Flood of 2019

It's once again a late Monday afternoon & I have supper cooking-it's raining off & on....kinda reminiscent of last week....

When I last blogged on Tuesday we had just left our house and things did not look good.  There's a video on my blog's FB page that shows just how bad it was, for some reason I can't get it to post here    My Real Life By Yvonne

Honestly I had resigned myself to the fact we would have tremendous water damage. We didn't know how much water would come in-as the water keep getting higher and it was knee high out in the road.  Plus there were fire ants everywhere so I figured what didn't get ruined by the water would get ruined by insects and animals.

Last Tuesday we emptied our safe- don't worry there was nothing but all our kids' adoption paperwork, readoption paperwork, Citizenship papers, our wills, passports, diplomas,  irreplaceable documents.  There's only so much you can take with you at a time like that and those things were the most important.  I did pack some more clothes for everyone else too.  For myself I had the homeless vagrant look going on.... for some reason I packed my absolute worse clothes.  It was really funny (later)  Part of the reason is I still had a little bit of a swollen tummy area from surgery so I wasn't wanting to wear fitted clothes but I took the look a bit far.

We've evacuated several times before in my life just to be safe but this was the first time I truly wondered if we'd have a home to come back to that was livable.  When we pulled out into the deep water on our street I was resigned to the fact we might not be back to live here for a long time if ever.  The ironic thing is that the past week was 15 years since Hurricane Charlie had hit Florida.  We've evacuated then and we evacuated a few weeks later for Hurricane Frances and then for Hurricane Jean.... living in Florida is NOT for the faint of heart!!!

We stalked the weather channel app and radar watching the rain come...but when I went to feed the animals on Wednesday morning the water was down a little!  A neighbor said it went down during the night some.    But while I was there it went back up several feet!  We had rakes and shovels out marking the water's advance.   I couldn't figure it out so I called our local Emergency Management.  They sent a guy out to check & take pictures.

Through this whole ordeal starting the very first night I kept saying to anyone who would listen that something was wrong. (and believe me at times we had 15-20 emergency workers out by our house  I think we were command center the first night.)  A few folks kept brushing me off and reminding me that we'd gotten so much rain lately and that the river was high.  That's true- but it was different!  There were spots in our neighborhood that were not affected and that are the usual ones to have standing water first.  Plus the water was flowing differently.  We've lived here for 4 years-I'm a country girl- I notice things like that.  We've always had to keep our eyes on things-that is part of the price paid to live in the country near a river/swamp.  Our neighbors were saying the same things as we were and some had lived here over 20 years-they knew the amount of rain we had gotten did not equal to the amount of flooding we were experiencing.

So I keep telling anyone who would listen that something was OFF & there was a problem East of us!  I wasn't the only one I"m sure but I was probably the LOUDEST lol  To the credit of our Emergency Management's office they listened and they were very diligent in checking all the canals and drainage pipes....well.....
GUESS WHAT THEY FOUND??????

Some stupid idiot had purposely stopped of a large drainage pipe because they didn't want to have water behind their house.  Evidently they were concerned about some large gators that were behind their fence because of the flooding (not in their yard)   If I understand correctly our run off creates a big pond on some government owned land that these people lived beside.  Again from what I understand their house was not in danger of being flooded.  Anyhow the EM folks found this Tuesday night/Wednesday morning and removed it. That's why the water went down some   Evidently the person realized the blockage had been moved and went back and blocked it up again (while we were at home and the water rose rapidly.  The EM folks went back out there and if I understand correctly some neighbors had already called the cops on the people blocking the storm drain and it was quite a scene!  That time the people were charged with felonies and trespassing on government land.  We stayed longer at the house and saw the water going down but we did not now the whole story until the next day.  BTW no one would give me these people's names LOL

So Thursday and Friday we had to clean the house (dirt and mud from boots) plus we had taken everything we could off the floors and put it up on beds, counters, etc.  It was a lot of work to clean up and put up everything.  The roads were absolutely awful.  We had real concerns about bringing the little kids back home and then we might have to leave again and the roads were so bad.  We especially had to consider Selah and her situation.   Thankfully we had some friends who helped us in various ways.

