Hurricane Ike Update #28

Wednesday, September 24, 2008, 10:31pm EST

So, I have received some requests for updates, but I really don't have much to say right now.

I'm still in Ohio, and I'm continuing to hear terrible, horrible, no good, very bad stories from my fellow residents about their homes.

I also found out that I'm going to be doing an 8 week rotation at Dell Children's Hospital in Austin, starting this Monday. I'm planning on flying back this weekend and driving over to Galveston to get some stuff. They are finally letting people back on the island, but with many warnings--mosquitos, snakes, and rotting cattle carcasses are everywhere. Electricity, sewage systems, and running water are nowhere. I'm planning on taking some more pictures this weekend when I head back to G-town.

In addition, I recently found out that I'm going to be moving into the University of Texas dorms while I'm in Austin (think tv movie: "Dr. Casey Does College." They have promised me a private room, air conditioning, tv with cable, coin laundry, bus pass, recreation center pass, and $8 per diem to eat dorm food (plus two meals a day at the hospital). My dad wants me to meet Colt McCoy, but I'd rather meet Aaron Piersol. :)

Sounds like a guaranteed adventure...

Hurricane Ike Update #27

Friday, September 19, 2008, 11:58am

A few more pictures of the causeway from Galveston Island to the mainland. It's crazy--you're driving down the street, and there's a yacht, in the middle of the road! Actually, dozens of yachts. Everything got pushed/thrown up onto the causeway with the flooding and the swells. Not sure how they're going to get all those off there...

As for me, I'm still in Ohio, with tentative plans to start in Austin next Monday. They are still working on housing for us, and I still have to book a flight back to Texas, and I still have to get my work stuff from Galveston. Phew! They are only letting E1 and E2 personnel onto the island, so it's a good thing I kept my E1 ID badge.

Another personal story from one of my fellow residents...

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I hate to be the bearer of bad news...but the description your friend gave is accurate. I had the opportunity to see my own house today and it is far worse than I could have imagined!!! I definitely lost just about everything I own...especially because the only thing that I took with me was about 5 days worth of clothes. I don't even know where to begin. I hope you all are doing OK.

Hurricane Ike Update #26

Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 2:24pm

They are slowly letting people onto the island, (although I think it is only if you beg and show your UTMB ID) and people are finally getting to see their homes, or what is left of them. But I wanted to share a few personal stories that I have received (names removed) from my fellow surgery residents. I hope reading these makes the destruction a little more personal...

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My Galveston visit:
I drove to the island today. The destruction is heart breaking.

I found my condo completely destroyed. I got almost 4 feet of water inside my house (up to kitchen counter). Furniture floated during the raised waters. Everything was disarranged beyond imagination. The dirty water smell and heavy air hit my face when I walked in. I've never been in so much shock.

I was not ready for so much damage (and I know no one is). While having a look I though I can only save the most important things and those that are not so important but meaningful. At least I was able to recovered most of my surgery text books and some clothing. My place will need complete reconstruction.

At least I am safe, healthy, have a place to stay, and a residency to continue with life.

MY advise for those who live in Galveston: GO NOW and assess your property or valuables. IF something can be safe from the mud, water and moisture, now is the time. The roads are clean to drive. Be safe, we got hit by another car on Broadway (even before I got to my place!). The check point to get into the island will ask for drivers license, you can also show UTMB ID. Remember the curfew - 6am to 6pm.

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I just got a call from a friend that was able to get on the island yesterday and he went by our house in Fish Village. He wasn't able to get inside but he said the water line was above his head. We had just bought this house and completely redid it ourselves. My husband had just refinished all the wood floors and repainted all the rooms and ceilings. He had just completed the total gutting of the bathroom and rebuilding of it. He had just built a wood fence and gate that is completely demolished. With the water line being where it is means that everything we own was under water and destroyed. Our friend said it smelled like filth and death. No amount of insurance can replace what we have lost. We are just trying to stay positive and remember what we do have. All of you are in my prayers.

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Another resident told me yesterday that his home had 30 inches of standing water in it.

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Another resident told me their entire garage was flooded and their home had about a foot of water in it. Many items were damaged, including their hardwood floors, furniture, and kitchen appliances.

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I am still in Ohio (where many people's homes had damage and many are still out of power). More to come.

