Anne: I am still in Tuscaloosa and right now don’t know when I will be returning to Hattiesburg. Mom is a little better. Her oxygen saturation has remained at 98% all day today, up from, 96% all day yesterday. She is still on oxygen at 3 liters/min so still not where she needs to be, but a little better. A good deal of the swelling/edema in her legs has resolved. That is much better. Because she is 93 and has a 93 year old heart and kidneys, the cardiologist is taking a cautious and slow approach to pulling the fluid off in order to avoid putting her into kidney failure. Yes, I am very thankful for his approach although is means more days in the hospital. Currently, we have been given no anticipated discharge date. She continues to received IV diuretics and won’t be discharged until she is transitioned to pills. She is discouraged/depressed by the slow pace of things. She is encouraged by the messages we have received from everyone praying for her and the family. I have told her about or read each one to her. Thank you so much!!! BTW her name is Ruby Richardson or as most friends and family call her Mama Ruby.
Max: Un-blogworthy day in Hattiesburg. The most productive thing I did today was clean many miles worth of bug splatters from the windshield and front cap. And prayed for Anne and her family.
Max: Gary and I met with Chris, our local coordinator from Recover, Rebuild, Restore Southeast Mississippi (R3SM), this morning to see the work sites planned for us next week. We saw two houses. The first is on Edwards Street and needs the bathroom and kitchen finished, the floor refinished and some drywall work. We may also finish up some outside trim work.
Edwards Street house
Bathroom we will work on
Some drywall repair will be needed – thanks to the electrician.
The hardwood floor will need to be sanded and refinished.
Steps at the house
The second is on Roby Street and mostly needs some wall finishing and flooring.
The Roby Street house
This house will need a lot of drywall touchup and painting.
The home owner already has her scriptures ready to go back on the wall once her house is finished.
These houses were heavily damaged by the January 21, 2017 EF3 tornado and the residents have been displaced since then. We hope to have both of these families back in their homes before the NOMADS leave in a few months.
Map of tornado path
There is a lot of damage visible in this area.
Chris also gave us a tour of the R3SM building. It is an historic building that was once a hotel used by travelers from the railroad depot across the tracks. The organization has remodeled the building into agency offices and dormitory space for volunteer groups.
R3SM office
Dormitory room
Dayroom for volunteers
Anne: I am still in Tuscaloosa, AL at DCH hospital with my mom. I was at the hospital most of the day. Mom did not have a very good day. They changed her to an IV diuretic, and gave her a big dose of potassium because her potassium was low and they expected the new diuretic to make it drop even more. Something made her nauseated most of the morning. I suspect it was the large dose of potassium. Unfortunately, the new IV diuretic didn’t have much affect this morning and her shortness of breath worsened. Just getting up and going to the bathroom, which is about 6-7 feet from the bed, makes her short of breath. She did respond a little better to the afternoon dose of diuretic but still not what they would like. She is also on strict fluid restriction. That is hard for mom because she really likes her water. We are just trying to keep the water out of sight, so she has to ask for it. Out of sight, out of mind? Seemed to have worked today. But now I’m pretty sure I didn’t drink enough water today since I was keeping my water out of sight too. Silly me.
The only other thing I did was go buy a pair of shoes. I forgot to change shoes before I left yesterday and ended up in Tuscaloosa with a ragged but very comfortable pair of tennis shoes as the only shoes I had with me. Since Mom noticed and made comment on me needing to get some new shoes I figured I better go shopping. However, buying shoes is usually a challenge for me. I wear a size 5 and I usually just order them because so few people carry size 5 in the stores. There is a DSW store within about 3 blocks of the hospital so I went there and just went down the aisle looking for anything size 5. I found 3 pair of 5 ½ and then found 1 size 5. Bought it. Not my favorite shoe but it fits and is comfortable. It will do for now. Mom was surprised and pleased when I returned with new shoes on me feet. Please continue to pray for mom and my entire family. These are hard times for us. Praying for a better tomorrow.
Max: Today I went to Baton Rouge with Gary, the NOMADS Disaster Rebuild (DR) Coordinator, to talk to the Disaster Response Team for the Louisiana Conference about the Spring DR project that Anne and I will be starting there in March. The RV parking for the project will be at Francis Asbury UMC, a church that was flooded and asked for conference assistance to repair the church. In return for the assistance the small congregation agreed to give up part to the church to be converted into a volunteer and disaster response center.
