I want a rewind on Monday AM

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
Yikes!

It all started when I got up at 2AM to pee. Finished that chore and washed my hands. Went to turn off the hot water and the tap assembly snapped off in my hand!

Instant geyser of hot water 3' high. Darn good thing I had the plumber on one of his (many) earlier visits show me where the interior whole house cutoff valve was. Run for bedroom closet, pull the drywall panel that hides the hotwater heater off, breaking it in the process, find the shut off valve, turn off the water, run back into the bathroom and discover that turning the darned valve with all my strength doesn't quite shut the water all the way off.

It is no longer geyser-ing, but is still running. All over the bathroom floor, out into the hallway, behind the washer and dryer, and down the wall into the vanity.

Throw down every towel I have, grab bucket and mop, grab phone, manage to juggle phone and mop, and start mopping while calling plumbing company's emergency number.

Get through to them. Plumber will be here in half an hour.

Try to keep up with water in the meantime. Realize hotwater heater is making ghastly noises because it is empty and running. Head to circuit panel and throw the breaker, shutting off hotwater heater.

Plumber shows up. While he is replacing faucet, I call insurance company and start claim process. I know I'm eating the plumbing bill, but my insurance should cover the cost of water damage, less deductible, blah.blah.blah.

Insurance company puts me through the contractor in my area they use. They'll be out in an hour. By now it is 5AM.

Meanwhile, I am finishing up paperwork with plumber and writing a rather large check. Thomas is having a field day because he's made a new buddy. Pity all the sucking up didn't get me a discount, though it did amuse the plumber.

Squeaky is under the bed. Plumber leaves. The "mitigation contractors" show up. They poke around, find out the bottom of the vanity is soaked and after disconnecting the washer and dryer and pulling them away from the wall, so is the drywall about 6" up from the floor. They do some more poking around and waving of arcane measuring instruments, and then come in with a dehumidifier the size of a fridge, and two humungous fans. They set up the dehumidifier and one of the fans in the bathroom to dry the vanity, and set up the other fan in the hallway blowing on the drywall behind the washer and dryer.

They finally leave, with the equipment making an unholy racket, two cats under the bed, a litterpan in the bedroom as there is barely enough room for me to turn sideways and inch my way to the toilet, and two terrified cats under the bed.

I finally pass out around 10AM and sleep until noon, racket or no racket. Wake up to discover that despite the phone being a foot from my head and the ringer turned up full blast, I have missed several calls from the claims adjuster. Call him back.

He comes out. Checks the damage. Tells me that the bottom of the cabinet needs replacing, the drywall will be fine, cuts me a check that accounting for deductible, is is nearly a grand less than the lowball estimate the insurance company's contractor has given me for the work so far!

I blow my stack! He tells me to sort it out with the contractor. I tell him B.S. It's YOUR contractor. YOU sort it out with them! We go round and round for a bit. He finally backs down and says, have them call me when they come out tomorrow to check on the progress (they are coming out to check on how the drying out process is going)

Meanwhile, Thomas has gotten up the nerve to sneak past the fan in the hallway and has been out and around. He's also so short on sleep due to the noise and upheaval that he's staggering around like a drunk.

Squeaky is out and around in the bedroom finally, but also hasn't slept. I'm running on about 2 hours sleep.

My medications are screwed up. My eating is screwed up. I had to hit the glucose tablets today because I was dealing with contractors and adjusters and phone calls and didn't have a chance to eat, and nearly keeled over, and right now it is 3:30AM and I'm exhausted, but not tired enough to sleep through the racket the bloody fans are making.

I'll take some nice Triple creme' Brie and water crackers with my whine, if you don't mind.
 

recoveringenabler

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Yikes is right, what an awful day you've had. I hope the fans and dehumidifier work and your insurance pays for all of it. In the meantime, go buy yourself some brie and crackers and have your nails done or something which will take your mind off of all of this for awhile........
 

Tanya M

Living with an attitude of gratitude
Staff member
WOW!! It's never good to have that happen but in the middle of the night no less. I'm impressed at all you did in such a short amount of time. I know people that would still be standing there staring at the geyser.
I hope you and the cats get some good sleep tonight.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
Well, I made an the remediation people have come out again to check progress on the drying. (Things are drying SLOOOOWLY and the contractor says it may take a week or more of having this crap in the house.)

The noise is stressing me out. It's stressing Thomas and Squeaky out.

Meanwhile, when the contractors came out today to do their thing, they said that they will probably have to rearrange the equipment in the bathroom in such a way as to make it impossible to access the toilet, which means I'll have to stay in a hotel, which means another fight with the insurance company, who will only want to pay what works out to a % of the cost of the hotel room.