Hurricane Ike Update #25

Tuesday, September 16, 2008, 11:38pm

HI everyone,

I still have a few more pictures to upload, so I will do that soon.

In addition, I have continued to hear from other residents regarding their homes, condos, and apartments on the island, and the tales they have about the destruction are just heart-wrenching. Many have several feet of standing water in their homes, with complete destruction of their furniture and other belongings. They are trying to salvage their valuables and head out, and then are waiting for their places to get fixed by their landlord, or destroyed.

As far as our residency, we received news today that we are being placed at other hospitals until atleast November. About 12 of the general surgery residents will be at St. Joseph's Hospital in Houston, while the other 8 will be at Seton Hospital in Austin (I'm in the latter group). The program directors and coordinators are working on finding housing for us in those cities. Apparently it's going to be more than 2-4 weeks before UTMB is up and running and fully functioning.

***Many of you have expressed interest in sending things to us down in Galveston, and I have decided that I'm going to start some "resident relief efforts" to help the residents whose places got damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Ike (and by residents, I mean the surgery residents in my program). I have already contacted all the residents, and they are going to send me any specific needs that they may have. I will then put up an address for people to send things to, once we get established (it may be either Houston or Austin, since no one will be in Galveston for a while), and I will also email it out to everyone I know. We're not expecting anyone to send furniture or anything major, but it seems like most people are going to need simple things like kitchen gadgets, maybe even some gift cards, or food. I know we're doctors, but the idea of starting your life over from scratch is a scary prospect...

So I hope everyone keeps reading this blog and can help us out in whatever way possible! More info when I have it. Thanks a million!!!!!! :)

Hurricane Ike Update #24

Tuesday, September 16, 2008, 12:50am EST

Hi everyone! I made it safe and sound back to Ohio, and man am I glad to be out of that dark, hot, stinky hospital! I was able to get some pictures of some of the island today, but, since we were on foot, we were unable to venture too far down the seawall.

It's pretty impressive how trashed the island is. The west end definitely got the worst of it, as it is without the 18 foot seawall to protect it. Of course the seawall itself got a huge blast, with Hooters, Murdocks, and the Balinese Room completely destroyed (these are the pics that are usually featured on the news).

The biggest thing that impressed me is just how much debris there is. I mean, literally, there are trees and trash and brush everywhere. I'm not sure how they're going to clean it all up, nor do I know where they are going to put it all. It's hard to maneuver through the streets because of all of it.

On a positive note, I'm going to try to put together some relief effort for the UTMB residents that had homes and apartments destroyed by the hurricane. A lot of you have asked where to send things and what to send. So I'm going to poll the residents to see what/if people need things, and then we'll start up the relief. Until then, hold off sending anything because I don't know what we need, nor do I think the USPS will be up and running in Galveston anytime soon!

We're still waiting on more information regarding our residency training, but for now, those of us that were held hostage/essential personnel at UTMB are off the hook, and I'm planning on enjoying a real shower and a real bed and some air conditioning! :)

Hurricane Ike Update #23

Monday, Septemer 15, 2008, 7:27am

Good morning! Just wanted to post a few pictures before trying to escape.

DMAT has officially taken over and are triaging the patients. Even the ER faculty have stepped back. There still aren't that many patients in the ER anyway.

Last night we all crammed into Dr. Mileski's air conditioning suite and watched Moby Dick. I don't know if anyone was paying attention to the movie, but it was a nice relaxing, air conditioned end to a crazy 84.5 hours. Notice how everyone is so happy!

More pictures later after we leave the hospital and drive around town...

Hurricane Ike Update #22

No new news as of right now. However, I have potentially ruined my phone, which could be annoying during travel tomorrow. I was "showering" this evening (and by that I mean I dumped a gallon of distilled water over my head and used some bathgel to suds up my hair), and as I was leaning over the shower stall, my phone fell out of my pocket. Well, I didn't notice and I continued to dump water for a while. I'm trying to dry it out as much as possible, but it is having progressively less function each time I try to turn it on. The other residents have told me to stop bothering it, so I'll try again in the morning.

I guess if all I lose in this disaster is a phone, that's not too bad.

Hurricane Ike Update #21

Ok, so here's what I know about the area (sorry, no pictures, just what the residents have told me):

49th and Q--Several feet of water, so houses or apartments on the ground floor have been flooded. Houses on stilts or up some steps are ok.

