Enjoy the moments together

This is for all the little ones I love. 

 

 Let's all let the little ones just be children--imperfect children.  Let's let them keep their sweet, innocent little lives.  Let's not force them into competitive activities before they can handle it around age 12.  Let's support their childhoods with all of the things that we never had but what will make them happy.

 

This is for Christina who came home from the hospital last night!  I love you Christina!

 

Grandma Dawn

 

 

Off the oxygen!!!!

 

Please pray for my daughter, Cora, and her daughter, Christina.  Both need lots of prayers!  Cora is staying at the hospital now to nurse Christina as often as possible. 

 

Michael and Elsie brought me home last night so it's good to be home.  The puppies are growing.  The plant is picking up speed in spite of the terrible cold.  Andrew is leaving for Michigan with his family and Jacob is sick.  Is it possible that I have post-partum depression?  Well, it's some kind of depression.

 

Christina is a 1 week and 1 day old.  I found this poem to express how I felt last week when I saw her for the first time.  She couldn't handle her daddy and her grandma standing on either side of her incubator.  Her breathing grew even more shallow and sporadic.  Well, this poem hopefully will express what I felt then.

 

Thanks a million to all who have prayed for my little granddaughter to live!  She's off of oxygen now and is starting to nurse--both major improvements!  We sure hope that she'll be able to come home soon!

 

Dawn 

 

As I Love You Through The Glass

By Elena Murphy

As I love you through the glass
a tiny hand sweeps across the blanket
reaching out to me.
You lie there in the stillness
of your slumber clinging to life;
I reach inside to touch you
and you stir slightly;
I feel a tiny breath like a feather
caress my fingers
as I love you through the glass.
One eye opens
easily staring into mine;
Can you see me?
Can you feel my presence
as I love you through the glass.
I ache to hold you;
I await the moment
when you peacefully rest in my loving arms.
A silent tear rolls down my face;
I slowly turn to walk away
only to glance back one more time
as I love you through the glass.

 

 

One wee little girl

 

 

I never could have known, when I wrote my last post, that I would need the reminder myself.  God sees us through EVERYTHING but one week ago today I wondered.

 

You see my daughter went into labor 5 weeks early.  They didn't know it either when they left to get an ultrasound around noon on February 4, 2019.  Cora hadn't been feeling well so her midwife made arrangements with a doctor she had worked with quite a few years to request an ultrasound.

 

As I walked in Michael and Cora's door about 10:00 AM, I noticed that Rosie had one puppy born already.  Cora said that she had just checked her about an hour before.  I pulled the dog bed containing the VERY large mama into the entry way so that the puppies could be warm as they entered this world. 

 

Cora seemed fine and truly excited that the puppies were coming but that's not all who was coming. 

 

Michael and Cora left for Bismarck around noon while I stayed with Elsie and Rosie.  Cora had the ultrasound which revealed that the baby was breach. It was noted that Cora was dilated to a 1. I never heard of the midwife in this saga again except that Michael wondered if she was stuck in her yard as we are having LOTS of snow!!!

 

Labor progressed quickly and INTENSLY while puppies were popping out of Rosie at the rate of about 1 per hour.  Finally we got a text about 8:00 PM that a C-section was needed.  I was thankful that my BodyTalk Practitioner, who was a midwife for many years in her first life, was preparing Robert and I for the fact that this would not be a home birth once again!  );

 

About bedtime we moved the puppies into the laundry room in a pen that Robert had set up for them.  They were warmer there plus people could come and go from the entry way much easier.  As we moved them, we counted the tiny creatures.

 

The last count I had made for sure was 6 but Jacob had counted 8 when my men came over for supper.  As Robert and I moved the puppies, we counted NINE of them.  Then Robert went to move the mama but she wasn't very comfortable.  He picked her up in the blanket she was on and moved the whole bundle.  When he laid Rosie down in the new pen, she had had ANOTHER puppy.  That was the last one, though, which made TEN!

 

We prayed for Cora and her baby.

