car and I used both my personal and work laptop to charge both Dom and my personal phones. I told Dom that if the nurse says he needs to go to the ER than he should go.
Since we couldn't flush the toilet, we decided to use grocery bags and a sitz bath to catch our poop. We used a portable urinal for pee and dumped it in the sink drain. Once the poop was collected in the grocery bag along with the toilet paper and wipes used to clean up, we took that bag and threw it in a tall garbage bag where we continued filling until it got half full and the flies and nats were finding their way to it. It was disgusting but we didn't want to clog our toilet anymore than they were already or risk a backed up toilet.
I wound up doing sink baths to get ready for work. I used bottled water for wetting the bath rag and getting the soap lathered. Afterwards I got ready and also took my personal laptop with me so I could charge the phone.
It was really hard to concentrate at work given all that we were dealing with being without power. I was still getting tossed all kinds of Sev1's on issues I've never had to deal with before. I was able to charge my personal laptop as well as my phones.
I tried to call Dom around noon. He picked up the phone but he didn't say anything. I said hello and then he hung up. I waited a few minutes and tried to call back but it went to voicemail. My mind went to the darkest place thinking something was wrong with Dom.
It took everything in me to get through the rest of my workday. I wound up leaving two hours early so I could get home sooner. Since I have to take the train to work, it took over an hour to get home. It also took longer because at several stations, the crew had to manually go and lower the rail stations.
By the time I got off the train, my emotions got the best of me, and I was crying as I quickly ran the 0.5 miles to get home. I cried out for Dom when I got in the house and he responded. He sounded fine but I quickly unloaded that I thought something had happened because he had hung up and didn't answer when I called back. We hugged as he assured me that he was fine.
It ended up that he had just gotten lunch for himself when I initially called. He said he did not hear me so he hung up. He then accidentally dropped his phone and decided not to reach for it when I called back. He also said the nurse was impressed about how Dom was able to get the IV done himself. But a step was missed where the antibiotic solution needed to be inserted into the IV saline bag that would need to be supported by the IV bag holder which we forgot all about. She also said he likely experienced the chills because he took the whole solution at once as opposed to diluting it in the IV saline bag and letting it slowly come through.
Our neighbor Sandra was very nice to provide Dom and I dinner on a couple of the nights as well as ice and even some snacks. I also provided her dinner on Friday evening. It showed how neighbors can check in on each other during the hardest of times.
Our evenings after dinner were spent conversing and reading. I caught up on Mariah Carey's autobiography book called The Meaning of Mariah Carey. I will say it's been interesting reading about her childhood as a bi-racial girl and the rough road she had to travel. Now you know why Till The End Of Time was the first song I played when we finally got power again.
It would get really dark after 8pm so there wasn't much else to do but to lay down and eventually drift off to sleep. I would light up a couple candles to provide a little bit of light to the darkness. It was so hot and poor Dom was not having it. He opened two of the front windows as wide as he could much to my chagrin. I understood it was needed but hated the thought of our neighbors getting views of our home. A lot of it of course is imagined but still didn't like that possibility. Plus I was concerned about the bugs (who still find their way in our home anyway...uggh).
When Saturday morning came I decided to venture to Michigan City (which Sandra and I heard had power) to try and get gas and a few house essentials along with ice if possible. I kept my car outside the garage since it was still nonfunctional and I had the boards on the other side covering the bottom half of the garage that wouldn't close.
Due to the power outage, there were reports of very long lines at the few gas stations where there was power. I heard a story of one lady whose car had to be pushed into the station because it completely ran out of gas while waiting. Luckily I still had a little over half a tank of gas in the car. As I made my way to Michigan City a little after 9am, I saw one gas station that was open on the outskirts of Chesterton, IN. It didn't look too full even though every station was taken. I drove up and waited behind one station before another station next to me opened up. Luckily there was no other cars waiting so I was able to drive around to that station.
The station was requiring cash since their credit card stations weren't working. Luckily I had some cash so I gave $30 and was able to fill my tank. I then continued my way to Michigan City but not before my tire pressure light flashed. With my experiences related to tires in the past, that of course had me freaking out. I found myself repeatedly saying "no, no, no, no..." like that maid in the Get Out movie.
After I calmed down a little, I realized that the car seemed fine and I didn't notice it driving any different. That gave me reassurance as I made it to Michigan City. Seeing all the traffic lights and businesses with power felt like a different world compared to where I was coming from with dead traffic lights and no power.
I first went to Meijers. I picked up some snacks like Nutty Butters and Entermann's donuts that we could eat in a pinch. I also got a few canned goods. I obviously couldn't get anything that required refrigeration. I searched for ice but they didn't have any. I then drove to Gordon's and they also didn't ice. I was wondering if I would have to venture to Michigan to find ice but decided to make a stop at the Walmart's in Michigan City. Thankfully they did have a few bags of ice left so I bought 3 with my intention on giving Sandra one of the bags. She wound up not needing it but she gave me a bottle of root beer and a mango drink. Both of them were advertised as having zero sugar which was something neither Dom or I drink. But I figured I would drop them at Church as someone would drink them.
Dom thankfully was still doing fine when I got back. Dom made a discovery a couple nights back that if you soak macaroni noodles in water, it'll still get soft even without cooking it. So we wound up having that with marinara sauce for dinner. Sandra happened to give me some Harold's Chicken wings as well as fries so we had that as a side.
I decided on Sunday to go to Church. Our Church decided to have a service even with the power out. They also were planning to cook hamburgers and hot dogs afterwards. I wanted Dom to go to but he needed to get his IV medication ready so opted to stay home.