Villa Marina (Ferry Road)--about 3+ feet of standing water was in the apartments on the first floor, with all furniture and belongings destroyed. The resident who lives here described it as looking like "everything just got swirled around." She has already applied for FEMA aid.

19th and Post-office--about 7 feet of standing water was also in these condos and apartments. The water was soaking into the walls and making a creepy gurgling noise! The strand area was still flooded as of yesterday afternoon, and there was also a huge house fire within the flooded area, which was unable to be extinguished for several hours.

Port Au Prince--second floor apartments were fine. Can't comment on the first floor apartments.

Sealy and 7th--no flooding on the first floor, but severe wind damage, with a broken window (and therefore lots of rain damage), screen door torn off, porch destroyed, debris covering the driveway).

12th and Market (me)--the water level was about 4-5 feet, so I can only imagine what happened for first floor apartments. The second floor, as we saw earlier, was ok.

That is honestly all I know about housing on the island. I will get more pictures of the island before I leave tomorrow, so stay tuned! :)

Hurricane Ike Update #20

Sunday, September 14, 2008, 7:22pm

So, I don't have any pictures for this post, but if I did, it would be of all of us with huge grins on our faces and doing happy dances!

Why, you might ask? They are releasing us tomorrow morning!!! Well, that being said, it is because the hospital is shutting down. All healthcare activities are being shut down for a minimum of 2 weeks, and they are releasing all of us tomorrow. The DMAT people have taken over the ER, so once all those people are taken care of, everything will be shut down and have to be cleaned, de-molded, dried out, etc.

What am I doing, you might ask? Well one of other residents and I are heading to Dallas tomorrow (that is, if the car double-parked behind her moves). Then I'm getting on the soonest/cheapest flight I can to Columbus, Ohio for a two week vacation! Dr. Mileski has told us all to get one way flights and just wait to hear from them as far as when to come back. I think I might use this time at home to go car-shopping. He has also assured us that this will not affect our residency time, graduation date, etc. All five of us surgery prisoners/residents are getting out of town!

I'm going to post again in a minute about the other residents' homes...

Hurricane Ike Update #19

Sunday, September 14, 2008, 2:44pm

"Air freshener is not going to be the cure for this place."

Haha, I decided to make that the quote for this post, since the hospital reeks! We tried to search through some cleaning supplies for some bleach or air freshener, but we didn't have much luck except some odor remover we found at the nurses' station.

We are all getting frustrated. This is no longer a "fun camping trip." And it's true that "there's nothing we can do about it," but that just makes it all the more frustrating. We are allowed to be frustrated. People in the outside world don't know what it's like in here. It stinks. Literally.

I want to make it clear to everyone reading this that I am not in a position to go around and check out specific addresses. If I start to do that, I will never hear the end of it. And besides, we are not allowed to be gone long from the hospital, and I don't have a car anyway. Later on tonight I will comment on the four locations where the other surgery residents live, and the rest can be extrapolated.

I'm sorry this is such a crabby post. But, I'm trying to post the honest truth about what's going on in here. And this is it.

Hurricane Ike Update #18

Sunday, September 14, 2008, 10:51 am

So, the other residents and I decided to venture out individually to our homes, then we're going to reconvene after lunch to walk around the island some. Sorry for the delay in island damage pictures, and the ones I did upload are not in order, since I had to upload so many.

As for my apartment, I have minimal damage. You can see in some of the pictures above that there was quite a few trees blown down and debris. You can also see the water level on the side of my apartment building, and I live on the second floor, with the Xs on the sliding glass door. I had to step over a lot of debris to get up the stairs to my apartment. I did have some water come in under the front door, likely due the "wind-drive rain," but luckily my rug stopped most of it, and none of the water got on my carpet. I think my sliding glass door came off it's track as well, since some of the blinds got knocked down. The parking area of my apartment is nasty and covered in mud as well. While I was there I did snag some more clothes and some canned food. I didn't have the energy to tackle the refridgerator and whatever is growing inside of it...(by the way, I am kind of annoyed that at some point I'm going to have to make my way to the grocery store and restock my entire refridgerator--condiments and all).

Outside the hospital is mostly just wet, muddy, and covered in debris. You can see a huge tree blocking the sidewalk I usually take to work!