Our septic system is built above ground in a man made hill because we live in a low lying area.  At first I was ticked tht the county made us do that  mainly because it requires a lift station ran by electricity.  That worried me in case we would be without electricity.  It's rather complicated.  But I'm not so upset now as I was glad it stayed above water and had no leakage problems.  However our drain field was under about 2 feet of water for a few days so we've been babying our system.  Before we came home I did all our clothes at  laundry mat and told everyone to take a shower LOL  Now we are on a strict shower schedule and no dishwasher or laundry till all the water is gone.  We haven't had any problems and don't want any!

(you wouldn't believe how much we spent!)




So we came home on Saturday but didn't bring Selah home till Sunday.  That was quite a job and she was not happy with us.  She really liked the hotel  Selah can show her preferences much like a baby does so we were a bit concerned but she had no issues till it was time to leave!

Selah also turned 15 on Wednesday and of course Thursday was the 7th anniversary of the accident.  My mind went back to those horrible days.  It will always be a very sad day for us.  But we are so happy we have Selah and how far she has come.

This week we are doing some work on being better prepared....
I've called some contractors as we are looking at raising our  AC & Generator pad to 3 feet.  They came close to being damaged.   They are on a concrete slab maybe 2 inches off the ground but that is not high enough!!!

 we probably will raise the gas tank too as it came very close to being completely underwater.

So if you know any contractors in central Florida send me a message at theclanton5@aol.com

We also discovered that we do qualify for flood insurance and have that in the works.  Part of our property is in a flood plain and part is not so our insurance will be high but I think in the long run it will be worth it!  We've requested our paperwork that was filed at the time the house was built.  Once I get that I'll go to our insurance company and add it

As I said in my last blog I thought I was prepared for anything including "bugging out"  well I'm NOT!   It took us far too long to leave and when we did leave we did not take everything we needed with us.  The shock of water rising so quickly really paralyzed me.  You could tell if you looked at my wardrobe choices LOL  I'm not a conspiracy type person (not too much)  but things happen!!!

I have to say thanks again to the Pasco County Emergency Management Office and the Pasco Fire Department.  They all treated us so good.  The FD helped us pack our house up.  EM did everything they could to help us.  They listened and found the real cause of our flooding!!  They also put us in a hotel for a 5 nights!  They had things in place if the worst happened and assured us.  They kept us notified of everything.  We are very appreciative.

I am so glad to be home.  My goal is to always a have a thankful heart no matter what the outcomes are so with this great outcome I truly have a thankful heart!!!!


ps
I did get the CUTEST pair of water boots!

FLOOD

Well this past weekend I went grocery shopping and with Shad's help I fixed 15 family freezer meals and several  meals just for Sarah.  With just having surgery I needed to get back in control of of our eating habits as we were spending too much money eating out and obviously it's always healthier to eat at home where every ingredient can be controlled.  Steve had come home and did the lawn with Shad's help.  The house had been deep cleaned before my surgery and we'd kept it up....  All my paperwork was current....   Monday morning we went back to horse therapy so we were back in the saddle so to speak!  We had all kinds of appointments this week and i was hoping my doctor would tell me I could resume all of my normal exercise routine.   Oh I had HIGH hopes!  After I got home from therapy with some concerns about Sarah's ankles I set up more appointments for the next few weeks-things I'd had to change or put off because of my surgery....  then some college friends came by with a van load of things for Haiti.  We visited and it was so pleasant.  I walked them out-looked at the rising water (very normal for our area and this time of year) then I sat down for about an hour or so after putting one of my freezer meals in the oven. In reading through some messages I found I had been offered a position to work on a ministry that is near & dear to my heart!   It would be a volunteer position but something that I've prayed for for years.  I accepted the responsibility (with fear & trembling) and was willing to be in on the ground floor of this new aspect of ministry in Ukraine (more details later)   Sitting there  I was starting to hurt a little- horse therapy is about a 2 hour round trip drive plus the time we are there so I felt like I might have over done things just a little....    Oh foolish girl you had NO idea what was to come!

