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Prior to 2000, my husband and I had already begun to prepare for the Y2K that, well, never happened. Although this event never took place, we learned valuable lessons on what we were missing, and we were not parents at that time. First aid was not at the top of my priority list. We were planning on bugging in, and we naively thought we would be good with staying put in our sleepy town of 1200 people. I remember that we spent $10,000 on preparing for that event. We had more disposable income (again, we had no kids yet), so we got a grain grinder, Berkey water filter, and grains in 5-gallon buckets. The 50-gallon water drum started to make our UPS man a little suspicious. In a small town, we were being watched with what was delivered to our house. It got comical after a while. Then we moved on from the tragedy of 9/11 and again thought, “Could this be it?” We were so unprepared. We had no food stored, and again the first aid was lacking. We did not have kids at that point, so we began to prepare on a conservative level. Looking back, I would have done more.

Then 2008 came. The crash of the stocks and the big bailout created a ripple that was felt in the heartland– Kansas. My husband was a manager of a factory, and the parent company closed it. We quickly ran through our savings and what food stores we had as well as cash saved. Then he found a good paying job in a different city. We left our sleepy little town for another and rented an apartment for a year. Then the company moved to a city of 50,000 people. We chose to buy a small, 15-acre farm 20 miles north. There, we said this will be our refuge and we will live to prepare. By this point, we had two children, ages ten and eight. They loved the place. It was a hundred year old farm with a barn, chicken house, and multiple pens for animals. Immediately I got chickens and started buying fruit and berry bushes that would come on clearance. We planted some fruit trees and grapes. We also were lucky enough to live in a valley where we have wild berries, grapes, and edible plants. I was feeling pretty secure, until I started reading about the details and quantities needed for a family to face a tragedy that would be a year to long term.

SurvivalBlog has been an invaluable resource for us to gather ideas and prepare accordingly. Networking is highly encouraged, and I think it is a necessity. We started to think of what family members we could have join us. If we did leave, we thought to have a plan, map it out, and give a copy to the person we would be staying with in the event God forbid we don’t make it. We thought, if they choose, they can come looking for you.

That was when I read about bug out bags and skills that will get you into a group. I have had a medical background for over a decade in areas of ER, surgery, pharmacy, and wound care. I also have an extensive herbal knowledge. So, I started focusing on if we needed to leave in two hours, which is a generous time frame I know, what would I pack and is it organized enough that I can just grab the boxes and know that I have it all. I have to say the bug out bag was the hardest by far to figure out what to put in. I am a scenario thinker, and I just thought of a million things that could go wrong and then went off of those scenarios. If you begin to get bogged down by thinking about too many scenarios, then quit; please take a break from it. When you have taken a break, please realize that most of the supplies can cross over to many disasters. The first aid kit I feel is the most important thing in the bug out bag besides clothes. We will be living in an age of no more antibiotics and where a scratch can eventually turn to sepsis (a system wide infection that is deadly). This may not be orthodox for the people on this site, but for me and my background I feel these are needed things in your pack.

I tried to remind myself that I was not packing a forever pack but just a temporary pack. That was really hard for me to wrap my mind around. I kept wanting to pack deodorant, for example, plus other non-essential things. The idea is that this will get you to your next location, where you have made arrangements ahead of time with supplies at the ready when you get there. Of course, there is that worst case scenario where all that you had is gone and your pack is it. That is the point where we can in no way plan for every eventuality. Some will disagree with me, but I feel that at that point you do your best and put your wilderness skills into practice. Divine providence is one that is so important to me and my family. Relying on God and His guidance will be paramount in a disaster scenario.