Where we will be parked in Baton Rouge
The unused portion of the church is being converted to dorm rooms and a tool room for volunteer groups.
The Louisiana Conference is installing RV hookups in the parking lot for volunteers.
After returning to Oak Grove I walked around the parking lot a few time since there are no sidewalks in this area.
An interesting bird condo at Oak Grove UMC
This is across the street from where we are parked at Oak Grove UMC. Could be dangerous.
Anne: With Max going to Baton Rouge with Gary to prepare for our spring DR, I planned to stay at the RV and do some cleaning, and then a little shopping with Sharon, Gary’s wife. We still need to pick up a few things for FRED and there are several stores not far from Oak Grove. I actually did have about an hour of quiet time puttering around FRED but then I received a text notification. I have really gotten to where I don’t like for my phone to make those noises. And when it’s family my stomach sort of ties in a knot. Last night I had talked to Mom and she wasn’t feeling well and was complaining of more shortness of breath with doing her therapy. The therapist was concerned when he was there late yesterday afternoon. I could tell Mom didn’t feel well and she actually sounded a little more short of breath than usual. I asked her to call the cardiologist this morning to see if she could move up her appointment for next month and I suggested she ask to be seen later this week and I would come take her. Mom did call but she got the appointment for today. That meant my brother who really doesn’t like to handle medical things had to take her. Well, wouldn’t you know, the cardiologist sent Mom from the office to the emergency room. So, one hour after Max left I received a somewhat panic stricken text telling me to please be in route to Tuscaloosa NOW. So much for my plans. Three and a half hours later I arrived at the emergency room and the ER doctor had just entered Mom’s room for the first time. It was a long afternoon. Don’t know why the cardiologist didn’t make Mom a direct admit so she didn’t have to go through all the ER waiting. Long story short, she has fluid in her lungs, causing low oxygen saturation and shortness of breath. She was admitted. I expect they may run some additional tests tomorrow and adjust her medications and hopefully discharge her Thursday. That would be what I pray will happen. As most of you have experienced, it just gets scary when they are 93. And maybe more scary when you know all that could happen. I much preferred to keep my really elderly patients out of the hospital because there are just too many things they can catch and too many things that can go wrong. Please keep us in your prayers. No pictures from me today. Mom would kill me if I posted a picture of her in the hospital gown.
We didn’t have a set schedule for today. The only definite was that we had to be out of our RV site by 3:00pm. We also planned to do some biking on the Natchez Trace and we needed to be in Hattiesburg, MS before dark. With those parameters in mind we slept a little late, but then got ready to go bike riding so we would be back before it got too hot. We drove to the overlook at the Barnett Reservoir, unloaded the bikes and started riding. In this area of the Trace, since there is a good deal of commuter traffic around Jackson, they have built a separate multi-use trail. When we saw the amount of traffic we were glad to ride on the separate trail. This was a very nice wooded area. There were more people using the trail today than we expected.
Some parts of the trail are right beside the Natchez Trace.
Other parts of the trail look like they are miles from any road.
We just happened to ride up to the Mississippi Craft Center which is located just off the Trace and the bike trail goes beside it. The building is very nice. The craft work inside was pretty amazing. The Center is tasked with preserving the dying arts in all sorts of mediums – wood, fabric, stone, and many more. Entry into the Center is free and it is well worth a visit. They of course also have gift shop.
The Mississippi Craft Center
One of many displays of handiwork inside the center
Some glass art outside the center
After visiting the Craft Center we returned to the Trace where we walked on a section of the original dirt trail first walked by Native Americans and later by the soldiers in the war of 1812. That was a neat experience. There was a section of the bike trail closed for maintenance. Since we couldn’t ride that section, we road a portion of the urban multi-use trails in Ridgeland and Jackson. These trails also go through wooded areas as well as at times running beside the roads. There was always some separation from the streets so we felt safer. After returning to the truck we rode to the southern Trace Visitors Information Center. We couldn’t go insidebecause it is only open on Friday and Saturday.
Some of the original trace has been preserved.
Visitors are encouraged to walk on this section of the old trace.
We returned to FRED, got cleaned up and headed for Hattiesburg. Unfortunately, Highway 49 south of Jackson is in terrible shape. Potholes, rub board sections, it felt like it would vibrate the cabinets off the walls. We were very thankful that the further we drove the better the road became. We drove to Oak Grove UMC, just west of Hattiesburg, parked in the area with RV hookups, met with our team leaders and settled in for the next several days. Looking forward to some good times here.
RVing With a Purpose 