Nov 22: It's not optimal......

SO, it's Thanksgiving, day of giving thanks and spending family time (quality or not!), or that was the plan.

So, started feeling worse on Tuesday, began antibiotics, felt progressively worse that  night, and really lousy Wednesday, although still had to go in to work.  By Wednesday night (last night) I felt like total crap, temperature was above 100, and just got worse and worse that night.  I called my mother and told her it was doubtful I would make it over, called Susan and said a 3 hour drive down to Virginia was out of the question. 

Temperature continued to go up, and I started getting worried.  Mechanical valve and infections, not a good combo.  Started lining up back-up plans.  Made sure there were a couple people checking on me who had the general number to the hotel.  (I stay very calm, but still make worse case scenario plans!)  Temp hit 101, then 101.5.  Got ready for bed, began questioning how old my Tylenol were.  Was it worth finding a 24 hour pharmacy?  No, exhausted and not feeling particularly alert.  By the time I went to bed my temp had gotten to 102.4.  Took an Advil, went to bed.  Up several times, had to keep using a neti pot to breath, finally slept 3 hours straight. 

Woke feeling yucky, but temp back down to about 100, so less worrisome.  Coughing and hacking and blowing my nose a lot, however, so going anywhere not an option.  After debating I called myself in a stronger antibiotic prescription to the Wegman's that is less than a mile away (this hotel is in a great location!), had to go by 1 pm.  Picked up some food and supplies, and hit the 'red box' movie rental on the way out, having been reminded by Susan that watching DVDs on my computer is way better than the constant commercials even if there was anything to watch.  (Side note:  the commercialization of Christmas is just revolting to me--totally out of hand..)

So now I'm back, happily watching a Friends marathon.  Coughing and hacking, wishing I'd gotten cough syrup as well, but at least my temperature is better

Being sick is never fun.  Being sick on a holiday even less so.   Being sick, on a holiday, cancelling all plans and living in a hotel: not the most fun in the world.  But I'm still better off than vast numbers of people: comfortable rooms, TV, electricity, running water, toilet, kitties, books, movies and no driving.  It could be way worse!

Hope your day is going well.  Thanks for checking in,  Laurie

Nov 20: Update

So, I've been here at the Extended Stay Hotel for a couple weeks now, starting to settle in more.  The cats seemed to have calmed down: they were spending a fair amount of time under the bed initially, although much to my surprise KC was the least affected.  Of surprise to no one is that Chester is unfriendly to the cleaning person.  Last week I popped in his carrier and took him back to the house for a few hours and am repeating that today.  While he has social short-comings he is an incredibly good car cat, probably from all the months as a kitten when I took him down to 139s while doing 24 hour shifts. 

The tenant is now back in the second floor, lacking only a washer.  The State Farm claims adjuster, Ed, brought out a man with an impressive business card reading 'forensic engineering investigations' to determine the cause of the washer failure.  Of course the washer worked fine with all of standing around staring at it while it filled.  But his determination was that it was the pressure load sensor which had a failure, and can happen intermittently.  He doesn't think it was related to the storm as there were no other appliances affected, but I pointed out that my TVs are both on surge protectors, my tenant's and my computers were unplugged and it just seemed too coincidental to me.  The upshot is that he recommended replacing the washer and State Farm is paying for it.  I was supposed to take care of that today, but woke feeling sick-ish, so have decided it can wait another week.

As Ed had predicted, there seems to be much less activity at the house.  The bathroom is stripped all the way down to the ugly blue tub, surrounded by ripped out walls, floor and ceiling (there is a sub-floor).  I guess the thought is it's all still drying out.  There's enough dust around that I have to use my inhaler when over there, so I've started running the ionizers in the kitchen/dining area and spending little time in the living room, only going into the bedroom or study to get things.  This seemed to help the last couple times I was over, but may be why I'm not feeling great today and have ear, throat, headache sinus-y thing going that will probably need antibiotics now that it's started. 

Going back and forth, having things split up, does throw me off any organization that I have, but also makes a great excuse for anything I was supposed to do and didn't.  Reminding people that I'm a 'displaced person who is living in a hotel' does garner sympathy and forgiveness more easily than 'oops, forgot to do that!' 

