9-11 - Where were You? What were You Doing?

RNperdiem, RN · Sep 12, 2016

I was at work in the same unit I work now. I was 28 years old and pregnant with my first child. The TV is always on in the breakroom. When word spread about a plane crash, I didn't pay it much mind. The first few hours at work are busy in the ICU and I don't like to get behind- there are assessments to get started, charting to do and meds to give.

When the secretary announced that another plane hit, well then, this was big news. All the TVs in the ICU were on. Luckily my assignment wasn't too heavy, so I could take care of my 2 patients while keeping up with the news.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Sep 12, 2016

I was living in Saudi Arabia.

My husband was working in Al Kharj at Prince Sultan Air Base and I worked closer to Riyadh at Eskan Village as a GS civilian. The ladies were driven home in the afternoon via van and I got in around five pm our time (we were 8 hours ahead of the East Coast). When I walked in the answering machine was blinking like mad. I listened to the messages and it was my husband - multiple times - each time breathless and asking me if I was home yet. I thought the worst - that someone had died or was ill - my grandmother, my mom, my dad. I tried several times to get a line off the compound and couldn't get an outside line - unusual for that time of day. I finally got an outside line and then it took me several times to actually get through on the base. Keep in mind that all this time the TV was turned off. FINALLY I got through - his office phone rang, and rang, and rang, and rang.....when he picked up he was out of breath. I asked him who died?

"Are you busy?" he asked.

I told him no - I'd just walked in from work - and could he please tell me what was going on?

All he said was, "Turn on CNN."

"OK," I said, still not convinced that all the drama was necessary.

I didn't make it to CNN.

I got to the BBC and saw the smoke coming out of the towers and the masthead: "Two planes have struck the World Trade Center".

"Oh my God," I said. I sat down on the coffee table (we still have that coffee table to this day) and put a hand over my mouth - and said, "They've done it."

I got off the phone with him a few minutes later - he couldn't leave the base; the base immediately went into THREATCON Delta and was locked down. He didn't know when he'd be in. I did the only other thing I knew to do: I called my parents in North Carolina. I was on the phone with them when I saw all the smoke and heard something odd on the TV.

"Mom," I said, "one of the towers just collapsed."

She said that they were saying there was some sort of secondary explosion. I told her I was watching the tower disappear.

My husband got home about ten o'clock that night.

Initially we didn't know where my brother in law was. He was on his way to NYC from the UK. We finally got hold of him in Gander, Canada - he was one of the people who was diverted when US airspace was being cleared. He and several hundred other vacationers spent four days in the homes of complete strangers. Charles and his wife had had reservations at the Marriott down in the WTC and had been offered an upgrade - if they'd fly out on the tenth over the eleventh. They had declined, saying they'd already made arrangements at their jobs to leave on the eleventh. :wideyed:

That evening we tried to turn off the TV - and found like so many others we couldn't turn it off. We slept on the couch and turned it back on. I saw Peter Jennings - a very tired, burned out Peter Jennings with a hellacious five o'clock shadow - led away from the anchor desk by Elizabeth Vargas the next morning at some god-awful hour East Coast time. He didn't want to leave.

I was struck by how, when I was a kid, I watched him and Tom Brokaw and the other news greats reporting from Grenada and Lebanon while I sat at home in the USA. Now I was where they were. This stuff had its origins in my backyard now, and I was watching them in the United States from there.

Saudi Arabia became a very strange place after that.