 

Elsie just could not go to sleep although she's usually out by 8:00.  We assumed that the tension of daddy and mommy being gone, and grandpa and grandma being there, scared her.  Then, too, she was NOT very fond of the puppies.  Half the time she cried at their whimpering and the other half of the time she couldn't take her eyes off of the ever growing pile of puppies in her home!

 

Finally Robert put on a movie and held Elsie while I collapsed on the couch into a very light sleep.  I woke up when Robert said that I should probably check my texts.  There was one from Michael stating that the C section was over and that it went well.  His words, "Mama and baby came through just fine," were an amazing relief!!

 

Finally Elsie fell asleep and Robert laid her in her crib.  We relaxed but were surprised when another text from Michael soon followed.  "IT'S A GIRL" he announced.  Then these words followed, "No name yet but she is 4 pounds and 5 ounces and 19.75 inches long"

 

We knew nothing about preemie babies but we're learning.  The next day we were able to see our little granddaughter in the NICU.  I wept inside at all the hoses in her nose and mouth.  Then, too, there were the monitors she was hooked up to.  I loved her so much as I stood by her little trembling body and prayed that she would live. 

 

Now we're a week later and our little granddaughter is starting to nurse and she's almost off of oxygen.  God provided in marvelous ways for my daughter and her family!!  A dear friend of Cora's just "Happened to be" going on a 12 day vacation with her mom and sisters.  She is loaning Michael and Cora her HOUSE in Bismarck for as long as they need it!   

 

Miranda's mom brought a crib to the house for Elsie to sleep in and her sister is loaning them her breast pump.  All of this is kindness unimaginable!!!  Michael is fixing some little things in the house so that it is nicer for Miranda when she finally gets her home back!  ISN'T GOD WONDERFUL HOW HE MEETS OUR NEEDS--HOW HE SEES US THROUGH????

 

So, just in case you're curious, our daughter and her husband named their fragile little daughter

Christina Louise Dalquist.  Michael has someone in his ancestry named Christina and Louise is the name of Robert's mother's mother.  Michael read from the name book that Louise means "Fierce fighter".  I think it's a perfect name for someone who started life fighting for every breath!

 

Please keep our family in your prayers--especially Christina for she's so very small in a great big world.  The hospital staff has been excellent to work with.  Michael and Cora have a home away from home where they can be together yet away from the hospital.  Our friends are keeping us all covered in prayers!  It's too cold for farmers to bring grain into the plant so we have our men to help us through chores; puppies; watching Elsie; travel to and from Bismarck; and the stresses of having a preemie baby in the family!

 

Please keep Christina--my third grandchild--in your prayers!

  

Dawn

He'll help you through it!

I don't know if Gospel music comforts you like it does me.  Maybe a person would have to be raised in a singing family for it to have such a strong effect.  I praise God for how He is able to comfort me by hearing others praising Him!  He is soo worthy of our praise for His goodness and kindness and consideration of us feeble souls here on Earth!

Yesterday ended up being frustrating.  Perhaps you've had days when every little thing is irritating?  Maybe I should have gone back to bed.  lol

I was trying to get laundry done; I got requests for 3 BodyTalk sessions; and I had a big mess in my kitchen from having made bread the day before.  That meant the bowl from my Bosch machine was full of dry dough pieces; the dough hooks impossibly covered in gook; the bread pans needed cleaning; the rolling pin stuck full of dough dabs from the pizza crust I'd made; and the counter and coffee maker was covered with flour.  UG!

I think it's time to confess that I have a bad habit of putting off washing kettles until I feel like it or I need them for cooking.  lol  There are just so many oven and pantry spots to hide them in and then it's time to wash kettles.  Did I mention that I have a pretty small dishwasher?  I'm thankful that it does the dishes and silverware but it's not going to handle many kettles at one time.  sigh

So it was kitchen clean up day yesterday plus I was trying to do sessions and keep the laundry moving through the machines.  I did not have time to spare and I ended up in an argument with a dear friend who was not sympathizing with me just then.  big sigh

So I stopped everything and went and used my BETAR table as I neither wanted my heart to act up nor did I desire to loose this special friend!  While lying there and chilling the Lord played this song for me.  At any rate, it was playing and the Lord drew my attention to it.