About 6ish Shad fed the dog and showed me some pictures he had taken outside.  The pictures did not seem possible the water was so high.  I walked out to the highest water I've ever seen by our house!  I couldn't believe it and was at a loss of what to do!!!  I walked around taking pictures totally freaking out inside but trying to tell myself it would go down.  Jon came home during all of this and I could tell he was shocked and overwhelmed too and it's not much that can disturb him!   Not knowing what to do since it was after 5 pm I called 911!  They sent the firemen and the emergency management folks.... things got worst and we knew we had to evacuate.  At first we thought we'd just send Selah and her nurses to a hotel but we soon realized we'd need to take all the kids.

I admit I literally had a hissy fit and hyperventilated!!!   That happens about every 20 years or so (at least that's what my husband says)  I think I scared Shad!  I just said we have to pray RIGHT NOW!  But I could not calm down.  Obviously I can't do much physical because I'm still supposed to not be lifting thins.  Jon will be having steroid shots in his back again next month and he's not supposed to be lifting things either!  What a mess!  Steve called during this and I was sobbing on the phone to him.  Bless his heart he'd worked all day and had to work out of town the next day but he said he was on the way over to us.

In the meanwhile some of our church folks showed up and began putting everything up high on beds, counters, high book cases.... A gentleman in our church went and bought sandbags to put in our drive through garage hoping it would cover the side doors.   Two of our nurses and a lady from our church packed Selah up.  She left first with her nurse.

I've always thought I was organized and could evacuate quickly if needed.  Well I know now that's a LIE!  Maybe it would be true if I could have done most of the work but I was in such pain by that time (I'm really hoping I didn't do something to myself)   Anyhow it was hard to make decisions what to take and what to move....  I'm so thankfully for the folks from my church for helping us.  Also of our firemen helped too.

The first hotel Steve took Selah to had a non working elevator and no rooms on the 1st floor so they had to go to another hotel! We finally got everyone settled by 1am.  It was hard to leave our home.

Today we went back (without the kids) We got more things and some friends brought us more sandbags to put around our A/C and Generator.   Shad paddled out on his old kiddie kayak and turned off the gas on our gas tank which is close to being submerged in water.  The water was so much higher- this time it was very hard to leave our house not knowing what we will come back to!  We had to leave our cats and dog.  We put a picnic table, the plastic fort and all our chairs in the drive through garage which is covered.  We fed them twice and hope we can get through to them tomorrow.  Emergency management is aware of our animals and are checking on things every two hours.  They are not in danger of drowning-just getting wet to get to dryer areas.  The worst that is expected would be a few inches of water (we hope!)

We do not have flood insurance.  It's complicated in Florida and we were told different things.  Most of our friends do not have flood insurance.  HOWEVER if we make it through this we will be getting flood insurance if at all possible.  We have great homeowners insurance except for that clause.

So we live near the Hillsborough River and near swamps and are used to alot of rain this time of year.  It's not unusual for us to have standing water on our property and in our neighborhood.  However we can not explain this flood nor can anyone else.  Yes the river is high but over all it doesn't make sense.  One neighbor has lived on our street for more than 20 years and has never ever seen anything like this!  the water usually runs from west to east across our road but is running from east to west and very swiftly.  That was the first thing she and i both noticed.  She is also flooded out.  Today as we were leaving we noticed that although the river is high we've seen it higher with no real issues on our property.  In fact some of our neighborhood that usually has standing water doesn't have it!  It seems so random.

When the house was being built tons and tons of dirt was brought in.  We are truly praying that our house was built up high enough to withstand this!!!



Braids!

Sarah's new helmet

Monday

yes Jon was surprised

I was standing on top of our septic system which is a hill

This is today

my baby girl loves the chair

Selah is comfy

Sam is good

Shad goes with the flow

Sarah and me are roomies

If you want to see some CRAZY video go to my blog's FB page   My Real Life by Yvonne
it's hard to post videos on my blog.

