On August 22, 2005, I remember watching  the news as they predicted which way it could go. It was to soon for evacuation but not to soon to make plans to evacuate.Our initial effort crumbled because of recent events regarding lost love ones. Our second plan was to evacuate to Wiscosin where my family is from, but neither of the plans worked both fell through. The reason for this is because we have a very tight family and if one didn’t go none of us would. My mom took her job very seriously. She was a RN for Mercy Baptist Hospital on Jefferson Davis Pkwy, in New Orleans. Because she had such a strong bond with her patients she didnt want to leave as the other nurses did and abondand her patients. So instead of going through with either of the plans we planned to wait out the storm with our mother; besides we didnt think it would be that bad. Of course we couldnt have been more wrong. The first couple of days wasnt that bad actually, except for the little kids crying to go outside whose parents forced them to come.
 On August 28, 2005, is when the clam before the storm started to sit in. Everyone in the hospital was quite. You could see families huddle together sitting, praying, and trying to get all little kids to sleep to wait out the storm. As Katrina passed over it wasnt that bad, kinda like any other hurricane we sat through. After the storm actually passed through there wasnt a big difference, except no electricity and the air conditioning was off. The back up genetator came on for a day or two then eventually died out, which left pretty much everything ran by electricity without power. This was okay for the individuals who were not acturally admitted to the hospital but terrible for the one’s who were. It was horrible. To think about it actaully gives me chills. It was like living in a horror movie. The people in the hospital that did not evacuate were those who were almost on their death beds, either without family or it was safe for them to move. It started with Ms. Weatherspoon, she was one of my moms patients. She was on Life Support and once the batteries died so did she. The freezers down stairs were without power but they still continued to place the bodies there because it was the only place for them to go. As they went to place the bodies in the basement is when they noticed the water began to rise. The hospital was elevated and the basement would actually be equvilent to the first floor of a noraml hospital. When word was received back up to the 2nd floor, it was said that each of the families would be allowed to send two people to the cafeteria to get anything they could to make it through the storm. My sister and I went for our family. When we got down there we saw the water rising it was like something out of a movie. When the water reached the inside of the hospital the windows broke and lead to a overflow of water. Massive amounts began to pour into the basement and wouldnt stop. It was like watching The Titanic right before my eyes.
 After the horror began to set in, then the realization of what might and possibly happen set in. I just knew that we would never make it out of the hospital. The irony of the situation is that I thought I would die in the same hospital that I was born in. Then the rescue bragade came. We had to swim, and I do mean literally swim to the boat were we could be air lifted by the helicopeters. After that we were transported to under the Causeway bridge which looked like the million man march. We had to fight our way to board buses that arrived in bans of three at 4 hour intervals. Once you boarded these buses they already had pre-destined destinations and you just had to go once you borded. We stood out there for 12 hours fighting, pushing, and struggling to get ahead. During this horrible attempt to flee I passed out and suffered a massive nose bleed. I have a medical condition that limits my exposure to extreme heat and it was on one of my worst days. When we finally made it to Houston we were one of the first families inside the Astro Dome. It was actually fine the first day we were just happy to be out alive. Then as the cascades of buses started to arrive daily is when yet another part of our journey began.
 Screams, Cries, and Chaos echoed throughout the Dome. It had been four days and we were awaiting the outcome of the city. Once it was stated that we could not return we turned to the next possible thing. Starting over. We went to live with one of my moms friends, a traveling nurse from Whitacha Falls, Texas named Mrs. Margo. She was nice. She lived in a Victorian style house that had over five thousand square feet so we were more than welcome to join her family until we could live on our own.  As I look back on this tragic event now I realize that Hurrican Katrina has helped me, hurt me, and caused me great pain. It helped me grow up faster than I should have. I went in as a young girl and came out a young lady. I was hurt by the emotional destress, physical stress, and pain that came from those two weeks of Hell. I remember my first day at the house, as I sat in the tub all I did was cry for the first half-hour as I just sat there. I thought about how all the sacrafices my mom went through to provide for us as a single parent and now it was all shattered in a matter of days, for the second time. Just two years before Katrina we lost everything in house fire the day after Christmas and we never thought we could recovelt but to go through it again was just unimaginable. Well we did go through it and we did recover even though it took longer than some, we made it. Thanks to our heavenly father, we made it.

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