Could anything be more perfect for me at that time?  God has gotten me through EVERYTHING so far and He will get me through EVERYTHING in the future.  That leaves only right now which He can also get me through!  I was humbled at His compassion for me and I still am.

If you're having an irritating day, then, I urge you to listen to this song or do whatever you do that makes you feel closer to God!  HE LOVES US SOOOO MUCH!!  May His compassion for you warm your hearts and calm your fears today! 
 
Hugs dear ones,

Dawn
 

Keepin' warm

Right now, on the other side of my walls, it is 15.9 DEGREES BELOW ZERO!!  That's as warm as it's going to get here today as a COLD FRONT is MOVING IN!!!  By tomorrow morning, it's expected to be 30 DEGREES BELOW ZERO!!  Even for North Dakota that's COLD!!!

 I'm rejoicing immensely in my 70 degree house while I pray for my guys who just left for the plant.  They're pushing hard to get the color sorter ready by Spring! At least the color sorter room is heated to 50 degrees so they'll be warm in their coveralls--once they get there!

 

 As I cleaned my kitchen after making their lunch, this song ran through my head!  I felt like Father wanted me to share it with my dear readers.  Of course it had to be the Booth Brother's version.  ;)  Now I'm wondering if Father wanted me to listen to this song so that I get this old body moving on a cold January morning! I love clapping my hands and singing at the top of my lungs about His love for all of us!!  I DO feel warmer now!  lol

It's not just the brisk pace of this song that's warming me today.  I love knowing that I'm clean from the sins I've committed.  Even though I sin every day, due to my human nature, I can have victory over all that by simply surrendering my day to Jesus.  He has a plan for this day and it is GOOD!!  How I love going through life in unity with Him!!!  I pray that all of my readers know this joy!

 

Jesus blood can wash away ALL of our sins!  By believing in Jesus as our Savior; by asking for His forgiveness of our sins; by inviting Jesus to come into our lives and take over, we can all be singing His praises no matter what the weather is like outside!!  Jesus is there for you now!  All you  have to do is talk to Him and invite Him to come into your life!!

 

I hope you enjoy this song!!  May Jesus fill you with His warmth today!!

 

Dawn 

 

Is life eating at you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm making pancakes for my guys for supper.  I've been sick all day and have very little energy so I'm making pancakes for supper.  That's not such a bad supper, is it?

 

Now, this is what I'M having for supper: burnt toast and milk.  Due to all of the stress in my life here lately, the ulcer in my stomach has reappeared.  I learned decades ago how to heal an ulcer quickly so I'll share in case life has been eating at you too!

 

1.  Take out a frying pan.

2.  Add to the pan up to a tablespoon of butter

3.  Put the pan on the stove

4.  Turn on the stove and the exhaust fan.

5.  Burn the toast on one side

6.  Flip the bread over

7.  Burn the toast on the other side and I do mean black!

8.  Get out a cereal bowl

9.  Put the burnt toast in the bowl

10.  Cover the toast with milk--raw is best

11.  Let the milk soak into the burnt toast.

12.  Eat this happily knowing that the fire in your gut is soon going out!

13.  Repeat as needed--up to 4 times a day if it's very painful

 

Now I realize that this has close to ZERO appeal but, when your gut is burning in the middle of the night, you'll try anything once.  After it worked for me the first time, about 25 years ago, I've used it every time since.  THIS REALLY WORKS!!

 

Still, if you don't want to give it a try, I understand.  So I went in search of an article with more ideas for healing ulcers naturally.  I liked this particular article as it shows the pitfalls of using drugs to try to heal your ulcer including resultant food poisoning.  That surely is an improvement to having an ulcer!

 

In conclusion, if you have an ulcer, you have my sympathies.  My ulcers have always erupted from prolonged periods of stress.  Finding ways to relax are paramount in my mind then!  Prayer is a super method for relaxing internal tensions--so is gardening.  I urge you all to find your joy and partake in it often and regularly.  Surely preventing an ulcer is the very best way to go!!