Apparently they are also bringing in some De-mat people--I don't know what that stands for, but apparently they are like mobile healthcare people, that set up tents and can take some of the pressure off the ER.

I also wanted to comment on some of the feelings of the residents at this time. One, regarding the people coming to the hospital for help: it's a little frustrating. When I went down to the ER for the first time yesterday, I was just overwhelmed with feelings of annoyance, and almost anger. I mean, these people had the opportunity to leave the island, even the transportation was provided for them, and they refused. There have even been some people bringing their children with them to the ER. You can endanger your own life, but don't endanger your children's lives just because you're stubborn. I mean, these injuries could have been prevented.

Also, we're not really sure what we're doing here, as far as us surgery residents. Like I mentioned before, we're not going to do surgery and we're not going to suture up any lacerations...so we're just waiting around in this hot, stinky, dark hospital. We are in no way capable of taking care of patients at UTMB at this point, except for some minor cuts and scrapes, so why are they making us stay? To quote George Costanza, "the residents are getting frustrated!!!"

Although I have to say once again thank you a million times over for everyone who is posting and calling and texting and sending their thoughts and prayers. Every post I get I share with the other surgery residents, and it brings us relief daily to know that we are not forgotten. I feel truly blessed to--literally--have people all over the country thinking about and praying for us. I especially feel blessed that my apartment is still standing and livable. I'm afraid that some of the other residents may not be so lucky, and I may have a couple new roommates for a while if worse comes to worse...

Hurricane Ike Update #17

Sunday, September 14, 2008, 9:43 am

Still sitting in the dark. The emergency generators are working, but our call rooms are still in the dark. We have requested some lanterns for our room, so we have to go pick them up from the Command Center later today.

This picture is of a group of us eating breakfast in the TDC cafeteria. They are starting to get creative with the meals--stale biscuits + lunch meat + cheese slices=biscuit breakfast sandwich! Add some cold gravy, and there ya go.

Supposedly we are going to get some port-a-pottys, portable showers, and a portable kitchen today. They are saying that we're going to be in emergency mode through this week, although they say that we are going to get some relief in the next couple dys, but we're not anticipating any surgery replacements.

They have also established an employee health center, where people can go for basic things, blood pressure meds, coughs, colds, and also psychiatry.

They're letting us out today to check out our homes, so some of us are going to venture out to check out our places and also the seawall.

So far I don't think anything can be sent here. They are not letting anyone on the island, including the postal service. I will let everyone know when I know where to send things.

Off to check out the island--more pics to come.

Hurricane Ike Update #16

Saturday, September 13, 2008, 11:03pm

So, we ventured down to the first floor today, and there was standing water everywhere on the first floor of the hospital (see pictures). It's nasty. We even tried to escape out to the courtyard to check out the destruction, but we got yelled at. Everyone wants to get out and check out their homes and try to minimize the water damage, but Galveston is still under curfew and they are not letting anyone leave the hospital. One of my fellow residents snuck out to visit her apartment, which, unfortunately, had quite a bit of damage, with water lines at 3 feet and her furniture destroyed and all over the place. Apparently my street flooded up to 7 feet high, but since I'm on the second floor, I'm hoping there was minimal damage. However, a good portion of the island is still flooded, including the west end, and the strand (Historic District). I know there was about 15 feet of standing water at some point in the strand. The fires are still continuing. The only people that are being allowed to drive onto the island are emergency personnel.

So far there have been about 16 patients in the ER, still nothing surgical. However, since we have no running water, minimal power, and no surgical suites, we are fixing people up and sending them to other facilites. Honestly, we are in no way capable of handling patients at this point. The search and rescue helicopters are taking people directly to the mainland for treatment. They have found only a few dead so far on Galveston Island, but there have been a couple apartment buildings that collapsed, and there hasn't been much investigation into them yet. There have also been 22 (I think) found dead on Bolivar Island so far; they got hit pretty hard as well. Even if patients do need surgical intervention, we have been instructed that we are unable to do surgery on them, and we are not even going to be suturing closed lacerations due to the high risk of infection from the nasty bay water.

The hospital is starting to stink....big time. The sewage water is still in the basement, combined with the heat, toilets full of poop, and sweaty personnel...it's gross.