Things are desperate and we need a true miracle as do our dear neighbors!  Please pray that this will resolve soon.  The county has engineers working on it.  They put up a drone today as they took serious our insistence that things were different.  Hey we know our swamp and river!  They were looking for obstacles in the flow.  We always have a stream between our property and our neighbor- and it's not unusual for it to get out of its banks but not like this.  I don't know what they called this- maybe a flash flood for the water to rise so swiftly.  My girlfriends who were over can not believe the videos and pictures as they were there just a couple of hours before this happened!

It's not rained in some hours but we have a 80% chance of rain tomorrow.  Please pray that the rain will not come!  If it does I don't think our house will go without massive damage.

Ironically 15 years ago we had evacuated because of Hurricane Charley!  And tomorrow is Selah's 15th birthday.   Thursday will be 7 years since the accident happened.....I'm just a bit overwhelmed with everything right now.  Please pray!

(BTW a friend was cleaning our a small freezer that she just inherited and literally brought it to our hotel.  I brought all those freezer meals here so I won't lose them.  Most are uncooked and I don't have a stove here but some of Sarah's are cooked and pureed so she was happy!   At least I didn't lose them!) 

Summer 2019 continues

Pathology came back NO cancer-lots of other issues- so thankful that I did the hysterectomy before I HAD  to do it!  I had cysts every where-one in a Fallopian tube that was huge & could have burst.   Anyhow it's all done and I've done pretty good.  the only problem I've had is when I felt so good and over did things....  Let me just warn you NOT to do that!!! 

Last week we ended up going to our church's bi-annual convention.  We really had not planned to but Jon needed to go because he is now a home missionary with the Assembly of God in the chaplain department.  Although he has worked full time for 22 years as a chaplain he had never been connected with our denomination until this year when the requirements changed for Florida Chaplains.  It was easier not to be connected as both of us hate meetings and extra paperwork.  Anyhow this worked out good for us to go.  Steve actually worked the conference in the media department and Shad wanted to be a part of the youth services so he could see all his friends.  I was a bit unsure about the whole thing-even more so by the time we got there the first night.  The next morning I just walked from our hotel via the skywalk to the center and knew it was not going to work for me!  Thankfully I was able to rent a motorized wheelchair.  I felt like a fraud but I would have never ever made it without it.!  If I had felt normal-I'd easily had 20,000 a day!  We used the lids' new wheelchairs for the first time and they loved them. 

Our hotel across from the Orange County Convention Center

I got my scooter! 

This year's Mission exhibit was amazing.  I saw so many friends who work in different parts of the world.  I didn't include any of them in pictures because of sensitivity but it was absolutely wonderful to see them!

Shad as a Mummy

In China

Africa

In the Exhibit Hall

Our friend!

We also got to go to our Alma mater's reception where we saw so many friends!  Steve actually worked the camera/lights so we only had him for a minute

Sam & Sarah were given this audio bible.  I bought the stuff toy to put it in.  I'm so excited about it

Sarah listened intently to it

So Shad is quite happy with his friend (who is adorable)

Yesterday Shad was doing some yard work and found this mad friend!  Not to worry we've seen him around in the bck of our property but the rising water had him in our bushes.  Not poisonous but can sit strike and bite!

Although we were sure it was a black snake we aren't snake handlers so we used our nifty little snake remover and moved him back to the woods

I'm so proud to announce that our oldest son Steve just accepted a great media postilion with the Polk county!  He starts next week!!! Full benefits & retirement!!!   During this month he has two scheduled free lance gigs he is going to  finish up for a company he has worked for several years.  One is in Washington DC.  He was grateful his new job made allowances for that.  I of course am not as thrilled because I had him traveling but it's a good experience for him.  He will be continuing his MA he only has one semester of on-line classes remaining and then his internship.  Hopefully his new job will end up being able to be his internship.  He will be able to continue as a Graduate Assistant  and work night & weekend events at the university.  He is going to be BUSY!  But he's like us- he likes to be busy


Shad will be starting back homeschool next week.  We keep putting his college classes off-since he is just turning 16 next month we are going to wait until spring.  Plus I have to redo all his paperwork again.  He is starting work on 11th grade level -a year ahead so he is still going forward  He is continuing to work after a very busy summer.  He went to Miami Outreach-Youth Camp- El Salvador mission trip- General Council.   I told him my 15 year old summer was nothing like his!!!!  LOL


Sam & Sarah will be starting back to horse therapy next week -then they'll be off for a few weeks because the stable will be closed.  Selah is doing good we now have 4 nurses which have given our long term nurses a bit of a break.  Everything is going perfect with her medically and we can tell little by little she is more aware of us and responds more. 