 

Have a great week!!

Dawn 

Your Stomach Pain May Be Due To An Ulcer (here’s how to detect and treat it)   hare                                  

 Peptic ulcers are an extremely common health problem, affecting as many as 50% of Americans. Other terms used for this condition are gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) or Acid reflux disease. A popular symptom of acid reflux or an ulcer is "heartburn", the burning sensation behind your breastbone that sometimes travels up your throat. In some cases, this pain is severe enough to be mistaken for a heart attack.

Along with discomfort and pain in the abdomen, a stomach ulcer can cause nausea, vomiting, heartburn, poor appetite, and weight loss. Stomach ulcers can even lead to a hole in the stomach, which causes an extremely painful stabbing pain in the stomach and requires immediate surgery. A very small fraction of ulcers might signal cancer.

What Causes Ulcers

Acid reflux and ulcers are thought to be caused by excessive amounts of acid in the stomach, which is why acid-blocking drugs are typically recommended and prescribed. However, this is a serious medical misconception that adversely affects hundreds of millions of people, as the problem usually results from having too little acid in your stomach. However, ulcers can have several different causes, so traditional treatments depend on the root of the cause. Stomach ulcers are often treated with antibiotics for an infection or medications to reduce, block, or neutralize stomach acid.

After food passes through your esophagus into your stomach, a muscular valve called the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) closes, preventing food or acid to move back up.

Acid reflux occurs when the LES relaxes inappropriately, allowing acid from your stomach to flow (reflux) backward into your esophagus. But it's important to understand that acid reflux is not a disease caused by excessive acid production in your stomach; rather it's a symptom more commonly related to:

• Hiatal hernia
• Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection (H. pylori bacteria is thought to affect more than half of the world's population, and has been identified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization)

While these two conditions are unrelated, many who have a hiatal hernia also have H. pylori, which cause a chronic low-level inflammation of your stomach lining that can result in an ulcer and associated symptoms. If you have a hiatal hernia, physical therapy on the area may work and many chiropractors are skilled in this adjustment.

Stomach ulcers are open sores in the lining of the stomach. Because of the amount of acid present in the stomach, ulcers there are often extremely painful. Certain prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medications can also cause stomach ulcers. Typically the use of painkillers, such as aspirin, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory pills, such as ibuprofen or naproxen. Other common culprits include anxiety medications and antidepressants, antibiotics, blood pressure medications, nitroglycerin, and osteoporosis drugs.

If your heartburn is caused by a medication you're taking, the answer is to address what, when, and how you're taking that drug. Please do not make the mistake of simply adding yet another drug to counteract this side effect. Some helpful tips for how to address drug-induced ulcers/heartburn are:

• Avoid taking more than the recommended or prescribed dose
• Some medications are best taken on an empty stomach, while others are less likely to cause side effects when taken with a meal. Check the label for instructions, or ask your doctor or pharmacist for advise on when and how to take your medication
• Ask your doctor or pharmacist to review ALL the medications and supplements you're taking to see if one or more of them cause heartburn.
• Avoid laying down right after taking your medication

Changing the dose or switching to another medication may be advisable to ease your discomfort. You can also drink some ginger tea.

Why Medication Isn't Always A Good Idea

One of the most commonly prescribed drugs for heartburn and acid reflux are proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), which are very effective at blocking acid production in your stomach. While that may sound like an appropriate remedy, in most cases it's actually the worst approach possible, as the problem is typically related to your stomach producing too little stomach acid.

