organicgreendoctor: the floods

organicgreendoctor: the floods: THE FLOODS that is me standing in the river that was about a quarter of a mile from our country n house in texas that is a friends son who i...

the floods

THE FLOODS

that is a friend standing in the river that was about a quarter of a mile from our country n house in texas
that is a friends son who is about 3 years old
the river is easily walked across when the water level is low


this is ms b and my wife she and our dog marley at about the same spot
kids loved playing in the water throwing rocks and seeing them skip finding tadpoles and minnows

its amazing this calm pleasant peaceful cool location could become a raging river in just a few hours

once when we were in the middle of a ten year drought this river became a trickle
at some points it was just wet rocks you could walk across

at its driest point i hiked the river bed
there were pools of water that you could walk around
fish had been trapped in the water
i was able to walk from the point i am standing then along the river bed for 3 miles to a bridge which was on the road that the country n was located

i felt like i was in the wilderness miles from civilization

there were cliffs i didnt realize were there
i heard tons of birds and other animal sounds
i heard no human sounds at all

it was an experience of solitude i will always remember

in the 17 years we lived at the country n we would get these torrential rains like what happened in texas recently

once in july i was at home by myself as my wife she and her visiting mom were in east texas visiting relatives

at bout 3 in the am i was awoken by this god awful sound of a thunderstorm and lightning and rain and hail on our metal roof

if you have ever been in a building with a metal roof in a hail storm you know how loud it could be

i had left our upstairs bedroom window open to let in fresh air that night
when i was abruptly woken by the noise i jumped out of bed
the screen from our window had been blown out into the room and hail was being blown across our bedroom onto the far wall

this torrential rain lasted for about an hour
later i found out it was 10 inches of rain
all dumped on us in a few hours

i eventually went back to sleep and when i woke i could hear what sounded like a big ole freight train down by the river
it wasnt a train it was the river
that sound lasted for days

i walked down to the river
well
the river was up over that embankment shown in the picture several yards up above that area

the river looked like those pictures showed earlier this month from texas

when we would get rain like this we would be flooded in
we couldnt get out either way on our main road
it usually would take a few days for it too clear up enough to get to the main road

now the country n and its pastures were never in danger of flooding
interesting enough our pastures never had standing water in them
there was a gradual slant of the land to the river so i guess the water just flowed that way

now i always said that we must be sitting over a big limestone cave since the water disappeared so fast

we never flooded on our property

as you turn right out of the country n about a quarter mile was a low water crossing that usually when rain was predicted it would be all marked off or blocked completely

once a thunderstorm came through during the night and dumped a ton of water just above this church creek and flooded the low water crossing
for some reason i dont remember i went to work early when it was dark
i had no idea it had rained hard 
as i drove my small compact toyota i hit the water gushing across the road
i could feel my wheels not touching the road
i momentarily felt myself floating 
then
my momentum seem to carry me through to the other side
safely thank goodness

i had no idea 

another time a storm hit like this in the middle of the night
a state worker unfamiliar with this road at midnight was bringing a couple of foster kids they had to confiscate from a family hit that low crossing and unlike me was carried down a raging creek now almost like a river about a 100 yards downstream
the car got wedged against a tree but it filled up with water
luckily the worker climbed out of the roof and was able to pull the kids safely to the roof

luckily a nearby elderly lady just happened to be up and heard the screams for help 
a water rescue team showed up after a while and rescued them
cold wet but alive

on that night when we got that 10 inches of rain dumped on the country n the road just before the low water crossing was completely washed away and the hole left was about 6 feet deep

luckily no one crashed into that hole before it was repaired

turning left out of the country n it was about 3 miles to the bridge i had walked to
the water level that night got to the bridge but didnt go over it
further down that road though the water had the highway flooded in several locations

i was flooded in that day so i stayed home
it took a day or two for the water to receded enough to get out

while living at the country n we learned to respect the power of water and flooding
if water was across a road we didnt cross it

in the area where we lived several people drowned in these latest floods

these floods will happen again
will they be ready or will folks forget about this tragedy

i hope they learn from these tragedies

turn around dont drown 

yes
it will flood again
lets dont forget what happened

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: happy anniversary

organicgreendoctor: happy anniversary: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY this is mr h this picture is from several months before his kidney transplant a family friend drew this picture for him a ...

happy anniversary

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

this is mr h
this picture is from several months before his kidney transplant
a family friend drew this picture for him

a review of mr hs history
he had blockage that developed in utero that severely damaged his kidneys
he was born early and was in kidney failure and heart failure
his heart was ok but he had so much fluid backed up that he had heart failure
this heart failure improved and cleared the first few weeks of his life in icu
sadly his kidney or renal failure did not
his kidneys only functioned about 30%

the goal was to get him to 2 years old or 20 lbs so he could have a kidney transplant instead of having to go on dialysis

he had a lot of ups and downs those first 2 years of his life
as he was nearing his 2 years old he was scheduled for a possible kidney transplant but it was canceled because of covid


a search for a live donor was made
several relatives stepped up
one a distant cousins wife stepped up and said i want to donate

so they picked the person who had the best match
it was the distant cousins wife
so
she was selected to be the donor

the problem was she lived on the east coast
mr h was on the west coast
it was covid time so they did not want her to fly across country on an airline

luckily a private donor gave the use of their access to a private jet to fly the donor to los angeles to protect her from getting covid

leading up to the transplant time mr h was nearing needing kidney dialysis which they wanted to avoid

finally his nephrologist pushed the system to get his transplant done
it happened

five years ago 
it was covid time and only one parent could stay at a time with him sometimes
the transplant went well

however
he developed a high fever and they worried he could have an infection or rejection
it turned out to be a blood clot in his right arm
several days of iv heparin cleared that up and he finally got to leave the hospital

you could see his energy level explode almost on a daily basis

the last 5 years have been ups and downs so it goes in the transplant world

the worst was a couple winters ago he got real sick and was in icu for several days
i was able to stay with him in the icu room
at one point on day two i thought to myself
he is never going home he is that sick

however mr h is a tough guy
he made it through that event and has persevered through several more
he is a real trooper 


if you saw him you would not know he had any health issues
he goes 90 miles an hour
he loves sports especially baseball as well as any sport he is allowed to play

he has been receiving monthly infusions for a few months to prevent rejection and takes daily meds to  prevent rejection

he lets none of this slow him down
nothing

so mr h

today we wish you a happy kidney anniversary 
thanks for being an inspiration to us and others

thanks also to those who donated to his initial kidney fund that he can access far into the future to help with the costs involved  that insurance will not pay

thanks again

the organicgreen doctor