Disabled and Facing Devastation

I’ve been thinking about what to write this week, and my thoughts keep going back to what is happening in Houston and how that’s affecting those with disabilities or disease. For those of you who don’t know, Houston has been inundated with flooding. Hurricane Harvey made landfall a couple of days ago and record amounts of rain have fallen on and around Houston. We’re talking feet of rain in less than a week. They’ve had creeks, dams, and levies break, spilling over into neighborhoods. They’ve had thousands of people displaced and thousands who were stranded and had to be evacuated. All of these people are now spread throughout the city in different shelters and makeshift refuge sites. Here’s something that a lot of people don’t know. Weather can have a direct affect on symptoms of a disease. I have MS, and the heat literally makes me ill. I don’t even have to do anything in the heat. Just being outside or in a car on a hot day makes me sick. I get shaky, nauseous, my hands and feet swell. There are days when I’m literally trapped in my house because I don’t have the energy to go out in the heat. Different diseases and disabilities have reactions to heat, wind, cold weather, etc. It’s something that we can’t control but that we face daily depending on where we live. To say that the weather in Houston is negatively affecting so many with disabilities would be an understatement. Stress also plays a big role in aggravating symptoms of disease and disability. Any kind of stress can be debilitating. I can only imagine the stress that the people of Houston are feeling right now. They knew a hurricane was coming their way...stress. They then are being inundated with epic amounts of rain that is threatening their homes...stress. Their houses begin to get flooded and they are needing to leave their homes immediately...stress. They then are being evacuated, some walking through waist deep water and having nothing but the clothes on their back, heading to absolutely who knows where...stress. They are now living in refuge setups or convention centers with thousands of other people...stress. The thing I’ve been thinking about is this, what if this was me? This is just my situation, but think about this and try to understand what just one person would be facing in a disaster. I sleep with a cpap every night. I have severe positional sleep apnea and get very sick if I don’t use my cpap. Would I have left my flooding house in a hurry with that? What about my medications? I take 7 pills every morning, 4 in the afternoon and 18 at night. Would I have been sound of mind enough to grab those before evacuating? I use crutches to walk. Now, I probably would have taken those with me, but can you imagine walking through waist deep water while using crutches? To say that would be difficult is a huge understatement. And then say I made it to an evacuee site. The lucky people have cots to sleep on, but many are sleeping on the ground. I would maybe be OK to sleep on a cot, but only for a night or two before I literally wouldn’t be able to walk because of the pain. Now, say I was stuck sleeping on the ground. I wouldn’t be able to. I can’t get up and down off the ground, let alone sleep there. And it’s not because I “need a comfy bed” or something like that. I literally just can’t get up off the ground and if I slept on something hard like the ground or a cot, I would not be able to move my legs after a very short time. Imagine if I lived in Houston and that was my situation. It makes me sick to think about if that happened. Now think of all the people who are actually living this situation as I write this. My heart breaks for them. I saw a picture of a nursing home waiting to be evacuated. It was so sad. There were older people sitting in their wheelchairs in water literally up to their chests, just waiting for boats to arrive. Imagine the people who have oxygen and can’t get around easily. I follow a girl on Instagram who is on 18 hour feeds with a feeding tube. I follow another girl who has a picc line. Those are things that require a lot of medical supplies. They would be lucky to evacuate their houses with all of those supplies, and even luckier if they were able to find them at the evacuation centers. They’d have to go to the hospital and hopefully get their in time and then if they did get their in time, hopefully the hospitals have the necessary supplies. These seem like such simple things on a day to day basis, but when you don’t have them, you aren’t OK. You need to eat, to breathe, to be able to take your medications. These are things that people take for granted day to day, but not when you’re the person who needs them and is without them. I hope the message you’re taking from this is one of understanding. Their are stories all over the news about the difficulties the people in Houston are facing, but I feel like so many of the real stories aren’t being told. And it’s not just people who are sick. Think of the people who have infants. Do they have diapers, bottles, milk? Think of the people who don’t have diseases or disabilities but who are sick. Just last week my cousins were sick, 3 of them had the flu so bad they couldn’t get out of bed and the baby had croup. Think of them having to find medical help. Do they get help as soon as the others who have major diseases? I’m just heartbroken thinking about all the “what-if’s?” for the thousands of people facing such a devastating future. And while I’m thinking about every one who is suffering, my thoughts and prayers are especially with those living with chronic disease or disability and having to deal with all the added extra stress. To all the spoonies out there, PLEASE know that you’re not alone. We are here for you. There is a whole community praying especially for you. Don’t give up Houston. We will stay strong for you as long as you need! Kayla