Medication like Nexium, Prilosec, and Prevacid are made to treat a very limited range of severe problems, and according to Mitchell Katz, director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, they are only warranted for the treatment of:

• Bleeding ulcers
• Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (a rare condition that causes your stomach to produce excess acid)
• Severe acid reflux, where an endoscopy has confirmed that your esophagus is damaged

Katz states that, "about 60 to 70% of people taking these drugs only have mild heartburn and shouldn't be on them." Part of the problem with PPIs is that when you suppress the acid in your stomach, you decrease your body's ability to kill the helicobacter bacteria. So if your heartburn is caused by an H. pylori infection, it makes the condition worse. Also, reducing stomach acid diminishes the primary defense mechanism for food-borne infections, increasing the risk of food poisoning. PPI drugs can also cause potentially serious side effects, including pneumonia, bone loss, hip fractures, and infection by harmful intestinal bacteria.

You can also develop both a tolerance and dependence on PPI drugs, so you should not stop taking them cold turkey. You must wean yourself off of them gradually or else you might experience a severe rebound of your symptoms. In some cases, the problem may end up being worse than before you started taking the medication.

There are over 16,000 articles in the medical literature showing that suppressing stomach acid does not address the problem, and that it only temporarily treats the symptoms.

There are also natural home remedies you can use to help ease the symptoms of a stomach ulcer and help it heal.

Easy Natural Ulcer Remedies That Are Extremely

 

Ulcers can flare up and become a chronic problem, that lead to a number of serious complications including bleeding, so it is important to treat them promptly. Instead of pursuing the most common conventional treatment, which only leads to further problems, following all-natural ulcer remedies is best and easiest.

The answer to this problem is to restore your natural gastric balance and function. Eat a lot of vegetables and other high-quality, ideally organic foods. Also, eliminate food triggers from your diet. Common culprits here include caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine products. Eating large amounts of processed foods and sugars is a surefire way to exacerbate ulcers, by further upsetting the bacterial balance in your stomach and intestine.

Consume Probiotics Daily

Make sure you're getting enough beneficial bacteria from your meals. This will help balance your gut flora, and eliminate H. pylori bacteria without resorting to antibiotics. It will also aid in proper digestion and assimilation of your food. Ideally, you should get your probiotics from fermented foods, but if you aren't eating fermented foods, you need to supplement with a probiotic on a regular basis. Ideally, you'll want to include a variety of cultured foods and beverages in your diet, as each food will inoculate your gut with a variety of different microorganisms. Fermented foods you can easily add to your diet are:

• Fermented vegetables like sauerkraut
• Chutneys
• Cultured dairy, such as Greek yogurt, kefir, and sour cream
• Miso
• Buttermilk
• Tempeh
• Pickled Veggies

Eat Your Cabbage

To get more beneficial bacteria in your body, and keep the disease-causing bacteria in check that can lead to ulcers. One of the best ways to fortify the "GOOD" bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract is by regularly including cultured and lactic acid–fermented foods in your diet, that I talked about above.

But when it comes to ulcer treatment in particular, one lactic acid food stands out above the rest: cabbage juice. Decades before antibiotics, cabbage juice was successfully used to prevent or heal peptic and duodenal ulcers. In one study, it was shown that cabbage juice alone had a cure rate of over 92% in the treatment of these ulcers. This compared to about a 32% cure rate in those using a placebo or other treatment.

The dosage in the study consisted of only 50 mL of raw cabbage juice derived from a quart of freshly pressed cabbage. Based on numerous studies and early clinical work, researchers have begun to refer to this unknown ulcer-healing factor in cabbage as vitamin U.

Although in the above studies the cabbage juice wasn’t fermented, keep in mind that vegetables that grow close to the soil are naturally rich in beneficial lactic acid bacteria. That's why "starter cultures" aren't needed to ferment these vegetables, only salt and water.

Cabbage is also a reliable source of vitamin C, which has been found to be lower in the gastric juice of ulcer patients. So if you have ulcers, cabbage juice is a safe, effective, and inexpensive remedy. If you "culture" it or give it a chance to ferment, you'll experience even more benefits.

Garlic

I've often written about the miraculous powers of garlic and I highly recommend its use in cooking for good reason. Research on its preventive and therapeutic benefits continues to grow. It now appears that garlic keeps levels of the Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacterium in check, that can contribute to the development of stomach ulcers. Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle discovered that garlic exhibits specific antimicrobial activity against H. pylori without entirely eliminating the strain, that can cause other digestive issues.