Now the toughest part of prepping are the kids. I have two– a boy and a girl. Their packs look a lot like mine, with some exceptions. I packed more personal comfort items for them, just a few, and make it lightweight, of course. If I can provide a little comfort to my kids during this horrific event, I will. A simple teddy bear can be bungeed to the kids back pack on the outside, so that precious room is not taken. I would carry several plastic store sacks to keep those things dry. Also, most people recommend three day’s worth of food. I try to have small packages (instant oatmeal, ramen noodles, et cetera) or bars to get us through a three-day journey. A small bit of candy can be a mood enhancer for anyone in this situation. The hard candy is inexpensive and every pack I feel should have some. It can help kids as somewhat of a comfort item. When everything else is absolute chaos, a little sucker or candy can just make a person feel kinda normal, temporarily. If you have room in your pack, please do not forget some sort of multi-vitamin and laxative. Our diets will change rapidly; our nutrition will be extremely important, especially for children. Our immune systems will be under a large amount of stress, so taking this simple precaution can save you from many illnesses. Remember, the ever-so-popular laxative, ha ha. As I mentioned, our diets will change and so will our bowel habits. Like it or not, being able to go is vital. Having laxatives in your pack can seriously save your life. Be sure to package appropriate laxatives for children. I feel they may have the toughest time adjusting to their post-SHTF diet. Constipation is no joke and can be life threatening. It is so worth it to have those in every bug out bag.

My husband and I have been prepping since our kids were little, so they were used to the drill of grab your pack and go to the basement in a tornado or if there was a prairie fire and we had to leave. This became routine, and every year I would take everything out and reassess what we need. At first, this scared my children, but it became routine, and it eventually became fun.

I have always tried to involve them in packing and storing food. My daughter has helped me seal and can food for many years. She is well aware of the world situations, and we discuss it as a family. She is 14 now, so she gets it, I think. When I am planning on a two-hour warning, I have a shelf in the garage dedicated to evacuating. There are totes, and all we have to do is pack those, get kids and pets, then leave to our pre-planned destination. The totes are broken down into Food, Shelter, Clothing/warmth, First aid/Hygiene, Cooking, Sleeping bags and Tent. Each are loaded separately. If time allows, then we can afford to put more items in the vehicle. I personally use the 33 gal. plastic totes from say Dollar General or Walmart. They usually cost around $5 each and are a mostly rodent- and moisture-proof way to keep your supplies at the ready to evacuate. If nothing else, this will keep you organized so that you can find items quickly and easily. Another suggestion is to put a list of supplies in the tote so that you have your label “Hygiene” for the tote and inside there is a list of the contents. If you do not want to be exact in quantity, then put a rough idea of what is in your tote. Do what works for you and that your family will understand, if the need arises.

As a mom and wife, I strive to make sure that most of my family’s needs are met. I feel proud to look at the preparing we have done and know that we can do well if anything is to occur. God willing, it doesn’t, but I think most of you can feel it in your bones. Maybe it is just mother’s intuition.

About a month ago I was diagnosed with a very aggressive type of brain cancer– glioblastoma. There’s no cure, and the chances of long-term survival are pretty slim. It’s referred to as “terminal” cancer. However, there are some long-term survivors, and I’m hoping to add to that number. If not, without a shred of doubt I have been one of the luckiest and blessed people I know. I’ve been blessed with a beautiful and caring wife, two young boys I love beyond measure, wonderful family and friends, and not least importantly from long ago an appreciation for the wonder of this beautiful world that God has provided for us.

Now, what does this have to do with prepping? For me, a lot. It’s about preparing those you love for when or if you are no longer around to protect and feed them, and that could be a scenario in any TEOTWAWKI storyline.

This topic isn’t only for those with a terminal disease, but it’s really for anyone dependent on medical technology or medicine for their survival. You can’t really sugar coat this, but if or when there is a SHTF event and these things are no longer available to us, the majority of us will face our maker in short order. When the juice stops flowing, the machines that can help fight our ailments, along with the ability to create the medications that keep us, will be gone.

I’ve been of the prepper/survivalist mindset now for the past 10 years. That’s not a terribly long time, but this mindset has served me and my family well during this time, getting us through more than our share of events– the earthquake/tsunami/meltdown in Japan (while we lived in Kamakura at the time and worked in Tokyo); Superstorm Sandy in New Jersey; a personal financial crisis; and Hurricane Matthew, which affected us where we currently live along the southeast coastal shore. Among many other things, the following made these events do-able with various levels of comfort:

• months of food stocked,
• alternative sources of electricity,
• Ham radio license,
• arms and ammunition (though not while in Japan, unfortunately),
• multiple ways to cook,
• bug out plans well in place,
• a wife that has usually been “on board”, and
• the list goes on.

I know the above is very general, but this article isn’t about these events. It’s about how this mindset continues in the face of terminal illness. The following will cover just a few topics on this, as it’s not possible to cover them all.