They'll have to get into a go round with my local agent over that as this is a tourist area and hotels are bloody expensive up here

Meanwhile, I discovered that missing a dose of Celexa does REALLY nasty things to one. I called the pharmacist, found out that it was OK to take it 4 hours late (hey, I finally fell asleep) and started feeling better after it began to soak in.
 

Scent of Cedar *

Well-Known Member
Oh, wow. I have seen and heard those big fans they use to dry the house.

I am surprised you are sleeping at all.

Hang in there, Going. It sounds like you are handling everything really well.

Man, what a crummy thing to happen to someone at 2 a.m.

Cedar
 

Confused

Well-Known Member
I understand about leaks! We had it twice, first time at night, second was day I think( water heater). Im so sorry you and kitties are going through this, hopefully you will a nice room and get some rest! Those fans are horrible! Hugs
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
So far I can still reach the toilet, so the place is deemed habitable. Thomas is on Valium as of today, after he peed on the sofa a couple of times and I discovered that he was pulling the hair off his his belly (a nervous habit that he had when he first arrived here).

I called his vet and she called in a RX for him. Low dose. It seems to be helping calm him down.

Squeaky is coping better as she's more "self contained" emotionally than Thomas is.

I am sleeping when exhaustion hits, for a couple of hours here, and a couple of hours there.

I had to cancel a P.d.o.c. appointment. for next week and regular doctor appointment , and due to the people running in and out of the place all day. I am hoping my shrink will refill a couple of my RXs for me, and that I'll be able to get in to see him within the next 30 days. It's tele-medication, so hopefully it won't be too awful.

The problem is that when I do sleep, its like I'm comatose, because it's sheer exhaustion, and between that and the noise, I don't hear a darned thing, even if I COULD hear it over the infernal racket in this place, and I'm so exhausted when I'm actually awake, that I'm getting absolutely nothing done.

I'm facing running out of clean clothes because my washer and dryer are not useable right now and I can't go the Laundromat because the contractors are not on any sort of schedule, and I'm not awake enough to go after hours and sit for 4-5 hours to do laundry.

The whole thing is a mess, and I'm getting ready to hit the Ativan.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
It won't knock me out. I won't take that sort of dosage, but it will slow me down some. A bit later, once the dishes are done, the litterpans scooped, the cats fed and watered, etc., I'll take the Temazepam, and that will knock me out, at least for a few hours, and i'll get some much needed sleep.

I hate drugging myself, but I'm afraid if I don't get some sleep in here, I'll go hypomanic, and be no good to anyone.
 

Scent of Cedar *

Well-Known Member
When I am feeling overwhelmed, this helps me: According to Brene Brown, we humans are hard-wired for challenge. You can do this, and will come through it beautifully.

I feel terrible about Thomas. Coming through this together, even just knowing you are there with him now and have not deserted him will help him the next time trust issues come up. This must be so hard for him.

So glad to hear Squeaky is handling the upheaval well.

Maybe her behavior will help Thomas feel confident he isn't going to lose you or his new home.

Cedar
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
Well, the Valium seems to be helping Thomas. If nothing else, he is actually resting if not sleeping more.

There is a massive conflict brewing with the ins company to the tune of about 2 grand, though, which is the discrepancy between what the insurance company thinks drying the place out and repairs should cost, and what the mitigations company's current estimate is running.

I called the adjuster today and told him to call the mitigation company's management in Wausau and work it out as I don't have the money and can't pay it.

Meanwhile, I told the mitigation company NOT to come out over the weekend. I am going to go to a hotel for one day, shower. sleep in quiet (come home to care for the cats, spend time with them, medicate Thomas, etc.), and generally recharge for a day, and go to the Laundromat.

the drywall behind the washer and dryer might be dry enough by tomorrow to move the washer and dryer back and hook them back up and the guy from the mitigation company who was out today checking got pissy about doing that and gave me a hard time and I got pissy in return since I CAN'T move the bloody things myself!

I discovered (and he didn't by the time he left) that Thomas doesn't LIKE it when people get pissy with "mama" as he thoroughly sprayed the jerk's equipment bag, which he didn't notice. I hope it thoroughly stunk up his truck on the way back to Wausau.

I am taking the Ativan on schedule and it is at least keeping me on an even keel, or "even-er", which is something, and the "sleeper" is getting me a few hours, so I'm doing better.

Now I have to work on eating more regularly to keep my sugar up as I have no appetite, and we'll take it from there.

To top it all off, I am developing a toothache that I hope I can keep at bay with Ibuprofen until this is done with before I get THAT dealt with.

ARGH!
 
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