Charie's Blog Jan 2022 - part 2

Post author Charie is a survivor of the Typhoon, living in Cebu and supporting her family in the storm's aftermath. This post has been lightly edited for clarity. 

Dec 16, 2021. It’s been difficult since my second daughter got sick and nauseated with a cough and fever. This month last year in 2020, I remember the awful day when I could tell she was having a hard time breathing. We rushed her to the hospital at Sotto, where she was admitted for pneumonia, and immediately intubated at just 3 months old.

I was terrified and I prayed for everything to be fine and that my daughter would be saved. I asked my husband to keep watch at the hospital, scared that I would not have the strength to see my child in that situation. She was intubated for a week, sleeping throughout this time period because the doctor gave her sleeping pills to keep my daughter from pulling the tube out of her mouth. 

After a grueling week at the hospital, my daughter went into recovery thanks to the people who helped us financially with hospital costs, and those who prayed. She came home on Jan 31, 2020, in time to celebrate the new year with the whole family. 

It was almost exactly one year later when we heard the news about a typhoon coming. On December 16, my child was sick again with a cough and was a little nauseated. With our past medical experience in mind, our priority was to get our daughter the medicine she needed to improve her symptoms. So that afternoon, my husband and I decided to take her for a checkup even with a typhoon warning out for that night. When we got to the clinic, there were no doctors available. We were directed to an online check up in which the doctor told us to get her admitted immediately. 

I was in so much shock and concern for my daughter and didn’t have time to think, so we decided to follow the clinic doctor’s advice. We got to the hospital at Saint Anthony’s, only to be told by the nurse that they only accept emergency patients. Instead, the nurse gave our daughter a quick check up and determined her oxygen levels were okay. He sent us back home with the direction to use a nebulizer.
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At around 7pm, my husband’s aunt came to the house to have us evacuate to the school. The wind was strong and I was so scared and concerned about my child. At around 10pm, the typhoon started. I was crying and so worried about all of us. My son also cried because he was scared of the very strong wind. I was just carrying my daughter and hugging her tight. I prayed and hoped she would get well.

My worry grew when there was black out at the evacuation center. and we could no longer power the nebulizer for my daughter. We remembered the inhaler we had for her asthma that we forgot at home. My husband texted his brother to bring it to the evacuation center, even though the storm had started. The medicine was more important for us. We didn’t sleep that night. Morning came and we were able to see that the typhoon had been so intense that branches broke and pillars fell, evacuation center rooftops peeled and flew off. At our house there was no more roof and the side of our house was slanted about to collapse. We decided not to go back since it was too dangerous. ​

​In the aftermath of the typhoon, we struggled a lot. It was hard to get clean water for washing, bathing, and drinking, which was especially important for our two kids who have sensitive stomachs. Thankfully, my daughter’s cough was okay two days after the typhoon but it was hard to get water and food for several days. No one gave us aid and without electricity my husband could not work.

Lines for water were long, we suffered a lot and let the children drink first before ourselves. We Searched everywhere for food. We stayed at the evacuation center for two weeks, which was difficult since there was no electricity - every night we slept in the dark and our kids cried due to a lot of mosquito bites. I fanned them a lot. We spent Christmas and New Year’s in that unfortunate situation but at least we were together.

My husband still looks for drinking water and food while I watch over three kids. My big sister Dolores left her child with us after the typhoon, and we haven’t seen her since the storm. My sister has not checked on her daughter, Rosamie since and is not thinking straight anymore. . Rosamie always misses her and asks where she is. 

When the school needed the classrooms back for their teachers, we had to leave the evacuation center. We are back at our house, and avoid using the living area since it is still in dangerous condition. Luckily, we have electricity now, but still struggle to buy food because my husband's business is still not stable yet. 
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On January 8, 2022 the owner of the land where we live talked with us about demolishing our house. They gave us  until January 20, 2022 to move out. We still don’t have a place to live. I hope someone can help us with our situation. We are still struggling… and praying for better in the new year.