Saturday 17 November 2012

Long hard slog

Some time ago we were flooded and our lives were turned upside down, so with the help of notes, I have rewritten the story.

Its been a long hard learning curve since the end of June this year, and it has taken its toll on many people in our area.
On June 28th we were packing to go on a Baltic cruise the following day to celebrate my 65th  birthday, and never really thought about what was coming. Just after tea  the rain came and it was torrential, but it took some time before we all realised that things were going to turn ugly.

By around 8pm the water was pouring through the town centre, and eventually it got so bad that a wall of water was heading our way just like a small tsunami.
Within 20 minutes we had nearly 3ft of water inside the house above the floor and another one and a half feet below the floor, and it came in so fast that we lost most of our possessions on the ground floor.
The next morning a new life started when I went down into the sea of mud and saw what was left of our life's possessions.
I then felt sick, at the thought of what was to come, but at this time I was not able to take on board the problems that were to come.

We removed as move of the sludge as we could and when the insurance man came four days later and told us that we could not stay i n the house, our hearts sank.
We were moved into a hotel for around 10 days, and then into a small flat, which was going to push me to the limits.

Although the flat was small and easy to get round, it was in a three storey block with fire doors.

Night after night day after day people would go in and out, letting go of the fire doors, which then slammed. My wife said that I physically left the bed one night with the shock of the slamming doors.

I have now got to November and we hope to be out of this flat within 6 weeks as it will not come quick enough for me. I have struggled through every emotion possible and have realised what depression is and how close I have been like many others from our estate to walking away and finishing it all together. I know in my own mind that I am not suicidal, but I have been to some dark places over the last few months, and this has not helped my dementia at all.

Many people we have spoken to have said that the flood destroyed their lives and many quiet loving people became angry and someone who snapped at their loved ones for no reason at all.

Last week was awful, and possibly the worst week of the whole lot, and should have been a good week as it was our Ruby anniversary, but we seem to have turned the corner and things are starting to look up again.

I went for a memory test on Friday and both the nurse and my wife were surprised that I did so well in the tests, after all we had been through.

I know that its not the same but I can just about understand what those in the far east went through when the tsunami struck, although it was far more dangerous and unforgiving, and now my heart goes out to all who suffered in these events. I could not understand what they went through before our flood, but its given me a good idea, of the pressures and stress that people were under afterwards.

I have never been depressed before and never want to go there again, as it was horrible. But the only things that kept me going where my family, grandchildren, and my tropical fish aquarium which was moved into the garage until the house is repaired. I know that fish can not speak, but going to feed them every day, that gave the impression that they were pleased to see me and it all helped keep me going.  Its taken me 4 years to get this aquarium setup and working well, and I started doing it to help my memory and help me relax, so its a major part of my life and this fish, silly as it may sound are an extended family, and I only hope that we can get them all back in the house before winter sets in properly, because I don't think they will survive and that will be upsetting after all we have gone through in the family.

God willing we will all come through this and come out the other side before much longer.

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