Pure Raw Honey

Honey possesses a number of powers and has been shown to be an effective ulcer treatment for two reasons. First, glucose oxidase, an enzyme in honey, produces hydrogen peroxide, that kills harmful bacteria that contribute to the development of ulcers. Antibacterial substances in honey add to honey’s effectiveness in eliminating bacteria.

Certain varieties of honey, however, can be more effective than others at healing ulcers. I have reports from Saudi Arabia, where local honey was used to cure ulcers, and from doctors in Egypt and Russia who have had positive results using their local honeys.

However, the key to successful ulcer treatment appears to hinge on it being natural, raw, unprocessed honey. Two tablespoons a day should do the trick, and when the problem has eased, 1 tablespoon daily should be enough.

Coconut

All forms of Coconut are very helpful for people suffering from stomach ulcers, because of the antibacterial qualities kills the bacteria that causes the ulcers. Coconut milk and coconut water actually have anti-ulcer properties, so drinking a few cups of fresh coconut milk or coconut water daily is very helpful. Also, eating the meat of the tender coconut for at least one week to get positive results. You can even take one tablespoon of coconut oil in the morning and another at night for one week. As coconut oil is mainly composed of medium-chain fatty acids, it is also easily digested.

Bananas

Compounds in dried, unripe bananas increase mucus in the digestive tract, that provides a strong protective coating to help prevent and heal ulcers. Unripe bananas also promote cell growth in the intestinal tract. And bananas contain water-soluble polysaccharides, the same compounds found in the anti-ulcer prescription drug Carafate.

ANOTHER BLIZZARD?

 

 

I don't know about you but I get a little nervous when the lights start flickering.  We had a 3 day power outage at the end of 2016 that none of us have forgotten.  We were glad for a large wood pile and our fireplace those days. 

 

 The sticky wicket was that we had 3 households and 1 generator.  It was the generator that we used across the road when we lived there.  We hadn't gotten around to getting one for this house and Andrew and Marie had just gotten home from their honeymoon the day before the outage began.

 

This meant that the guys had to go out in the blizzard and move the generator from one house to the other so that nobody's pipes would freeze.  It was a miserable day.  The next day, the second day of the blizzard, Robert got up early and headed for Bismarck's Menards which is 60 miles away. 

 

We fed the fire and prayed that he would be ok.  Robert got there as generators were flying off the shelves.  He was able to get 2 good sized ones--1 for our house and one for the newlywed's home.  That helped a lot.

 

Of course, a generator doesn't enable a family of 4 (my mother-in-law was with us at that time) to use electricity like normal.  Then we had another problem that our children's households were not dealing with. 

 

I can't recall exactly the cause but our brand new generator broke something in our furnace so we STILL were without power.  We kept feeding the fire; played games in front of it; and pondered our neighbor's offers of a shower.  None of us 4 were inclined to go out in the blizzard just to take a shower; fight through the storm; then come back to a cold house.

 

With the fire going in the family room 24/7 we were able to keep the temperature in the house between 40 and 45.  MANY layers of blankets helped us to sleep when we weren't feeding the fire which we took turns doing. 

 

The last day of the blizzard, as it was loosing it's strength, Robert took his mom home (she had to get to a doctor's appointment for her scheduled cataract surgery) and got the part for our furnace.  He arrived safely home and put the part in.  Then he had to make some adjustment to the generator and lo and behold our furnace started. 

 

We watched with delight as the temperature started rising in the house.  It had reached about 55 when the POWER CAME BACK ON!!  It's not that we weren't glad but poor Robert had driven through the blizzard twice to get us heat in the house...............

 

All in all, it was NOT a pleasant experience and I'm shivering just thinking about it as I write.  We didn't even have it bad compared with those who had livestock to care for.  Michael and Cora had milking to do; calves to feed; and the rest of their livestock to care for through the 3 day blizzard.  YUK!

 

Being we've had a few flickering lights here lately, I thought I'd write to encourage everyone to make preparations for power outages.  If you've never had one, that's great, but that doesn't mean that you won't.