Graduatenurse14 · Sep 12, 2016

I was living in Saudi Arabia.
My husband was working in Al Kharj at Prince Sultan Air Base and I worked closer to Riyadh at Eskan Village as a GS civilian. The ladies were driven home in the afternoon via van and I got in around five pm our time (we were 8 hours ahead of the East Coast). When I walked in the answering machine was blinking like mad. I listened to the messages and it was my husband - multiple times - each time breathless and asking me if I was home yet. I thought the worst - that someone had died or was ill - my grandmother, my mom, my dad. I tried several times to get a line off the compound and couldn't get an outside line - unusual for that time of day. I finally got an outside line and then it took me several times to actually get through on the base. Keep in mind that all this time the TV was turned off. FINALLY I got through - his office phone rang, and rang, and rang, and rang.....when he picked up he was out of breath. I asked him who died?
"Are you busy?" he asked.
I told him no - I'd just walked in from work - and could he please tell me what was going on?
All he said was, "Turn on CNN."
"OK," I said, still not convinced that all the drama was necessary.
I didn't make it to CNN.
I got to the BBC and saw the smoke coming out of the towers and the masthead: "Two planes have struck the World Trade Center".
"Oh my God," I said. I sat down on the coffee table (we still have that coffee table to this day) and put a hand over my mouth - and said, "They've done it."
I got off the phone with him a few minutes later - he couldn't leave the base; the base immediately went into THREATCON Delta and was locked down. He didn't know when he'd be in. I did the only other thing I knew to do: I called my parents in North Carolina. I was on the phone with them when I saw all the smoke and heard something odd on the TV.
"Mom," I said, "one of the towers just collapsed."
She said that they were saying there was some sort of secondary explosion. I told her I was watching the tower disappear.
My husband got home about ten o'clock that night.
Initially we didn't know where my brother in law was. He was on his way to NYC from the UK. We finally got hold of him in Gander, Canada - he was one of the people who was diverted when US airspace was being cleared. He and several hundred other vacationers spent four days in the homes of complete strangers. Charles and his wife had had reservations at the Marriott down in the WTC and had been offered an upgrade - if they'd fly out on the tenth over the eleventh. They had declined, saying they'd already made arrangements at their jobs to leave on the eleventh.
That evening we tried to turn off the TV - and found like so many others we couldn't turn it off. We slept on the couch and turned it back on. I saw Peter Jennings - a very tired, burned out Peter Jennings with a hellacious five o'clock shadow - led away from the anchor desk by Elizabeth Vargas the next morning at some god-awful hour East Coast time. He didn't want to leave.
I was struck by how, when I was a kid, I watched him and Tom Brokaw and the other news greats reporting from Grenada and Lebanon while I sat at home in the USA. Now I was where they were. This stuff had its origins in my backyard now, and I was watching them in the United States from there.
Saudi Arabia became a very strange place after that.

WOW!! I can't imagine being in one of those countries! Especially Saudi Arabia where so many of hijackers came from!!

Thank your husband for his service from Graduatenurse14!!

Graduatenurse14 · Sep 12, 2016

I was 31 years old taking a break from teaching and working as a fundraiser. My Northeastern city shut down and everyone sent home. I only got as far as my sister and ex-brother-in-law's house due to lack of public transportation. I honestly don't remember how I got back to my house that night.

llg, PhD, RN · Sep 12, 2016

I have a vivid memory of hearing the news on the radio as I was pulling into a parking space at work.

I spent most of the day on the phone with our staff ... helping to keep everyone informed about staffing plans. Living near a naval base, a lot of our staff are reservists and/or military spouses. Many of the ships put to sea quickly (as is their usual custom during any crisis). Families (both patients and staff) were having to mobilize quickly and get into their "spouse deployed at sea" mode rather than their "spouse's ship in port" mode. Everyone (even civilians) was either "waiting for new orders" or reacting to new orders already received.

As a children's hospital, the patients were scared both about the day's events and also dealing with one of their parents being suddenly and unexpectedly deployed. Some had parents already deployed overseas.

And of course -- lots of people knew people in the Pentagon.

So I helped by staying on the phone with people -- staff called in to see what was requested of them, etc. "What were their orders?" in essence. We called others to tell them what was expected or asking them about their availability to work extra in case some of the military wives became unavailable for a shift or two. We all worried whether or not some of our roads would be closed or block to accommodate a sudden increase in military traffic.

