Alms For The Poor?...

     It's gone from bad to worse, as you can most likely tell by the 3:00AM posting time of this blog!  The plumbing fiasco has now turned into a plumbing NIGHTMARE and the idea of potentially selling a kidney for cash is NOT such an outlandish one at 3:00AM...perhaps after a few hours of sleep, my world will return to it's general shade of rosy-ness.  And, as always, wild monkeys could fly out my butt, too...there's a 50/50 chance of either happening (just as long as I don't need to flush 'em)!

     Day Two of the Sewer Scenario...24 hours WITHOUT a shower or toilet flushing began quite early this morning.  Being the diligent tax payer I am, I drove to my office's satellite location at the County Hospital to drop the kids off in the pool...pinch a loaf...use the facilities...and take advantage of public restrooms late last night as I worked myself into a sleepless tail spin, worrying I "might have to go" in the night.  Somewhere in my homeowner tax structure, I'm sure I've more than paid for a few flushes and TP sheets over time...the county OWES me that much!

     I was able to get a few winks in before starting down the long and treacherous road of plumbing/sewage woes today.  It started with a call to Roto-Ripoff to verify what time they were to arrive for the "scope" procedure today...low and behold, they didn't have me scheduled.  I popped a blood pressure pill and proceeded to muscle my way onto the schedule I had been promised to be on YESTERDAY.  Of course said technician did NOT arrive at said time, and I spent several hours lying in wait for the sewer rat.

     When he did arrive, he informed me the rate per hour quoted yesterday was wrong...I bent over and signed his consent form between my knees, agreeing to pay an even higher hourly rate than quoted.

     Dear Micah was a bit more professional than "Tom" from yesterday...Micah actually tried to clean up after himself and English was his first (and probably only) language...we got along just swimmingly.  AND he neither splattered more sewage around the walls of my bathroom, nor did he tear the large hole in the wall made yesterday by "Tom" any larger...I was in love with the boy.

     The pipe scoping was very similar to a colonoscopy and frankly, I got a little PTSD going while watching it!  Micah pushed and prodded the tiny camera, snaking it down my pipes, until he could go no further.  "Something" was blocking the channel, but what it was remained a mystery.

     Modern technology never ceases to amaze me.  It seems there is some kind of sonar device in the end of the scope and with another tool above ground, the technician can locate the exact tip of the scope and get a reading how far underground it is...I must say this part was truly fascinating...even if we were both outside on the steep hillside in the pouring torrential Seattle rainstorms.

     Micah then proceeded to provide me a bid for the repairs...he should have warned me as there was a brief moment of possible medic 911 need.  Somewhere over $5,000.00 and days later, he "might" be able to resolve the problem..."might" be able to is the scary statement.  The sewer line would need to be dug out by hand because of the mega hill slope it is buried in some 4 feet below ground...that same slope you may recall I had to crawl off of earlier this summer after my tennis elbow extravaganza of weed wacking...if it were only longer, I'm sure one could ski freely down it to the street below.

     So now I'm stuck wrestling with what to have done and how to make ends meet according to my decisions...sell a kidney or stop eating and drinking fluids so I no longer NEED sewage drainage?  The life of a home owner...

     As you can tell, I've been pretty preoccupied these past few days...sorry if I have been remiss in keeping up with blogs, emails, etc.  I have had to load myself up with Klonopin tonight and even THIS seems to have little effect on my anxiety or sleep.  The cat IS dozing nicely beside me, however!

     Hopefully, I will awaken tomorrow morning (well, today actually) and have some sort of "sign" or epiphany as to what I am suppose to do.  In the meantime, I'm practicing "pressure" tolerance in the lower 40 to try to avoid unnecessary repetition of elimination!  Colostomies and urinary caths are looking better and better each day...