April 10, 2008, Nashville, TN, 7:47 p.m., D.S.T., Nashville Memorial Hospital~

Dear Journal~

Bill Sandusky here.

I am sitting here in the emergency room waiting area; seems that several of my children decided to have asthma attacks (all at the same time), plus Johnny had a seizure.

Am waiting to hear from the doctor, see what he (or she) has to say.  Hopefully it won't be anything serious; I pray none of the children will have to be admitted to the hospital.

The weather outside is frightful, according to the radar imagery on the television screen.  Several rounds of supercell-type thunderstorms are traversing across our area; had one round go thorugh earlier; now it's round two.  Tornado sirens are probably going off; the Nashville metro area is currently under tornado warnings; we're under a tornado watch until 11 tonight.

We thought we were going to get through this in one piece; however, Debby started gasping for air, and her breathing wasn't getting any better.  Then Ronee' joined in, complaining of chest pains and breathing difficulty (I personally think she was having a panic attack; she is extremely scared of storms).  THEN Loueva started gasping for air.

After we saw that their breathing wasn't going to improve, we decided to get them to the emergency room (actually I did, while Louie stayed home with the rest of the troops).  Johnny then fell out of his chair, where he went into a seizure, his first one since getting his new medication. It was a bad one.  So now he had to go to the emergency room as well, just to make sure he was okay.

Later:

Just saw the doctors; the kids are all going to be fine.  Now, Johnny and Ronee' are going to be admitted for overnight observation.  They will probably end up going home tomorrow.  The doctors want to make sure that they are going to be okay.  

The weather is still screaming outside.  Tornado warnings still in effect; sure hope the house is still standing.  I tried to call Louie; no answer.  Now I'm really starting to get nervous!  I hope I don't end up in the emergency room with my children!

You can hear the hail banging against the window outside; it sounds like baseball sized, although in parts of the city there's reports of tennis ball sized hail.  The rain's coming down in sheets; I can see it from the outside window. 

Lightning frequently, power's been flickering on and off; this is when I thank God for generators because if the power goes out, we will still have power, not only here at the hospital, but at our house.

I will be so glad when the storms move on out of here!  We may get another round later tonight, but nothing to the extent of what we're experiencing right now.  I guess I will stay put until sometime past midnight; if it's clear, only then will I gather Loueva and Debby, then head on home.

Hopefully our house will be intact; if not, well...then I don't know what we are going to do.  Guess we'll have to find a motel to stay at--that or the local YWCA!

Well, Dr. Jagadish wants to talk with me some more, so I guess I'll go now.  I've had more than eough with this weather to last me the rest of my days; it's getting to the point to where I'm seriously considering moving up north! (Like to Alaska, where the only storms they have there are magnetic!!)

Take care, and may God bless you!  I sure hope he gets us through the rest of this stormy period!!  If He does it will be a miracle!

~Bill. :(