Well we are all caught up on us!  Hope all is well in each of your lives and families!!!!

Trips and Surgery

Well most of the summer is gone and what a summer it has been!  I don't even know where to start.....

Steve has been working like crazy for five different companies doing camera/broadcast work.  He stays so busy and he's more than halfway through his MA already!  He only has one more summer course then a full Fall semester.  In the spring he only has an internship to do!

Shad enjoyed the mission trip to Miami in June.  He took the train down by himself and some friends of ours picked him up.  He stayed a few days with them before the mission trip started.  Shad has a group of friends who are all pastor's kids.  They've been friends for years now.   They go to all the same retreats/trips and stay in touch on line .  It's really a sweet thing.




He then went to camp for a week and left Wednesday morning for El Salvador!  We've told him when we were his age we didn't quite have the exciting summers like he does!  The most excitement I had was going to the library!  Not heading off on a train or plane somewhere!



So for the past few years I've really been dealing with some medical issues.  I've been to different doctors and specialists-which I absolutely hate doing but no one really gave me many answers.  Finally my GP sent me to her gynecologist who was able to help me.  After all the tests I'd had no one had even mentioned the huge fibroid tumors I had which was probably the cause of  much  of my misdiagnosed  pain.  I decided on having a hysterectomy because of the size of the tumors and my age.  To be honest I've always worried about gynecological cancers because of all of my odd problems  over the years and the fertility drugs I used.  I also have some family history of gynecologic cancers.  The tumors had my uterus the size of a 16 week pregnancy!


Before the surgery could be scheduled I had to have an uterine biopsy.  Dear God in heaven..... that was by far the most painful procedure i have ever had in my entire life.  I literally shook from the pain for about 15 minutes.   Thankfully the biopsy came back negative.  Since it was negative- I was a candidate for the robotic less invasive surgery.  Originally I was scheduled for late August but i told the receptionist that I'd take any cancellation..... well last Thursday I got a call asking if I wanted to do the surgery this past Tuesday!  EEK!  I was freaking out and having to arrange child care and transportion for Shad.  Jon and Steve had to get off work... it was crazy around here for a couple of days.  Plus I HAD to clean the house lol  Honestly I was glad for the stress- it kept my mind off surgery.  A BIG part of me could not believe I was having an elective surgery!!!   I had a deep peace about it because I believe it will actually help me in the long run but the prospect of surgery was freaking me out.  Staying busy was a good thing for me.  On Monday I walked over 17,000 steps-cleaning and running errands .  I even had my yearly thyroid appointment on Monday. (I will discuss that another time but suffice to say being on thyroid meds has made a huge difference in my bloodwork!  Everything is almost back to normal- most importantly my A1C dropped from 5.8 to 5.4 and my triglyceride came down from 214 to 115-that wa in just 3.5 months of thyroid meds!)  Plus Shad and I had to go shopping for his trip.  Every group that goes on the mission trip is asked to bring small toys and candy to give out to the kids they work with.  They also bring peanut butter and powdered Gatorade to be able to give out sandwiches and drinks.  We had a great time finding things at the Dollar Store and Walmart.  I figured it was the best thing to be doing the night before surgery.