Long-term Food Storage

One of the first thoughts that leaped into my mind after my initial surgery and diagnosis was I needed to get more long-term food storage. Food security is as important as life insurance, and my wife and two boys are going to have it. I know there isn’t a huge chance that I’d be eating that food 20 years down the road, or even three years, but thinking like that is selfish and in my opinion wrong. They’ll need food in a crisis just as much with me as without me. In addition to long-term food storage (I personally focus on freeze dried just out of convenience), my wife is now well-versed in pantry rotation and stocking up on what we eat. I’m more than confident they will be fine under her care.

Personal Defense and Firearms

Up until recently this is the only thing that my wife and I didn’t fully resonate with. My wife has been fine with the long arms I have and has even gone out shooting with me and practiced home invasion scenarios with them. But she was convinced pistols were too dangerous. (She’s Japanese after all.) After my hospital discharge from surgery, I sat my wife down and said I’ve only ever had one secret I’ve kept from her my entire life (and that’s true); long before this diagnosis I’ve always felt we can’t live in peace with ourselves and others, as well as God, while harboring secrets and guilt. The secret was I’ve had a pistol(s) for quite some time. She gave a huge sigh of relief and said she thought I was going to say I cheated on her or fathered another child or something. Ha! I knew that if I went all dramatic on her at first, the result would be fine. So about two weeks ago, my best friend, who has worked with firearms most of his life, came down from the northeast. He worked with my wife for several hours with one of my pistols. I couldn’t join them, due to the gunshots being too much for my head, even with ear protection. However, she got two thumbs up from her “trainer”, and I was very pleasantly surprised to see her targets. Yes, “several hours” doesn’t really mean diddly, but it’s a start. She knows basic safety and just as importantly now understands a handgun is just a tool and nothing to demonize.

Bugout / Emergency Bags

For years now there has always been one backpack per person in the family, which now includes our young kids. I know this will continue well past my life. The kids especially get a kick out of this. They love having their own emergency bags. Needless to say, they are quite a bit lighter and less intense than the adults’. These emergency bags aren’t as full as most perhaps, but in general the adult bags include the following:

• multitool,
• three day’s worth of food,
• water filter (additionally both have LifeStraws,
• two water bottles,
• three ways to create fire,
• camping stove/fuel,
• emergency blanket,
• small first aid kit,
• walkie talkies, and
• a few other odds and ends.

Medication

Over the years, we’ve stocked a surplus of medications and related items in our home and rotated as needed. This includes printed manuals and books on almost everything we keep. My intention is the wife has read and understood these before I move on. There is an excellent article in SurvivalBlog about fish antibiotics and infectious diseases that I’ve printed several times. This article is as valuable as gold as far as I’m concerned. In addition, each of our cars include a somewhat less complete med kit.

Cooking

My wife and I joke about the fact that her cooking is great, but she alway forgets one basic ingredient: flavor. 🙂 Having said that, we have four different ways to cook food, and she knows how to use all five, if we count a simple campfire. The four include the indoor stove/oven, a propane grill, a rocket stove (made from bricks), and a Coleman dual fuel camping stove. Something my wife has been doing for years and I highly recommend it is each time she does the laundry she saves the lint. I can’t say enough how excellent it is as a fire starter. Just a handful in the rocket stove gets a fire going each time. This redundancy leads us to the below often heard prepper expressions.

One phrase we hear alot in prepper circles is “one is none, and two is one”. This couldn’t apply any better to my case. With aggressive cancers, having just one treatment– the standard of care– is pretty much like having nothing. The possible path to some survivability lies with having multiple layers of treatment. In my case, not two, as I’m already up to four different treatment modalities and on the lookout for more. If any readers out there have illnesses that require medication, I highly suggest looking for alternative medications/treatments now rather than later.

Another expression we sometimes hear is “Prepare for the worst, but hope for the best.” If that doesn’t fit my current state of mind perfectly at this time, I’m not sure what does. We are all preparing for a TEOTWAWKI scenario to some degree, but of course we also have to live in and enjoy this world. We can’t just live in our bunker hidden under our backyards or we’d never see the blue sky above and the folk we love. In the end, we all face the same conclusion to our story, but it’s how we choose to live that should make it all worth it.

Fight the good fight!