Our Life is…

This weekend K and I went to the Health Museum with her “husband” and his family. We all had a great time, but as we were enjoying our afternoon, heavy rain had been falling outside. When we left, I thought our biggest issue would be that I had to run out to the car to unlock it and get our umbrella so K could walk out without getting soaked, but once we were on the road, I realized we were in for a bit more excitement than that!

As we made our way to the highway, I discovered our usual path was flooded. As was the next street I tried, and the next, and the next. ..and so on. I was eeking along, making very minimal progress towards the freeway with a very hungry K in the backseat, as alarms went off in my mind. The thing about K is that she usually doesn’t get insistently hungry (on the verge of tears) unless her glucose is already dipping. It was then that I realized that she was due for her next tube feed already…and the fact that I had let her walk at the museum instead of use her wheelchair meant that she had likely burned through a large portion of her resources. I also realized that I did not have any formula with me! So many realizations! Oh boy!

One of our attempts to make it to the freeway had taken us near to a gas station, so I pulled in to get some emergency supplies. Lay’s Classic chips for her to snack on (one of her few acceptable foods), water, and Gatorade to tube to her to buff her up a bit. Thankfully, I keep a large syringe and bolus tube in the car for emergencies. I also had a can of Pediasure in there which was not at all helpful since she has been off Pediasure for a long time and it was EXPIRED. Way to be prepared, Kyla! I gave her some Gatorade via her tube and we waited in the car for a bit before making another attempt (K has storm anxiety and sitting still was not helping so making a go of it seemed like the best choice).

It took us about an hour to get to that gas station and then about another two hours to get home between the traffic, closed freeway, high water (we saw many cars abandoned in the water on our journey). We were in the car so long that we heard the entire KSBJ countdown! We had to drive on the wrong side of the road a few times. and there was a lot of u-turning and backtracking. I told K we were “adventure driving”! She said, “Do you know what I would rather be doing than adventure driving? BE AT HOME!” She did a pretty good job of holding it together for the most part, but she did break down a few times. It is hard to feel trapped and unable to get home in a flood, especially when you are 8 and very afraid of storms! But eventually, we made it home safely. The whole thing reminded me of two important things. One, I need to keep that emergency bag up to date and properly stocked (now it has a can of Elecare, bottle of water, container for mixing, 60ml syringe, bolus tube, 10ml syringe, an Underjam+wipes, and a couple of her meds)…and two, everything is just a teensy bit more complicated with K, even already complicated things like getting temporarily stuck in a flood!