Evacuated-How My Emergency Supply Kit for Bariatric Patients Helped! On Thursday afternoon my neighborhood was evacuated due to Hurricane Irma. We had every intention to stay in our home up until that point. We even discussed staying even though we were supposed to leave, but when the weather experts said we would potentially have 9 plus feet of storm surge, images of people sitting on the roofs of their homes waving to be rescued became more of a future possibility. Rather than take that risk with our lives, we packed up our most important documents, clothes and some essential food items and quickly hit the road. As I always prepare my home with essential food and drink items, I wrote about the importance of having an emergency kit with items specifically geared for bariatric patients. This proved to be such a valuable tool for us as we took off in our car and headed north. We had no idea of where we were going, all we were trying to do was get out of harms way. I’ve always wondered how you decide what to pack with limited time as danger is looming.

So with our car packed up, we headed north. Thankfully, we did have 3/4 of a tank full of gas, so we knew we would be able to get far north before we needed to fuel up again. We took the turnpike and had clear sailing all the way up to West Palm Beach. We kept our eyes on the rest stops to monitor how the gas lines looked. As we got to the West Palm Beach rest stop, the gas line was only 12 cars long, so we got off to re- fuel. This proved to be one of the best decisions of our trip! As we headed back on the road, traffic started to build, but it wasn’t until the Ft. Drum rest stop that traffic came to a standstill. It seems many people were trying to get off and re-fuel,  take care of their pets and use the bathroom. It took hours and hours to get past this rest stop. I will be honest with you, this trip was absolutely grueling! We were stuck on the road, crawling along. My Emergency Kit for Bariatric Patients helped us BIG TIME. We had plenty of water as we packed up 2 cases of bottled water and a case of diet Lipton iced tea.

I packed up a large bag filled with Quest Protein Bars, Atkins High Protein Bars, Power crunch Bars, Protein Cake Bites, Emerald 100 Calorie Nut packages, Trader  Joe’s Trail Mix Individual packs, Aldi Trail Mix, Planter’s Peanuts, Epic Jerky, Dux Whole Wheat Integral Crackers, Rovira Lite Soda Crackers, and fresh strawberries, blackberries and bananas. In another bag, I packed a few 4 packs of Premier Protein Caramel Flavor High Protein Shakes and some Ocean Spray Cranberry drinks, which I don’t drink, but my family really enjoys from time to time.

We were able to have these snacks on the road and were hydrated and kept full as we had a lot of high protein items to choose from.
We have some friends and family in the Kissimmee area, but they were out-of-town, so we then tried to get a hotel room in Orlando, to able to stay close to our son who goes to school in Central Florida. We weren’t able to get a hotel room and were on the phone with family to help us find something along the way, or keep heading up north. Our second option was to get to our nephew in Atlanta, which seemed to be where we would be headed and then my sister was able to secure the last room available in Downtown Orlando. I’m writing to you from my hotel room in Orlando! This trip that normally takes 3 1/2 to 4 hours took us 12 hours!
Had we not included our emergency supply kit for bariatric patients, I really believe we would have been in deep trouble. As we arrived to the Ft. Drum Rest Stop, it was well after midnight. All of the food and convenience stores were closed. The only thing open was Dunkin’ Donuts! I do love my Dunkin’ but I was glad we had better choices in our car.
We got to our hotel about 4:30am. When we got up on Friday, we noticed it was a ghost town but, ventured out to get something to eat. We were surprised to notice it was difficult to find a restaurant open. Finally, we found an Asian place and were able to get a solid, low-fat healthy meal.
Today, we found an Ihop and were one of the last tables they seated since they were closing by noon. This proved to be a real Godsend! It was our first solid meal since yesterday’s lunch! We we went to Publix and got some additional non-perishable items such as spray cheese and Nabisco Premium Saltines (unsalted tops). This was just as an extra back up, since all of the shops and restaurants are expected to close early.
I like to think there’s always something to learn from every situation in life. I’ve learned a lot about being well prepared and what improvements I’d like to make for future emergencies.
I wish everyone well and hope you and your families, friends and pets are safe! God be with you!