Posted: 11/17/2010 3:37:15 PM EDT
I finished reading One Second After and was pondering several points in the book, and before someone chimes in I understand it is fiction... .
The little girl needs Insulin or she will die, there is insulin 400 miles away, at best that is 40 days worth of walking for the round trip. There will be obsticles, some you will have to go around and danger (gun fights) that you will encounter. Obviously you need someone or several someones to go with you. You are the go to guy in your AO so everyone looks to you for guidance. What do you do? How to accomplish the things that need to be done? Do you embark on the journey knowing there is a good chance you will not return or do you face reality that your daughter is going to die. Please let's not turn this into a GD thing. Mods: I think this is a legitimate SHTF scenerio but if you disagree please lock and don't move to GD. Thank you. rustee |
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These are the kind of SHTF/EOTWAWKI decisions that will weigh the best of the men down like a 1,000 lb. weight on their back.
I don't have the answer, and don't even know what to say. If it takes 40 days to go the 400 miles, won't the person needing the insulin be long gone? This type of scenario is why in a total mega-SHTF-collapse, there will be much suffering. Off the top of my head.... insulin, blood pressure meds, heart meds, thyroid meds, and a host of other medical needs is what is keeping a lot of people alive and thriving. Money stops flowing, shipments stop rolling, and in not-too-long the shortages begin. As soon as there are shortages, there will be bribery, extortion, a black market, and all of the other fun that goes along with it. This is one of many reasons why NO ONE should ever hope for a SHTF, it won't be a fun time. |
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For my daughter, I think I would die trying rather than watch her suffer and die.
There is always someone that can step up and take care of the other things. But when it comes to your family....I think it would be hard to trust in someone else to make the trip. Either way you will second guess yourself. At least if you try to make the trip...you tried. If you sit at home and the others fail...you will always think you could have made it. I think its a case of having to trust those around you. You have to know someone else can step up for the others in your area. They have to have your back and understand that it is family. |
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For my daughter, I think I would die trying rather than watch her suffer and die. There is always someone that can step up and take care of the other things. But when it comes to your family....I think it would be hard to trust in someone else to make the trip. Either way you will second guess yourself. At least if you try to make the trip...you tried. If you sit at home and the others fail...you will always think you could have made it. I think its a case of having to trust those around you. You have to know someone else can step up for the others in your area. They have to have your back and understand that it is family. +1 i have a bit stocked up for my daughter by ordering it in 90 day supplies. this has allowed me to put away about 6 mon .. extra. may be more and also depends on what she is eating. exercise also helps keep sugar down. in doing it this way you have to watch the exp dates and cycle them . but i just read that even exp insulin will work just don't use it if it is cloudy.. her diabetes keeps me up worrying at night.. |
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i haven't read it, so i'm at a loss... there's none any closer? how long after the event are we talking about here? i mean... the average pharmacy is perhaps 50 or 100 miles away if you're in the middle of Montana, but on the east coast where the story is set http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mountain,_North_Carolina having to go 200 miles each way to get something seems a bit far fetched.
walking is slow. use a bicycle or get a horse. a fit, modestly athletic person should easily be able to do 50 miles per day on a bicycle, if not more. that would make this an 8 day trip. (ok, granted, that's assuming that the roads are open and you can move at 15MPH or so.) not sure how long to estimate for horse travel. and is there any guarantee that the meds will be there when you get there? sooo, if it was 50 miles away, you could get there in one day and back in one day... but that doesn't make for a compelling story. 
FWIW, i've done 400+ miles in two days on bicycle, but that's 9+ hours of riding per day, not having to scrounge for food or haul all the food, no worried about ambushes, etc. the worst problems were a few flat tires... that and the waitress not bring me the TWO breakfasts i ordered on the second day. 
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i haven't read it, so i'm at a loss... there's none any closer? how long after the event are we talking about here? i mean... the average pharmacy is perhaps 50 or 100 miles away if you're in the middle of Montana, but on the east coast where the story is set http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mountain,_North_Carolina having to go 200 miles each way to get something seems a bit far fetched. walking is slow. use a bicycle or get a horse. a fit, modestly athletic person should easily be able to do 50 miles per day on a bicycle, if not more. that would make this an 8 day trip. (ok, granted, that's assuming that the roads are open and you can move at 15MPH or so.) not sure how long to estimate for horse travel. and is there any guarantee that the meds will be there when you get there? sooo, if it was 50 miles away, you could get there in one day and back in one day... but that doesn't make for a compelling story.
FWIW, i've done 400+ miles in two days on bicycle, but that's 9+ hours of riding per day, not having to scrounge for food or haul all the food, no worried about ambushes, etc. the worst problems were a few flat tires... that and the waitress not bring me the TWO breakfasts i ordered on the second day. it is 400 miles one way. Horses were food and the most direct route was via interstate clogged with cars. The story is about the days, weeks and months after an EMP. The average person with a minimal pack can make an average of 20 miles a day for any prolonged period of travel. Read the book. it is interesting.. |
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It seems like a lost cause. So you travel 400+ miles, endangering you and your equipment plus the others in your group(Not only the people actually traveling with you but the ones who stay behind because if the traveling group dies the loss of personnel is a hardship on everyone). But what happens when the newly acquired insulin supply is used up? Do you endanger everyone's lives AGAIN in attempt at getting more meds?
It seems callous but a 12 year old girl doesn't contribute that much(in most cases). So it's a very risky/stupid decision to risk so much to gain so little. |
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It's about choices in an impossible situation. You are damned if you, and damned if you don't..
I'd take the outside chance and do it. Friends are one thing, family is another and my kids are all I have. Admittedly the story is a bit hokey, but it was written to prove a point.. Ops |
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Son is a type I. We have discussed this several times, just him and I. What we concluded was that we would do everything we could for as long as we could. Legal, illegal, whatever was possible. That being said, it was probably a stalling action at best in any long term event such as in the book.
Sauramen |
| As others have mentioned, the risks to the group going for the insulin aren't the only risks to consider. Not only will the group doing the traveling be in danger, but the group left behind will also be risking being short-handed while they are gone. Taking a short trip during these "normal" times, most people don't have to think about something like that, but if law & order collapse, ANY time spent away from home might endanger the entire group. TANSTAAFL applies, as always, but after TSHTF you'll have different factors to consider. |
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Doesn't that insulin need to be refrigerated? How is that going to be accomplished on the return trip? Thermos and chem cold packs will keep it good for a long time. Used successfully on extended camping trips If you're prepared enough to still have refrigeration to cool down a chem cold pack, go ahead and stock the extra insulin. Problem solved. |
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My wife and I are trying very hard, within our limited means (we're not as well off as many on here) to be good preppers. She's on the edge of being diabetic: We monitor her blood sugar and try to control it with diet.
If she gets to the point where she'll require insulin injection, I'll do whatever I have to do to purchase and install a solar-powered DC refrigeration unit, and keep as much as is feasible on hand (I don't know what the shelf-life of insulin is). Other than that...we don't talk about it. |
| Wasn't the origin of therapeutic insulin extracted from an animal pancreas? Not so much as in One Second After but there are animals being butchered for food as well as feral dogs being slaughtered. I would think time spent learning if it's possible to harvest and prepare your own would not be a waste of time. |
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Here's a discussion concerning manufacturing your own insulin post-SHTF from another survival related board:
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=33479 |
| If I remember correctly, in the book, Lucifer's Hammer' one of the characters was diabetic and he was stating that if he had sheep, he could make/generate his own insulin (or something like that). Wondering what would be the chances of producing the stuff locally. |