As far as being relieved....one of the residents had a discussion with some hospital administrators today, and they said that they are expecting to use the same staff until Thursday. The thing is, no one is being allowed to come onto the island, and even if SOMEHOW they recruited some surgery residents to get back on the island, they are going to have to deal with their own homes and property damage. It is starting to look grim as far as getting out of here anytime soon.

In addition, there are several attendings that are predicting it's going to be weeks before the hospital is up and running again. They have to come in and clean out all the flooding, and everything in the Operating Rooms has to be tested (since it got all wet and had to be evacuated), which could take a long time with 26 ORs. We have gotten no word as to what we're going to be doing (as far as residency) until then.

Thanks again for all the comments. I can't believe my blog has gotten around the country! I only hope that my blog can provide some education for everyone in the "outside world."

Oh, I know a lot of people have asked me about specific doctors and homes here on the island. Honestly, I cannot comment on these right now. I have not been out of the hospital, and if I am allowed to leave at some point, it will be to go home and sort out my own business and get more supplies, and come back. But, once everything has settled down, I do plan on riding my bike around the island and taking lots of pictures of the destruction.

If anyone has any specific questions, please post them, and I will do my best to answer in my next blogging.

More tomorrow.

Hurricane Ike Update #15

Saturday, September 13, 2008, 4:24 pm

Sorry for the delay in posting--I'm sure all my readers must be in suspense! Heehee, just kidding. I'll try to give some updates:

Facilities--We are still out of power. In addition, overnight about half the generators broke, so the ER and a good portion of other buildings were out of power. John Sealy Towers still have generator function. I just woke up from a nap, and it seems like all the generators are now functioning. The elevators still aren't working, and I tell ya, I'm getting really tired of taking the stairs! Some of the nurses on the 8th floor rigged up a TV with some emergency power, so earlier today we all went and gathered around it (see picture), but most all the reports were about Houston, because no one can get into Galveston yet. The basement is still flooded, and a lot of it is sewage, since the city drains drain to the bay, and everything got backed up from there. Eww. There are several broken windows and some water damage, and I think one of the buildings caught on fire, but I'm not 100% sure. Oh yeah, an we don't have any running water, so toilets are a prime comodity (if you catch my drift), and showers are an impossibility. Add that to the no air conditioning (and the sewage smell), and you can imagine we're in for a ride...

Patients--we have started to get a slow trickle of patients as people are able to make their way to the hospital. So far nothing surgical, a lot of bumps and bruises. When the ER generator was out, they had to temporarily move the ER to the Surgical ICU (see above), but with the return of the generator, it' back to it's normal location. There are many helicopters going in and out, with search and rescue as their first priority.

Food--so, this is becomming an issue. They still don't know how long we're going to be here, so they are rationing the food. That makes me cranky! Good thing we brought some snacks. They have some bottled water and big gallon jugs, but people are only being allowed 1 bottle at a time.

The island--so far we know very little about what the rest of the island looks like. The streets outside the hospital (except for Harborside, which has already drained) are still underwater, and we've not been allowed outside. I guess there were quite a few house fires, but actually, news crews have not been able to even get on the island to document what the damage is. And of course the firefighters and rescue teams are having a hard time getting around the island as well. I have taken a few pictures from the ambulance bay--notice the shrimp boat up on the dock!

Us--so we finally got a picture of our surgery team--that's us outside the ER with our chief trauma surgeon and fearless leader, Dr. Mileski. Everyone's spirits are pretty much up, although I have to admit, I am so sweaty and tired and dehydrated, but am afraid to drink too much for fear of not having anyplace to pee. I also didn't get much sleep last night, because, as I realized, it's hard to sleep when you don't know if you're going to have a place to live. I did in fact call in to CNN early this morning, about 4:30am central time. Apparently I was on live, so who knows how many people heard me! Kind of fun.

I'm glad to be back in touch. I know this blog keeps everyone else informed, but it is also good for my own sanity in keeping in touch with the outside world.

I'll try to post more after dinner. Thanks for the happy thoughts and prayers, everyone!

Hurricane Ike Update #14

Friday, September 12, 2008, 11:40pm

So, I apologize in advance for these horrible pictures, but it was the best I could get with the crazy wind and rain. Just imagine that that was all I could see. The video isn't that great either, but you can hear the wind and see the camera moving all around as I was taping.

