Re: Re: [) a

June 6, 2004

We¹re pretty settled. We won¹t be completely settled until our house up

north goes to settlement and I can buy some furniture!!!! If all goes well,

in a few weeks I can go buy a nice comfy computer chair and will enjoy being

on the computer much more. Today was a very harrowing day. We were out on

our porch and just 10 feet away a lightning bolt came out of nowhere and hit

the ground right in front of us. It started a patch of trees on fire, which

my husband and neighbor quickly put out with their hoses. While standing

there hosing the trees, we see another fire a few hundred yards away in a

wooded patch bordering our neighborhood. By the time the 2 guys got there

with fire extinguishers, it was to big to do anything about. It has been so

dry here but we were lucky that the wind was blowing the other way and the

fire department was able to contain it before any homes were destroyed.

They didn¹t mess around. They had planes dropping water and bulldozers

making a fire path.

I think I am still in shock. That lightning bolt was to close for comfort

with no warning. I¹m just glad it happened on a Sunday when everyone was

home.

My family has mixed emotions about us moving, but they really are happy for

us because they know we¹ve talked about it for years and we finally did it.

¹s mom, dad and brother are coming to stay with us this week, and that

makes it nice. I think my family looks at it as if they have a new vacation

home LOL! We all talk on the phone a lot, so at least we are always in

touch. The worst of it for me is missing my 2 grandchildren.

My DIL sends pictures, but that is a small consolation. Hopefully they will

come visit soon. My parents are here 6 months out of the year, so it

doesn¹t matter that we moved, we still see them the same amount of time.

They will be back here in October.

All in all, it is going better than I expected. I haven¹t even gotten lost!

Finding my favorite stores all over again can be challenging, but it is an

adventure. It is so nice knowing I won¹t have to put up with ice and snow

again. But no one warned me about the lightning!

a

> a,

>

> Thank you so much! Are you all settled in now and how has your family taken to

> the move? Hugs to

> you. Iris

June 6, 2004

In a message dated 06/06/2004 16:34:44 Central Standard Time,

paula54@... writes:

> We were out on

> our porch and just 10 feet away a lightning bolt came out of nowhere and hit

> the ground right in front of us.

Holy Cow, a! Was it storming, or cloudy? Or was it a regular blue sky?

I bet that scared the heck out of you! Did your hair stand up? Cary the

Curious :>)

June 6, 2004

Becky

If I may ask, what was the situation when your son was struck? And what kind

of injuries did he sustain? Cary

June 6, 2004

Oh My Goodness, Becky-

Thanks for sharing the story. It sounds soso awful. What a lot for a boy

(and his mom) to go through. I have wondered for quite a while what happened

but didn't want to upset you by asking. Thanks for being so open.

Cary

June 6, 2004

My son was struck by lightning and we are in a survivors support/medical group.

During a storm you are not safe on a porch, under a pavilion, etc. You should

stay inside, away from windows and plumbing and electrical appliances. Never

take a shower, wash your hands, don't use a phone unless it's cordless, etc.

(don't swim indoors!) during a storm. If you can hear thunder, the lightning

missed you. Thunder is the sound that lightning makes. You are somewhat safe

if you are driving in a car as when lightning hits the car, it goes around the

frame and is grounded. The rubber tires do not protect you. The lightning is

going to find the quickest way to the ground, in my son's case he was it. Kids

playing sports are really targets as usually they stay on the ballfield or

whatever while it is lightning. Even if it's not raining you can easily be

struck and you can be struck from a storm 10-20-even 90 miles away as the

lightning with travel great distances. It is very common to be struck from

10-20 miles away. If you can see lightning on the horizon, it is close enough

to strike you. The rule of thumb is wait until 30 minutes after the last

sighted lightning and thunder to resume activities.

Becky

Re: [ ] Re: [ ) a

In a message dated 06/06/2004 16:34:44 Central Standard Time,

paula54@... writes:

> We were out on

> our porch and just 10 feet away a lightning bolt came out of nowhere and hit

> the ground right in front of us.

Holy Cow, a! Was it storming, or cloudy? Or was it a regular blue sky?

I bet that scared the heck out of you! Did your hair stand up? Cary the

Curious :>)

June 6, 2004

He was in our 3-car attached garage and the back door blew open. He went to

close it and when he touched the door knob the lightning struck him. His hand

was attached to the door as the bolt went up his right arm, across his chest,

and exited his left shoulder. He was thrown across the garage. His arm and

chest were burnt and swollen like the Incredible Hulk and you could see his

blood vessels pulsating like they were going to burst through his skin. The

burns went away in 3 hours (really) and he appeared find. He was released from

the ER then with a note to take Tylenol as needed for pain. HOWEVER, after that

(he was 13 at the time, he became severely behavior/conduct ordered and was

totally strange and out of control. The doctors all said he was ADHD and since

he looked fine and survived, the lightning did nothing to him. They did not

know at the time but an electrical injury is a traumatic brain injury and his

central nervous system was scrambled. He is numb in the chest, arms and

shoulder area, has the shakes like Parkinson's, has short-term memory loss,

sequencing problems, basically has learning disabilities. He has a sleep

disorder, chronic fatigue, pain anywhere and everywhere, kidney problems, acid

reflux, you name it. But, he looks normal and does not look like he was fried.

