Katrina, My Story from the beginning. this is long!

Its been 3 years since Katrina hit, and it changed not only my life, but many. Hi, My name is Melissa and I am a Katrinian. (thats what we were called). I am going to tell you my story, one you didn't hear on the TV or radio. No, because I was not living in New Orleans. I was in Biloxi,MS. First we will start from the beginning of 2003. WoW what a year. In June we packed up our stuff and moved from Elmendorf AFB,AK to Keesler AFB,MS. Yes we drove! and I was 8+ months pregnant with number 4! Everyone kept saying she was going to be born in Canada, but she made it to MS. So we reach the border of Cananda and US and the border patrol says, we are going to have to search you. WHAT!! We had a trailer packed with containers, a rooftop carrier 3 kids, a dog and a cat. Not to mention, I WAS PREGNANT! So we pull over to get searched and Jesse give them his ID and gets ready to get out. The patrol, says Thank You sir for serving our country, we are not searching you, have a great day! YES!! That is how it should have been in the first place, but anyway, So we continue on our journey to Biloxi, stopping in Wisconsin to see Jesses sister and husband. We left Colby and Timothy there for a few weeks. This was the first time I left them and it was hard, I cried! (prego) So we had to go a few hundred miles out of our way to see my mom and daddy, because we were at a sermon on fathers day and I bawled, " I miss my Daddy" ( what men have to put up with!) Now onto MS we reach there right around the 4th. About a week later evacuate for Dennis, no problem, got the boys, got paid to stay in a hotel and swim. It was nice.We got our house, not the one we were supposed to get, Thank God! July 26th give birth to Emilee. August 4th The two older boys start school, I go back to the hospital with pre-eclampsia. almost coma stage. Get mag-ox overdose, finally after a couple days go home. The doc gives me a new drug for my migraines... topamax. yes finally no more migraines. (so i thought) About a month later, Colby goes to the hospital on base, he sliced his foot open, And I hear a guys saying the hurricane changed course, its headed right for us. We did not have TV set up yet so, I had no idead what was going on. I asked Jesse, he said, yeah. So we went on with life. That night went to a couples house and got evacuation orders at about 11pm, and by the way, Jesse, you have to stay. WHAT! Oh well, we packed up, thinking it would be like Dennis, we went toFlorida to stay with friends and said I will see you this weekend.Mind you we left in shorts,flip flops and tanks. We didn't even bring socks. We planned to visit them labor day weekend anyway. Well it was a 10 hour drive. it should have been a 4 hour drive. Just me and my kids and my post partum. We get to Florida and the bridge is closed to where I need to go. We go into Mcdonalds and people are just wonderful, a lady buys our dinner and finds a way for us to get to my friends! We get there. Katrina hits.. Head on Gulfport. Right by my husband.Remember how I said we didn't get the house we wanted. well those houses were destroyed! Our house only had minimal damage. Again, I thank God. I kept watching the devastation wondering, is he still alive. I wondered for 2 days. Until I finally got a call. Obviously we weren't going to see him anytime soon. I can't go home. I get a phone call from my wonderful sis in Wisconsin offering us to stay with them. I accept and start our trek up to Wisconsin from Florida with 4 kids.( em is a month old) I have started my migraine med and uped the dose, I started breaking out in hives.. hmm why? Gotta keep movin' on. We stop at a hotel, I ask for a military discount and they ask for my zipcode I give it to them, oh you get the red cross discount. Ends up I didn't get billed at all. Back in Florida at Tyndall AFB, I got a grant from the AF. This helps us to get to Wisconsin, and get some warmer clothes. Back to the travels. One night, it is late, I got lost twice, almost hit a semi, looking at the map, I was spent. On the radio, I hear..." Jesus take the wheel, take from my hands cause I can't do this on my own, I letting go" I did just that! I pulled over and did just that, and bawled!! ( I cried alot) I still cry when I hear that song! We made it to my moms house.My hives are worse, I go to a dr and they say maybe its you BP med. So they changed it, I uped my Topamax again. I got some more help from the red cross and the food bank. We then made it Wisconsin,My hives are at the worst, I go to a dr again, Oh, she says, you are allergic to sulfa? Topamax has sulfa! ARRGH. I was driving all that way coating on hydrocortisone cream and dosing up on benedryl. Made for a miserable drive. Anyway,We got so much help, from my sisters school it was amazing, how caring people were! But we needed everything.We stayed there for 4 months. We then got orders to Fairchild AFB, WA. The pics are from Biloxi, almost 4 months after Katrina. I just told my story to let people know, that even though all you read and heard about was New Orleans. Others got the brute of Katrina. There were so many people who got it worse than I! I still pray for them, as they are still recovering. The stories Jesse told me about the 4 months he was there. Are heart wrenching. When you see the pics say a little prayer for all those affected by Katrina and now Gustav is headed there. Thanks for reading my LONG story and letting me share some of my trials and tribulations. Just so you all know, this is not a pity me post, I have triumphed through this and wanted to share that God is with us always! He will help you get through anything! God Bless you all!

This used to be a Sonic on the beach. Right

down from my house.

Base housing on Keesler,AFB

A shore strip store.

One of the hotels/casinos

The empty coast line, where hotels and casinos

once lined the beach.