I arrived at Church and got to see other members some of which were blessed to not be affected by the outage. Some had just gotten power back the night before. The zero sugar drinks I bought in from Sandra were quickly gobbled up by another member just as I expected. The burgers wound up being some cheap soy by-products that weren't particularly tasty but beggars can't be choosers.
I took Dom's phone with me to the Church in hopes of getting it charged since it was dead. I talked to Wilma since she seemed to be in the know about different gadgets. I wanted to see if she could charge it in her car. I told her about my older car not having a USB port and she mentioned that I could get an AV charger with an attached USB port that could be used to charge it. She told me where I could find them for the cheap at Menard's and used her's to charge his phone up to 62%.
I debated whether to go to Menard's to try and find one. Dome was feeling good the last few days so I decided after eating to head to Menard's. I didn't find what I wanted there but then decided to make a trip to the nearby Meijer's to pick up some more canned goods.
By the time I got home it was a little after 3pm. Dom was in the bathroom and I didn't think anything further from it until he started crying out. I asked if he was okay and he said he needed me to help him. When I opened the door I found that he had pooped all over the toilet seat. He was feeling unwell and said he needed me to help him wipe his ass. I quickly ran to grab some wet wipes and proceeded to clean him up.
He was upset obviously because I didn't come back immediately and he was getting chills again. I felt guilty because he was fine the last few days and seemed to have gotten a good routine going. He didn't have his phone (which was useless anyway at that time because it had zero charge) to call emergency. He had hoped he'd hear Sandra outside so he could shout to her. He mentioned there were some workers that were nearby checking on power lines but they didn't hear him.
Seeing the situation had me flash back to July 30th when I came home from work to find he had pooped and was feeling lethargic. I knew we had to go back to the hospital. It took another half hour (needed time to clean the shit from the toilet that thankfully didn't hit the floor) but we finally made our way back to the ER. This time the ER was busy and I had to wait a bit for an extra wheelchair to become available as Dom was barely able to move.
He eventually got to see the staff though one of the nurses was rude as she told me I had to wait back in the main ER area. But eventually I had to return so we could register him once more. They did more tests while we waited for a room. I was annoyed briefly because a large family came into the ER for one person and it was already feeling tight in the space. The patient wound up being an older lady which I'm guessing may have been the matriarch but it was ridiculous that they had ten people with her when one or two folks would've been enough with them then communicating with the rest of the family. But Hemingway.
It was getting dark again and Dom was telling me I needed to go home since I had to work the next day. I hated leaving him especially with that large family looming nearby and I'm sure they couldn't wait to grab my seat. I tried to subtly suggest I move Dom to a different part of the room away from them but he insisted on staying since he had direct view of the TV and his favorite show Big Bang Theory was playing. I reluctantly left after 8pm and got home just when it was dark. I believe I may have just snacked on some canned tuna.
I resigned myself to needing to bring my laptop again on Monday so I could get it charged. I laid on the downstairs sofa and had a thought of what to do with the melted ice water from the two bags of ice. I decided I would put both in a bucket along with a bit more of a bottle of distilled water and wanted to use it to flush the shit filled toilet downstairs. I was able to do just that which provided me some small comfort.
I made my way to the sofa and tried to calm myself to sleep. I prayed that Dom would at least get a temporary room in the back of the ER away from the main area. I eventually drifted off to sleep.
Around 2:45 AM on Monday morning I was awakened to the sound of fans going and the lights turning on. I was pleasantly shocked and I briefly shouted with joy. I ran upstairs to turn off the lights there and then I adjusted the fridge so it would stop making noises that the fridge had a high temperature (that kind of happens when you don't have power for almost 6 days).
I briefly noted that it was quiet in the neighborhood and I could still hear the generator two houses down going. I was surprised with all the windows we had opened that I didn't hear someone screaming "Alleluia" in the streets. Granted it was almost 3am but still. The only other thing missing was having Dom with me to celebrate.
I decided I would stay home and since I was home, I decided at 6:30 AM to make my way back to the hospital so I could let Dom know. I was directed to the back where he was staying in Triage 14. A nurse incorrectly directed me to 13 but luckily I knew how to count and went to the right one. Imagine me walking into the wrong room and freaking out whoever was in there...*LOL*. Dom was sleeping and I hated waking him. I only stayed for a couple minutes but I let him know about the power.
At that time there were still tens of thousands of people that didn't have power. Some Gary residents, in particular, were quite vocal about the situation which bought Gary, IN to the national spotlight. I started feeling some survivor guilt with us having power while other areas still didn't. The power went out again briefly after 1pm that Monday afternoon which had me cursing out. But it came back again 45 minutes later. We surmised that they may have put it out again so they could connect another section of the city together before turning it back on. But having a taste of power again only to have it yanked yet again was too much to bear.
So in the aftermath we needed to get our garage repaired. That happened Friday and it was done by a sexy Indian guy no less. We still have branches that need to be removed. I have to call a roofer to repair the section of roof that caused water to leak through our archways and I would like to have our trees trimmed back again. I also am working on restocking food that was lost to not having power. All of that requires money.
But on that front we've gotten a bit of a reprieve. Dom officially received his first social security check deposited in the joint account. That monthly check which depending on if disability pays more should help give me some breathing room finally so I can focus on paying down our debt.
We also went to court for the other matter and we agreed to a lower amount which we should be able to pay off in 5 monthly installments starting in October. Will have to see what the damage is from Dom's recent hospital stay. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
Either way it feels good to have power again. You never realize how much you depend on it until it's taken away. I am also looking into getting a solar generator or two so that we can save our food in the event it happens next time.
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