Blog 3

Hurricane Katrina was a stressful event, and to add to that, Zeitoun was arrested for things that he didn't do. These events are traumatic for the Zeitoun, but they prove to be traumatic for his family as well. When Kathy can't seem to find him, she definitely seems to develop anxiety. She panics a lot and doesn't really talk about how she feels or what she'd going through. She bottles up her feelings to "protect" her children. Because of all of these feelings being trapped and all the anxiety that built up over not being able to reach Zeitoun, and even perhaps being away from him, Kathy has developed PTSD.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is an anxiety disorder. It commonly affects people who are in the battlefield during war, but as Kathy proves can affect people going through other traumatic events too. While reading through Zeitoun, you can see where Kathy is developing anxiety, such as when she didn't know what to tell her children, which leads to her PTSD.
Despite all the things he went through, Zeitoun manages to keep his calm collected self. Rather than develop PTSD he developed what he called "heartbreak" from being apart from his family. Being reunited with his family made the pain he was having in his side miraculously disappear. He also managed to take care of other health issues in a rather MacGyver way, such as the metal splinter in his foot that he removes with shards of a Tabasco bottle. It's rather ingenious I thought, but unfortunate that he wasn't able to receive medical attention simply due to neglect. He also proactively tries to get medical attention for his side, and is neglected once again from the doctor. Perhaps if it were a more serious issue the doctor would have looked at it.
Both Kathy and Zeitoun have proven to be strong individuals, but with Kathy's PTSD I'm surprised that they had another baby. Perhaps Kathy also has postpartum depression too? Maybe if Kathy hadn't kept her feelings inside, and had told her friends and gotten support, she wouldn't have PTSD? There are studies currently going on for the prevention of PTSD and it shows that reducing anxiety can help the prevention of PTSD. I'm also curious if there were any lasting affects on the children, aside from having to be more proactive around the house. The stress of being away from a parent can be hard on a child, and these kids didn't even know where their father was.
This book was an interesting read, and I'm glad I read it. I feel like even though there was a large population of people who were misrepresented, Zeitoun definitely had a point of view, and a different perspective of what happened during Katrina than others.