Had to cancel my vacation plans last week, which were to go down to Williamsburg and spend time with Bidge and his girlfriend Sue.  While we talk a few times a month, as well as e-mail, I haven't physically seen Bidge since he moved down there and it's been a couple years now.  They are both understanding of the situation and I'll shoot for the spring sometime.  I'm planning on going down to Virginia on Thursday to see the cousins: will have turkey dinner early with Mom at the retirement center, then drive down Thanksgiving afternoon and hopefully arrive only slightly late for dinner down there.  Spend Friday & Saturday there, then return on Sunday, hopefully early enough that the traffic won't be too horrid.  My initial thought was that this would have to be cancelled as well since I couldn't leave three cats in a hotel room, but then it occurred to me that their bathroom is much more portable.  So, after several days of running the ionizer (and continuing it), KC & Zerla will go back to the house for my neighbor to look in on and Chester will be lord of the hotel room, with tons of food out.  This will only be slightly longer than I've left him before, and I don't anticipate any issues. 

So, that's the update.  Getting ready now to load Chester in his carrier and take off for the house, do some laundry and collect a few more things. 

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.    Laurie

Nov 8: Long, but with a happy ending!

The Cloud:  Saturday night I came home to sheets of water cascading down into my bedroom, bathroom & living room.  The washer in the second floor rental had overflowed.  My wonderful neighbors Brent & Jessica came running over in response to my panicked phone call, Jessica did a fabulous job cleaning up the water while Brent and I shut off the water and ran upstairs to my distraught tenant, squishing across the soaked rug.   (For the curious: suspicion is the power outage for 3 days and subsequent power surge damaged the sensor in the washer that tells the machine when to stop filling, this was the first time she'd used the washer since restoration of power.)

After general drying out, emptying closets, mopping up floors, blotting at soaked sofa, we all went to  bed.  Got up the next morning and figured no reason to not go to Fellowship, where I stood up and announced that I didn't think the damage was going to be that bad......

Called my insurance agent's office Monday morning, got no help (spoke with agent a couple days later, the new trainee messed up), but my tenant's agent said to start addressing the damage and gave the name of a water removal service called ServPro (advertisement deliberate!).  An evaluation crew headed by a guy named Matt met me at my house at 5:00 pm, and it was much worse than I had ever thought.

Two bathroom walls were soaked, as were the ceiling & floor, walls and ceilings in the bedroom, all the closets, living room wall and a little part of the ceiling, bedroom floor: all wet.  I was thinking high powered fans and a few dehumidifiers, but he said no, ripping out walls and closets and then fans.  I admit I started crying, because it was just so much more than had ever crossed my mind and seemed so overwhelming, especially when he said I wouldn't be able to live in house for at least 3 weeks.  They set up fans & dehumidifiers and promised to come back at 8:00 am Tuesday, which fortunately I wasn't working. 

(Side note:  Initially Matt warned me that it would probably take a while to get re-building started, because of so many people having storm damage.  So, I played the heart card.  First pointed out that my tenant was on full disability, then said that I had a serious heart condition and asthma, making living in a place with significant, extensive water damage an incredibly dangerous situation.  Pause.  Matt leaves, comes back in a few minutes later and says they will pull people out of other jobs to get mine done faster.  As I feel better and better it doesn't make me feel good to play the needy type, but as Bidge pointed out several years ago if I was going to have all the negatives of dealing with a chronic condition then I might as well have the few benefits that can be used as well.  On further reflection it occurs to me that while the franchise is getting paid for all these out-of-area jobs they also recognize that giving good service to someone in their main coverage area will help more in the long run.)

Called my friend Shannon and just sobbed out 'I need help, now....'  She and her boyfriend were over in less than an hour, followed by another friend Tersha shortly after that.  They moved my bed into the study, moved large pieces of furniture around, re-set up the bed, moved stuff out of three closets, etc.  I was calmer by then, and after a reality check recognized that my situation could not compare to those coping with loss of everything from the hurricane: my house was intact, even if a bit wet, no loss of furniture (clothes still being evaluated), pets OK, house still livable and insurance would cover. 

Matt & two guys others came as promised, then started finding the damage was even worse than he'd thought.  While the upstairs apartment only had one room damaged, the hallway and a small amount of bathroom affected, my damage expanded to include the study closet and ceiling, which meant I could no longer have the bed there as the walls & ceiling in the closet would be opened up, ceiling not as bad.  As they started ripping things out they were covered with water over and over and it became apparent that it was even worse than initially thought, especially the bathroom.  Dave, the supervisor, came out and evaluated, finding even more water.  He looked at me and said 'So, do ya wanna new bathroom?'  I hate the tiles and tub: 1970s blue in an overwhelming amount.  That bad part is that means 4-6 weeks out of the house, because the only bathroom will be unusable. 