So then came Tuesday-it was very hard for me to say goodbye to my little kids.  I kissed Selah Sarah and Sam.  At that moment I was very afraid and questioned the wisdom of having the surgery.  Jon, Steve and Shad went with me to the hospital.  I wasn't scheduled to be there until 11:30.  Let me tell you I was envious of the two people in front of me because i just wanted to get it over!  I started crying in the waiting room because I was scared.  The boys always get very quiet and worried when I cry because I don't cry much.  Once I got to the back I was ready to "get her done" The staff was incredible and once the IV was in I got some happy juice that took away my fears and I started giggling.  That made my family much happier.  It lasted till I got in the OR and then I had a few seconds of terror!  I wanted to run out of there!  Luckily they were ready to put me under.... I don't remember anything till about 7 pm  I woke up in tremendous pain.  It was not from the surgery cuts it was from the position I was placed in for the surgery.  I had a muscle cramp from my neck to my heels.   Evidently I had a bit of an altercation with a nurse who was more interested in shift change than getting me some pain meds.  Usually I have a bit of a problem speaking up for myself.  but I was quite loud and adamant  about my needs lol  We laughed about it the next day but I was a confused angry in pain woman that night who meant to get her some pain killers.  Once the drugs kicked in I fell back asleep and then got woke up by a nurse being loud.  I told everyone to shut the heck up or something along those lines.  It probably wasn't one of my better moments.  I'm pretty sure my husband was not announcing that I was a pastor's wife at that moment!

Sometimes I am not sure how much medical info I should share but I know many of you who read this blog are around my age and may be dealing with some of the same health issues I am dealing with so my info may help you too.  I chose to have the robotic Da Vinci surgery.  I had some concerns about the removal of all my lady parts in case one of the fibroid had cancer in it.  I did not want any cells to be free in my abdomen.  The doctor and I had several conversations about this because I've read about this.   I feel like it was the right choice for my situation.  Once in surgery there were some issues due to the scarring and adhesions I had.  In fact my surgeon called in another surgeon to assist him otherwise I might would have ended up with  having to have an open belly!  Thankfully the doctor feels there was nothing suspicious looking but we are till waiting for the pathology report to come back    I generally like older doctors with more experience and my doctor has been doing this type of surgery since the early 1990's.  He was very confident and that gave me confidence.

The doctor also does a scope of the bladder after surgery to insure there is no puncture or problem especially for someone like me who had so much scarring  I knew he was doing that ahead of time and that I'd have to have a catheter until the next day.  It caused my bladder to have spasms- not fun at all!  Thankfully I began taking a pill to coat everything with a mild pain killer as soon as I woke up.  That cut down on the pain.  Once the catheter came out that pain stopped and i didn't have any problems urinating (which was a huge fear to me)  Just keeping it real

So Wednesday I got up and walked for over an hour in the hospital on two different occasions.  The more I walked the less i hurt.    If you need a map of the second floor-I'm pretty sure i could draw it for you!    Of course I got sent home tht day.  I would have preferred to stay another day so I could gt IV drugs.  Usually pain killers taken by mouth make me nauseated.  I stayed to get the last dose through the IV and got home later.  Remember Sam recently got a hospital bed?  Thank God!  I slept in his bed last night & will tonight too.  I can't imagine lying flat.  I'm not in much pain but lying down is rough and so is sitting in a chair.  The only chair in our whole house that doesn't pull on me is our patio chairs so that's where I've been for hours.  I walked for about 1.5 hours today in the yard and house-slowly- but it has helped me   The doctor feels I have Interstitial Cystits IC and having the uterus pressing my bladder was causing much of my pain.

So now I'm in recovery mode!  Shad is in El Salvador and Steve is home helping us.  My husband is having terrible back issues and is going to probably have to have steroid shots in his back again. I told him I'm about tired of the whole "in sickness & in health " part because we seem to just be dealing with the "in sickness" part alot thee past couple of years!  Please pray for us and our doctors!


Now for some pictures!

This is the horse Sam likes

Jon captured this picture about 400 feet from our property

    July 4

Before Church- Sarah listening to the worship team practice and clapping.  she was modeling her new dresses.  I founds a sale lol  I love buying her clothes

Last Sunday surrounded by my people relaxing before this week started

our church's neighbor's hens came out last Sundaylol

the Sunday  night before surgery.... limb fell on my van from the outer bands of Hurricane Barry.  Of course it did.....

If you are facing any of the medical issues I've been facing please feel free to email me and ask specific questions about thyroid changes/Hashimoto , hysterectomy or IC  I don't know who said the 50's were the new 20's but they certainly were not speaking for me!!!!!  I'm not enjoying any of these health issues and hope to get them all behind me!