He is now 21 and has the physical body of an old man. He has back problems,

cannot stand the heat at all. Even in the middle of winter he's hot so when

it's really hot out he feels like he's on fire. He fries electrical things

regularly just by being near them such as light bulbs will blow out, we have had

4 garage door openers put in so now he cannot park in the garage and the openers

are fine, he blows computers if he's near them (can't go near the office where

our computer is), street lights go out when he goes under them, just all kinds

of strange things like that. It doesn't always happen, though. He has to get

acupuncture to relieve the static charge that he carries. His body is like a

capacitor, storing a charge that keep buildings up. He has an out of body

experience when it happened. He was on the Learning Channel a few years ago

where they did a reenactment with actors and then interviewed him and me before

and after. I narrated the story. He went to the garage to look for his cat

during a storm and that's how he was in the garage at the time. The cat died a

few months later, probably got the zap too.

Becky

Re: [ ] Re: [ ) a

Becky

If I may ask, what was the situation when your son was struck? And what kind

of injuries did he sustain? Cary

June 6, 2004

It's not upsetting, our mission now is to get the word out about lightning

safety. Our group is at: http://www.lightning-strike.org/

I would encourage everyone to check the links and read about lightning safety.

We have many members that were struck more than one time. My son can feel

storms before they arrive. No one survives a direct hit. Most survivors are

actually side flashed or something similar, like it going through phone lines,

through windows, people sitting on porches, kids sitting in baseball dugouts,

people swimming at an indoor pool such as a YMCA, etc.

For a long time we put my son in a back basement room for his bedroom where it

was completely underground. He would not hear the storms then. For years he

had nightmares of being struck and we would hear him screaming and he would be

punching the wall or his headboard in his sleep trying to get away from the

lightning. He had holes all over his wall and probably had cracked his hands

many times as they were often swollen and bruised and bloody. He doesn't seem

to have that now, at least we he's not fighting it in his sleep.

Becky

Re: [ ] Re: [ ) a

Oh My Goodness, Becky-

Thanks for sharing the story. It sounds soso awful. What a lot for a boy

(and his mom) to go through. I have wondered for quite a while what happened

but didn't want to upset you by asking. Thanks for being so open.

Cary

June 6, 2004

His siblings had a very difficult time growing up with all of this. He had

rages and would just snap for no reason. They have been through a lot and I

just battled my way through the school system. My husband traveled a lot until

3 years ago so I had to handle the worst of it myself. My children are better

people because of it all as they know how to deal with special needs since they

lived it first hand. It was embarrassing for them as there were all younger and

had to put up with it. I took them two different times alone to Disneyworld

while my husband stayed home to watch him. It gave them something extra to

remember as fun without their brother causing problems.

Becky

Re: [ ] Re: [ ) a

Oh My Goodness, Becky-

Thanks for sharing the story. It sounds soso awful. What a lot for a boy

(and his mom) to go through. I have wondered for quite a while what happened

but didn't want to upset you by asking. Thanks for being so open.

Cary

June 7, 2004

a,

Just reading mail because I needed a break and saw this. How frightening. I am

glad you and are OK. A few years ago, I was about 3-4 feet away when

lightning hit a metal pole over a walkway when I was doing an inspection. I was

amazed at how loud it was. I had ringing in my ears for about three weeks after

that happened. That was too close for comfort. Had anyone been under that pole,

they would have been killed. Needless to say the landlords removed the pole. We

were all just thankful that no one happened to be under there when it was hit.

A couple of years ago, a college student here was struck and killed while

walking across a parking lot. As in your case, the bolt of lightning came out of

no where. We had a wicked storm after that but she was struck before it started.

We all need to take lightning seriously. Thanks for sharing your story, we all

need reminders this time of year.

From what you have said about 's parents before, it should be an enjoyable

week when they are there. Can you keep up to them? I was just thinking of the

time they told you 'canes are for old people " Guess, we are old.

It must be difficult being separated from the grandchildren but a, they will

come to visit and they will have life-long memories of visiting Grandma and

Grandpa in Florida. I know, I was one of those kids who went to Florida to visit

Grandma and Grandpa and even today, I have great memories of Florida. I wish I

could escape from here and come see you!!!!!!!!!! I think I am due for making

more memories.

Pat