Dave commented on how well I was taking things, I said that my damages were so minor in comparison to hundreds of thousands of others affected by the storm.  He responded that he met lots of nice people on the worst days of their lives.  I countered that having been an emergency paramedic for 20 years and dealing with those who had lost their parents, spouses or child (the worst) that material loss wasn't as important.

Then the claims adjuster arrived.  He questioned destroying the whole bathroom, apparently Dave & Matt held strong on the basis that the tiles were impossible to replace and would be falling off with the moisture so widespread.  So, claims adjuster emerged from all the plastic drapped rooms with fans running and conceded.  His estimate is 2-3 months due to so many things being out of stock.   He also remarked on my attitude, I gave the same response.  He then said that that didn't make what I was dealing with any less horrible and that this was going to be a very difficult time and really horrid.  Smiling, I told him that I'd had three open-heart surgeries with my chest cracked open four times, so anything that doesn't involve having my chest sawed open and my heart stopped really wasn't all that horrible.

Absolute silence.  After five seconds he started making notes and said 'Well, that's a new one....'

State Farm is being incredible, it's unbelievable how much they cover.  Ed, the claims adjuster, has warned me that with the entire bathroom being re-done he thinks I'll be 'displaced' for up to three months, since there is only one bathroom on my level.  So, I'm now living in an Extended Stay America, with all three cats, in a very livable one bedroom suite.  I have a queen sized bed, kitchen including full sized frig, microwave, 2-burner stove, toaster and coffee maker, living room w/couch and flat-screened TV, Wi-Fi.  It's not home, but it's fine and, again, so much better than so many people have.  The cats are settling in as we enter into our third day here and spend less and less time hiding under the bed!  I told ServPro to get the tenant's place up ASAP, make that the priority.  I'll pick out replacement bathroom floor for that bathroom this weekend, will just match the rug up there.  The tenant is in a hotel, renter's insurance will cover her.

Honestly, I'm fine.  Everyone has been so wonderful, so helpful.  And, again, I'm so much better off than so many other people.  The hotel is only six miles from the house and a little closer to work, I can still go to the house, change clothes and get stuff while using my neighbor's bathroom.

Silver Lining (a very thick one!):  Realized soon after the decision that not only was getting a new bathroom pretty great, but it would also increase the value of my house.  While I have no plans to sell or move in the near future, at some point the house will need to be sold and that incredibly dated bathroom was not going to help.  So getting a major re-do for only the cost of the deductible ($1,000) is quite a bargain.  Figure an overhaul like this runs at least $10,000, so a couple months inconvenience is certainly a great trade-off for saving that much.  Not to mention any increase (or at least not a decrease) in house value.   This is fantastic!

But wait, there's more....

Spoke with Matt this morning and he told me that on ripping out the tiles behind the tub it turns out there was no insulation between the actual tiles and the outside brick wall, additionally all the wood back there was rotten and moldy.  If they weren't replacing everything, that would have gotten worse.  And the insulation will obviously help.  What a relief!

But wait, there's even more!

Matt called later in the afternoon.  On removing the tub he found all the pipes corroded, he speculates that within the next 6 months or so they would have completely broken through.  When he tried to disconnect the tub pipes from the ones in the basement he says they broke apart in his hands.  The vanity was almost as bad, rotted and moldy on the bottom as well as those pipes being pretty bad.  And that would have caused a major expense to re-do all that plumbing, without the cosmetic issue even being taken care of. 

Yeah, Matt & Dave are my two favorite people in the world right now!  Closely followed by State Farm Home Owner's Insurance with Ed the claims adjuster. 

So, the burn-out of a fairly inexpensive sensor is saving me somewhere in the $10,000-$15,000 range, while the time living out of the house is being totally covered.  This is beyond a good thing, this is AWESOME!!! 

Thanks for checking in, a very relieved and grateful    Laurie

Nov 7: morning

Survived first night in extended stay hotel.  Forgot anything for the storm.  Exhausted.  Sore.  Will post long explanation later.  Off to work,   Laurie