The Heart of Recovery

I just got off the phone with my dear friend Karen who survived the Katrina catastrophe and we were talking about getting things back to normal. We decided there is really no such thing. All of us go through stressors in our lives and she was saying that she was still finding it hard to cope with some things, and that many folks who were so optimistic a year ago, were now showing signs of depression and weariness over the everyday challenges they are still facing.

No doubt. Stress on that magnitude is hard for most of us to imagine. And for most of us, after a period of high stress, life moves on and we “get back to normal”. In New Orleans, things are much improved, but still a long way from normal. She was saying that she really thought she had been OK right after the storm because their house and her studio were still intact, and other than some shutters, a balcony, and a column on her porch, their losses were minimal. I suppose by comparison, those things were small, but that doesn’t mean that she and her husband didn’t have to deal with the problems all across a city with not much infrastructure. She said she felt a bit of survivor’s guilt as well. It’s hard. I cannot believe the amount of post traumatic stress that many of NOLA’s citizens must feel. Some will come back eventually, many never will.

Her husband is a doctor, a surgeon, and I actually watched with the rest of the country on CNN as they were airlifted from the hospital roof days after Katrina hit. They relocated to Tennessee close to their daughter temporarily, and her husband continued to practice there, and volunteered back in NOLA as well. She said many people came back to NOLA two months later, after the electricity came back on, but they were in Tennessee until January. And have been trying to get things fixed, redone, repainted, repaired, etc. and get on with their lives ever since. NOLA has become the murder capitol of the world with not enough law enforcement either. She says there are no such things as “handy men” in NOLA, and that the psychiatrists are so stressed they need psychiatrists! Even after almost two years later, some people still aren’t back in their houses, there is no insurance to be had, not nearly enough readily available building supplies, not enough workers, not enough anything,

Even though the French Quarter was not severely damaged, the tourist trade is still off (my friend jokes that surely folks would want to come to the murder capitol of the world!), but it is a black humor. But she said even though most of the city is still like a third world country, you can still eat at a fine restaurant, stroll down Bourbon Street and pop into a jazz club. She says it feels more like a small town with people you hardly knew hugging you in the grocery store saying things like “Oh you’re back. It’s so good to see you again”.

Although some people appeared to go through the hurricane rather unscathed, symptoms of post traumatic stress can sometimes move them into a deeper darker crisis. Disappointment, restlessness, and dread still tiptoe in on little cat feet, and can turn into elephants if steps to avert the depression aren’t taken. My friend Karen seems to be able to recognize when that happens, and anniversaries of the event can sometimes trigger some strange feelings. So on August 29, 2007, please keep New Orleans in all your prayers and encourage those you know who suffered from this terrible event in our shared history to continue to take good care of themselves and to feel free to still be affected by it.

Fortunately, my friend Karen is an artist, so she has some creative outlets that help her deal with stress in very healthy ways. Keep making art, Karen, and know we love you.

Love,
Sharon