Some of the ER nurses took me out back to the north entrance of the ER, which is on Harborside Drive. The street is completely flooded, some of the boats have gotten loose, and there are 3 foot high waves ON the street! You can't see anything. When I was running back in, I was actually running at a diagonal because of the wind!

OH! The update on Anderson Cooper. First of all, apparently my blog was found somewhere on CNN.com (I did email it to them, after all), but I can't seem to find it. If anyone has the link, please let me know! I got another call from CNN tonight, and they actually want to talk to me after the storm, approximately 4:15am Texas time. So they are going to call me, but if my cell phone doesn't work, then I'm supposed to call them. More after that!

Hurricane Ike Update #13

Friday, September 12, 2008, 11:24pm

So, we are just about in the eye of the storm, and things are starting to get messy. A couple of us residents walked across the bridge between the main hospital and the Shriner's Burns Hospital, and it was quite frightening to look down and see Market Street completely submerged, flowing like a river (mind you, this is the street I live on). That's me on the left, Sara Johnson (PGY III), and Mo Bayasi (PGY II).

I started to freak out to my dad on the phone, worrying about where I'm going to live and what I do if my apartment gets flooded (I mean, I'm from Ohio, what do I know about the treatment of salt-water-saturated furniture?). But, my dad calmed me down and assured me that I can't worry about that now, I'm going to be saving lives. Right.

Because we are running on generator power, that doesn't include air conditioning, so it is starting to get very hot. This also means that the walls and floors are getting condensation on them, and the Operating Rooms are actually having to be evacuated (see picture). In addition, things from the first floor are having to be moved already (see picture) because there is water coming into the first floor (the basement is already flooded).

As for the sleeping arrangement, luckily, us trauma surgery residents can sleep in the delectible call room that I mentioned earlier. But everyone else--nurses, radiology techs, other docs--are having to sleep in patient rooms, ER beds, etc. As you can see in the picture, it gets a little tight trying to find places for 500 employees to sleep (shh-they don't know I took this picture!).

More in a second, I'm off to get more video...

Hurricane Ike Update #12

Friday, September 12, 2008, 9:13pm

So, earlier today some of the other residents convinced me to send in my pictures and blog to CNN. So I emailed ireport with some pics and the link to this blog.

Well, at dinner tonight I got a call from a strange area code, and it turned out it was a woman from CNN! She interviewed me and then said that they are looking for people to call in tonight for their live show! I asked what time they are taking callers, and she said they have Anderson Cooper tonight (and I found out it starts at 9pm CT). So I gave them my cell phone number, and later a landline number (since the power is out and the cell phone towers aren't working), and she said they would call me. So now we're all waiting around by the landline to see if they call. However, we have no power, so we can't watch the TV in the call room!

I tried to look outside and get some pictures, but it's totally black, and nearly impossible to open the door to the stairwell due to the wind.

I'll try to post more this evening, but I have to sign off for now to save power...

Hurricane Ike Update #11

Friday, September 12, 2008, 9:07pm


Here's my most recent video, a view from the front door of the hospital. They are not letting anyone in or out of the hopsital, so we had to secretly open the door to get this video!

Hurricane Ike Update #10

Friday, September 12, 2008, 9:04pm


So we ate some dinner tonight again in the communal cafeteria. The picture above is of the huge line that we have to wait in for every meal. Once again, they are anticipating that the first floor (kitchen) will flood, and actually, the basement already has 4 feet of water in it. We also lost power in the entire hospital, so the food will now be moved to the cafeteria on the second floor of the prison hospital (Texas Department of Corrections). I have to admit, I'm getting a little tired of the greasy burgers and fries.

Hurricane Ike Update #9

Friday, September 12, 2008, 6:38pm

So, apparently Ike is "tightening" as it's reaching the shore. Apparently the storms normally are downgraded a Category as they get closer to land, but for some reason the eye is getting smaller, which is worse.

Above is a picture of the ER door, and a backup air conditioner that was placed in the ER. And the third picture is a view from the ER (we're not allowed outside anymore). It's starting to get really gray and rainy.

There's also a yacht building that caught fire, and the fire engines are 400 feet away and can't get any closer due to the flooding.

