Saturday, September 13, 2008

Hometown Headlines

Here is the newspaper I usually get delivered at home, the Austin-American Statesman, and this is the first time I've seen it since July:

Hurricane Ike
Also got a phone call from one of the staff, saying the first floor of UTMB was flooded... so, we are increasingly relieved to have evacuated when we did.

Thank you so much again to everyone who made kind overtures -- and NO, it is not selfish at all to ask questions about our medical aftermath -- it keeps us busy and gives us something to do other than sit around whining about how much our legs hurt ;) We are happy to know folks are interested enough to express concern, and we are truly touched by how many people have said they are pulling for us.

If anything, we felt like we should pipe down about our tiny personal experience with such a gigantic evacuation, given how many hundreds of thousands of people were displaced and how many MILLIONS are now without power or assessing storm damage... but, we only have the power to work through each day, trying to take care of ourselves and each other.

We caused something of a stir among the nurses and patients here. Someone poked their head into my room this morning and said, "Are you one of the NASA people?" He wanted to ask about our study, and many of the nurses have asked for details. The hospital chaplain even descended upon Devin, wanting to know about the criteria for screening! So we are in the good hands of people who are watching us closely for problems, and also helping us reach our fitness goals each day! :)