So it was a day of watching and waiting ... staying in touch ... and trying to be prepared for anything ... while trying to support those who knew people directly involved.

Trauma Columnist · Sep 12, 2016

I get chills reading these posts!

I was working dayshift in our busy level 1 trauma center - it was 8am CST and the ED was eerily quiet - there was a TV on in an empty room and the double doors were open and we heard the break-in of the newscaster announcing the tragedy.

That day was so quiet all the way around - much more sober than our usual patter.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Sep 12, 2016

Still on orientation as a brand new nurse. It was my least favorite floor to work on anyway (we had to rotate through two weeks on each acute care floor as new grads), and the patient assignment was awful that day. Very heavy. So I wasn't having a good day to start out with. I was in a pt's room and they were watching GMA or something when they interrupted with the newscast. I finished what I was doing in that room and went to an empty room where someone had turned on the TV when I saw the second plane hit.

Later on that day we heard about the Pentagon and PA. We were terrified and had no idea what was going to happen next, we just tried to keep moving and finish our day.

My husband and I have been together for 16 years (we were not married in 2001) and that day remains one of three times that I have seen him cry.

Meeshie · Sep 12, 2016

I was asleep when the first plane hit. I was a swing shift supervisor at a medical answering service. I got a phone call telling me to wake up and turn on the news. I managed to turn it on right as the second plane hit. I had to go to work shortly after that. We watched TV most of the day, waiting for news. I remember the biggest initial question was "Who did this?". We'd just had a big to-do with China right around then and I remember one news reporter touching on that as everyone waited for information.

middleagednurse · Sep 12, 2016

That was the scariest day of my life. I thought the bombs would be falling any minute. I really thought that we would all die that day. Very weird feeling.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Sep 12, 2016

I'd taken the day off from work to complete masters class paper, typing away from my dining room computer. Taking an eyebreak, checked email and saw news scroll on Comcast of 1st plane hitting tower. My husband was home so we quickly turned on Wpvi/abc TV and with disbelief saw the second plane hit the towers, saw people dangling or jumping from upper windows due to fireball and then slow motion building crumble. We were glued to the TV rest of the day.

My cousin's wedding was scheduled for that weekend in Newport Beach RI. With the airports closed, several family/friends unable to attend. Leaving Philadelphia, PA we drove up I-95 on Friday amazed to see the black dusty skies from building collapse + still smoldering items remaining, Traffic was so light on NJ turnpike around NY and eerily quiet. As we drove home Sunday evening, still 2 spirals of smoke seen over NY city.

Many prayer offered that week, and yearly thereafter.

NotAllWhoWandeRN, ASN, RN · Sep 12, 2016

I was at work at my first job as a kennel attendant, where the only boarding animal was a bulldog named Puta. I dawdled for a few hours to be away from home as long as possible. I forget if coverage was already on when I got home or if I learned by turning the TV on myself... I think I just turned the TV and there it was. I remember being so frightened when my brother, 19 at the time, told me not to go online (AOL dial-up) because it would block the phone line and the National Guard might be calling for him.

It was a while before they called, but call they did. He's been home safe for over a decade now.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Sep 12, 2016

My husband was home so we quickly turned on Wpvi/abc TV and with disbelief saw the second plan hit the towers, saw people dangling or jumping from upper windows due to fireball an then slow motion building crumble.

I remember it that way too - it was like the building didn't really collapse, it sort of...fluttered down. It was like watching a movie - I remember thinking "this has got to be a Tom Clancy novel" and I thought of the one he wrote where the pilot flew an airliner into the Capitol.

But I'll never forget that noise, and I only heard it from the television.

The other thing I remember was Diane Sawyer saying, "What was that noise?" and you could clearly hear it across the television. The camera panned closer to the sidewalk at the base of the towers and then suddenly panned away. It was the sound of people hitting the pavement.

I can't imagine what is heard in the minds of people who were actually there.