 

I looked at  several articles on making preparations for power outages.  This one from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention seemed very helpful to me.  I urge you to read it, or something similar, to be prepared for whatever our electrical grid may experience in the years ahead. Or you may want to go a step further.  Perhaps you, like our son's household, will want to set up a solar heating system?? 

 

Keep warm,

Dawn

 

PS  Where is that flashlight anyway?

 

What You Need to Know When the Power Goes Out Unexpectedly

 

On This Page

• Food Safety
• Safe Drinking Water
• Medications
• Extreme Heat and Cold
• First Aid for Electrical Shock
• Power Line Hazards and Cars
• Avoid Carbon Monoxide
• Dangers of Gasoline Siphoning
• Safety at Work During Power Recovery
• Be Prepared for an Emergency
• Impact of Power Outage on Vaccine Storage

Take Action

• To prevent carbon monoxide poisoning, use generators, pressure washers, grills, and similar items outdoors only. Generators should be used at least 20 feet away from your home.
• Identify and throw away food that may not be safe to eat.
• Check with local authorities to be sure your water is safe.
• In hot weather, stay cool and drink plenty of fluids to prevent heat-related illness.
• In cold weather, wear layers of clothing, which help to keep in body heat.
• Avoid downed power lines, if a power line falls on a car, you should stay inside the vehicle.

CDC offers these tips to help you prepare for and cope with sudden loss of power.

Food Safety

If the power is out for less than 4 hours, then the food in your refrigerator and freezer will be safe to consume. While the power is out, keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to keep food cold for longer. Visit Keep Food and Water Safe After a Disaster or Emergency for more information.

Safe Drinking Water

When power goes out, water purification systems may not be functioning fully. Safe water for drinking, cooking, and personal hygiene includes bottled, boiled, or treated water. Your state, local, or tribal health department can make specific recommendations for boiling or treating water in your area. For more information, visit Keep Food and Water Safe After a Disaster or Emergency.

Medications

Some drugs require refrigeration to keep their strength, including many liquid drugs.

• When the power is out for a day or more, throw away any medication that should be refrigerated, unless the drug’s label says otherwise.
• If a life depends on the refrigerated drug, but the medications have been at room temperature, use them only until a new supply is available.
• Replace all refrigerated drugs as soon as possible.

Resources for people with chronic disease or disability(https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/chronic.html).

Extreme Heat and Cold

Heat

Be aware of yours and others’ risk for heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps and fainting. To avoid heat stress, you should follow CDC’s heat safety tips.

Heat stroke is the most serious heat illness. It happens when the body can’t control its own temperature and its temperature rises rapidly. Sweating fails and the body cannot cool down. Body temperature may rise to 106°F or higher within 10 to 15 minutes. Heat stroke can cause death or permanent disability if emergency care is not given. Visit Warning Signs and Symptoms of Heat-Related Illness for more information on how to recognize symptoms and what to do if someone develops a heat-related illness.

If air conditioning is not available in your home:

• Contact your local health department or locate an air-conditioned shelter in your area.
• Spend some time at a shopping mall or public library- even a few hours spent in air conditioning can help.
• Take cool showers or baths.
• Don’t rely solely on fans to keep you cool. While electric fans might provide some comfort, when temperatures are really hot, they won’t prevent heat-related illness.

For more information on heat-related illnesses and treatment, see the CDC Extreme Heat Web site. Information for workers can be found on the NIOSH Web page Protecting Workers from Heat Illness.

These resources also provide information about extreme heat:

• Heat Stress National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Comprehensive heat-induced occupational illness and injury information.

Cold

Hypothermia happens when a person’s core body temperature is lower than 35°C (95°F). Learn more about how to recognize and prevent hypothermia.