As I was just typing this, we lost power. So I don't know how much more I'm going to be able to write or call. I'll try my best to keep everyone updated. I hate to admit it, but I'm starting to get a little down. I'm worried about my apartment and thinking of everyone up north.

Hurricane Ike Update #8

Friday, September 12, 2008, 3:33pm

So, we just got back from our second debriefing of the day. Here are the updates:

Facilites--they have officially turned off almost all of the elevators in the hospital. They are still anticipating a loss of power, and they have generators ready. But guess what? The generators are on the first floor! Apparently there are teams that can move the generators if the first floor floods, but all of us residents think it was a stupid idea in the first place to put them on the ground floor!

Food--so, this is becomming an issue. They have assured us that they have enough food (4 times enough food for us for 7 days), but they have started to ration it because it is possible that we might be here for 10-12 days. They are also expecting the first floor kitchen to flood, and since it's electric, we won't be able to use it. So once that happens, we'll then have cold food in the second floor cafeteria, then after that runs out, we'll have hot food which will be cooked on a gas stove/grill.

Patients--we're not really worried about any patients in the hospital just yet. But only half the island has evacuated, leaving about 30,000 people still on the island (aka: 30,000 potential trauma patients). We're anticipating the hospital (aka: trauma bay, aka: me and the other surgery residents) getting very busy tomorrow after the storm goes through and people go outside and start to do stupid things, like climb ladders and try to rescue their belongings, etc. We are also anticipating a lot of people dying though. I don't understand. The last bus left this afternoon, and there are still so many people outside!

Winds--during the debriefing they mentioned what we should expect. Once the winds start around 6pm, and once they get worse around midnight, the winds are going to be so strong and so loud that they sound like "constant thunder." There is also going to be a lot of "wind-driven rain," which can be very dangerous and also loud.

This is a picture of Dr. Callender, the President of UTMB. He's been leading the debriefing. At this debriefing, they were distributing flashlights to every employee.

I just heard on the news that it was recommended that people use a permanent marker and write their name and social security number on their arm. Good to prepare, I guess, but a little morbid.

I'm hoping to get some more pictures, but they might have to be through windows. More later this evening...

Hurricane Ike Update #7

Friday, September 12, 2008, 2:23pm

So, we've eaten lunch with the rest of the E1s, and now we're holed up in the trauma call room again.

It kind of feels like day camp, because they have this bulletin board that tells everyone about the events for the day, like "3pm-Debriefing, 8pm-Prayer Meeting in Chapel." (Interestingly, UTMB recently let go all the chaplins that were employed, so I'm not sure who will lead the prayer meeting...).

It also feels a little like a bomb shelter, since we're staying in these little rooms with the storm shutters closed (see picture). We might start watching some movies or playing a game (I brought a whole bunch of DVDs and games, including Operation--how appropriate for surgery residents).

I polled the other residents as to anything else I should say on my blog at this point--and the other 4 and I wanted to encourage anyone who is still in Galveston to LEAVE as soon as possible. Some are saying this is going to be the "worst day Texas has seen in 50 years." I read on CNN earlier that people are experiencing "Hurricane Fatigue," because they're tired of thinking about hurricanes and preparing for them. And I admit, it's annoying to always be on the lookout. But seriously, this is not to be taken lightly. I know I'm just from Ohio, but this is scary! We have our food and flashlights ready, and we're just hunkering down and waiting it out. But those that are still on the island and have the option of leaving, should do so.

More later after our 3pm debriefing...

Hurricane Ike Update #6

Friday, September 12, 2008, 12:30pm

Here's more video, this one shows how Seawall Boulevard has flooded. We actually got kicked off the seawall while we were taking these pictures and video. The scary thing is, we haven't even felt the hurricane winds yet...

Hurricane Ike Update #5

Friday, September 12, 2008; 12:00pm

So, we ventured out one last time before the storm officially hits us. Seawall Boulevard (third picture) is flooded, in addition to Harborside Drive (second picture), and the police are prohibiting people from being on the seawall (one of the other residents and I got kicked off the seawall!). A curfew was also mandated for 8pm-5am for the city of Galveston; if you're found out in the city of Galveston between those hours, you'll be fined $2,000!

Apparently there has been some changes in the category of the Hurricane as well--the storm surges are being considered a Category 4, while the winds are currently Category 2, and are expected to increase to Category 3.

More video to come...