Will Wed Ever End?

Chris's scary neighbor looked straight out of a post-apocalytic movie. He had a barbeque grill going, his dog on the porch, and hip waders on so he could go through the water. Another neighbor had left a large amount of meat in the freezer and he said he was cooking it so it wouldn't go to waste. He was trading the cooked meat to the looters to get liquor when they passed by. He had plenty of beer and Jack Daniels and offered us some, but we declined. This man was in his element and a prime example of "A country boy can survive!" Chris was so happy no water was in his house. We were both hoping that the water would not continue to rise and he would remain safe. His truck had water in the tailpipe, but not inside the engine. He managed to get it started and moved towards the front door. We saw some other neighbors emerge from their homes looking at us like we were aliens. Everyone wanted to ask us what we were seeing out there. We asked them if they wanted a ride out of the city, but everyone wanted to stay put. We told them what we could, but didn't have the answers they wanted, that the levees were fixed and help was on the way.

We went inside Chris's house where he fed the cat. We never saw the cat, but from the litter boxes, you could tell he was okay. We also got some snack bars and some cokes from the kitchen. Chris got himself dry clothes to put on and when we got back to the truck he was able to change. I was not that lucky as his wife and i did not wear the same size. I was wet and quite literally had ants in my pants. Chris felt bad because his house was going to be okay as long as the water didn't keep rising and I probably lost my house. The worst part was the gasoline and oil in the water. It really burned and irritated the skin. Getting back in the truck and sitting in gross clothes really sucked.

Lisa called me while we were getting back in the truck preparing to go to West Jeff and the phone actually connected. I told her about the water and that I had gotten cut by something under the water on the way back to the truck and my leg was bleeding. I had a 2 inch long gash on my right leg near my knee. Wading through the oily water only made it burn more than it would have normally. Lisa started freaking out and wanted me to go to a doctor when I got back to BTR. I told her it would be fine, but she was concerned about contamination in the water. I was too, but I wasn't going to tell her that. My phone kept cutting out, but I told her I would call back later.

We tried to find a way further into the city with the truck so we could take Charity their supplies. We could not find a road that was usable due to the high water levels. We needed a boat and we didn't have one. We asked a couple of the military personnel we encoutered if they knew a way we could get into the city or if they had someone that could help us make the delivery and they did not have any ideas, so we decided to go to W Jeff and then see if we could maybe approach downtown from the CCC Bridge. Neither Chris nor I talked a lot on the way to West Jeff. We knew we should be able to reach that hospital since our driver made it there the day before. We did detour to drive by the Whitney Bank Ops Center in Elmwood and it looked fine to us. We tried to find Don, the employee that rode out the storm in his tiny house in Elmwood, but we couldn't find his house. We went back across the Huey P to W Jeff. Ochsner was a paradise compared to W Jeff. They had declined significantly since yesterday when our driver took them product. The large generators had died. They had a few small ones they had running in the operating rooms. They lost all their fridges and all AC in the building. People were outside the hospital in their cars and in tents. It looked like something you would see near a field hospital on TV. We pulled into the back with the truck and immediately techs and pharmacists swarmed us. We only had maybe 1/2 a pallet for them. They were upset because none of their cell phones worked and the landlines and their internet was down. They couldn't transmit any orders to any of their vendors. They were completely out of some kind of medicine they needed for diabetics and had a patient die that morning from not having the right medicine. Everyone was very concerned and seemed to be on the verge of panic. We met a hospital accountant named Steven that was actually serving food to patients. He said his job was gone, but because he had nothing else to do he was going to help any way he could. I will always remember that man and how he could have sat and complained and instead he was doing whatever he could to make the situation better for the patients. He lived in Old Metairie and was asking us about his house. We told him that it depended on how close he was to the canal and how far down into Old Metairie he lived. He seemed okay with whatever the answer was.

We went to see the pharmacist as he asked if we could wait while he hand wrote a list of items he needed "Birdie" to send him. We told him we would and then the warehouse also asked us to wait while they wrote their orders down too. We waited about 30 minutes. We heard the doctors talking about breaking into Wal Mart for supplies if they couldn't get what they needed elsewhere. Apparently Harry Lee the Sheriff, had offered to requisition the Wal Mart so that the hospital could get some supplies. They were going to take him up on the offer so they could get more food and supplies as all they had was canned beans at the hospital.

We saw a few patients as we were walking around the hospital and most of them were in poor shape. Several of them kept saying they knew they were going to die, or at least they believed they were because they were not sure when help was coming. I wanted to hug all the doctors and their support people and tell them what a great job they were doing in the face of danger and uncertainty. We left the hospital with orders for several different companies, all handwritten on notebook paper. I was determined to place the orders for them. We drove away hoping we could help these people and feeling desparate.