First Aid for Electrical Shock

If you believe someone has been electrocuted take the following steps:

1. Look first. Don’t touch. The person may still be in contact with the electrical source. Touching the person may pass the current through you.
2. Call or have someone else call 911 or emergency medical help.
3. Turn off the source of electricity if possible. If not, move the source away from you and the affected person using a nonconducting object made of cardboard, plastic or wood.
4. Once the person is free of the source of electricity, check the person’s breathing and pulse. If either has stopped or seems dangerously slow or shallow, begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) immediately.
5. If the person is faint or pale or shows other signs of shock, lay the person down with the head slightly lower than the trunk of his or her body and the legs elevated.
6. Don’t touch burns, break blisters, or remove burned clothing. Electrical shock may cause burns inside the body, so be sure the person is taken to a doctor.

Power Line Hazards and Cars

If a power line falls on a car, you should stay inside the vehicle. This is the safest place to stay. Warn people not to touch the car or the line. Call or ask someone to call the local utility company and emergency services.

The only circumstance in which you should consider leaving a car that is in contact with a downed power line is if the vehicle catches on fire. Open the door. Do not step out of the car. You may receive a shock. Instead, jump free of the car so that your body clears the vehicle before touching the ground. Once you clear the car, shuffle at least 50 feet away, with both feet on the ground.

As in all power line related emergencies, call for help immediately by dialing 911 or call your electric utility company’s Service Center/Dispatch Office.

Do not try to help someone else from the car while you are standing on the ground.

Avoid Carbon Monoxide

For important information about the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning during a power outage, see the following resources.

• Returning Home After a Disaster: Be Healthy and Safe(https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/returnhome.html)
• Carbon Monoxide Poisoning After a Disaster(https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/carbonmonoxide.html)
• Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Fact Sheet [National Center for Environmental Health].

Dangers of Gasoline Siphoning

Gasoline may be in short supply, before, during, and after natural disasters, such as hurricanes and floods. When there is not enough gasoline, people may want to take gasoline from one container and put it into another. This can be done by siphoning.

• Siphoning gasoline can harm your health. Do not try to siphon gasoline. It can cause serious injury or illness.
• Siphoning is when you use your mouth or a pump to suck a liquid such as gasoline out of one container, such as a gas tank, through a funnel or tube and into another container
• Possible injuries and illness from any form of siphoning include:
  • Burns and injury from unintentional combustion of gasoline and/or gasoline vapors. This may happen if the gasoline or its vapors come into contact with a lit cigarette or static electricity.
  • Confusion, drowsiness, headache or problems concentrating from breathing gasoline vapors
  • Irritation of skin, eye or mucus membranes on contact
• Other possible injuries and illness from siphoning when you use your mouth for suction include:
  • Lung damage, if gasoline is inhaled into the lungs (aspiration) during mouth-based siphoning
  • Gastrointestinal (GI) signs and symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and stomach pain if any gasoline is swallowed
  • Irritation of mucous membranes inside your mouth, throat and stomach on contact
• If you do breath gasoline fumes or swallow gasoline and feel ill, see a doctor and/or call the poison center for help at 1-800-222-1222

Safety at Work During Power Recovery

As power returns after an outage, people at work may be at risk of electrical or traumatic injuries as power lines are reenergized and equipment is reactivated. CDC recommends that employers and employees be aware of those risks and take protective steps if they are in contact with or in proximity to power lines, electrical components, and the moving parts of heavy machinery.

More information on electrical safety is available in our fact sheet on Worker Safety in a Power Outage(https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/poweroutage/workersafety.html) and Electrical Safety [NIOSH].

Be Prepared for an Emergency

CDC recommends that people make an emergency plan that includes a disaster supply kit. This kit should include enough water, dried and canned food, and emergency supplies (flashlights, batteries, first-aid supplies, prescription medicines, and a digital thermometer) to last at least 3 days. Use battery-powered flashlights and lanterns, rather than candles, gas lanterns, or torches (to minimize the risk of fire).

To learn more information on emergency plans and supply kits, see

Emergency Preparedness and You.

Impact of Power Outage on Vaccine Storage

A power outage has significant implications for vaccine storage. For CDC guidance regarding vaccine storage issues, see Impact of Power Outages on Vaccine Storage(https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/poweroutage/vaccinestorage.html).