Plumbing Part 2

Yesterday afternoon I put plastic over everything in our laundry room in preparation for today.  SOOO glad I did it!!  Of course, I used so much duct tape taping the plastic down that I ran out and had to borrow Kate's polka dot tape.  I'm sure the plumbers loved it!

Christopher decided last night that he wanted to take some pics of the pipes before they came out, so he took some better ones than I did a few days ago.

It's just amazing what you find when you tear down walls!  One of the plumbers told Christopher that the previous owners had tried to patch the one pipe with spray on foam insulation!  The pipe was packed with it!  We're lucky it hasn't caused some major issues!

So the plumbers were here bright and early at 7:30 this morning, which meant we all had to be up and completely ready since we'd have no water or toilets.  We'd planned to stay at my in-laws' house but Christopher didn't want to leave the plumbers in the house alone since he had yard work to do, so we were stuck.  I did get sent to the hardware store to pick up a light bulb, so I took the kids so we could use their bathroom while we were out.  Thanks, True Value!  Unfortunately, the bulb only got as far as the driveway before it slid out of the paper tube and busted on the asphalt.  I guess that's why you don't let 9 year olds carry light bulbs!

The plumbers were here for 5 and a half hours, making TONS of noise that shook the house trying to saw through the cast iron pipes.  They also made a HUGE mess.  You don't even want to know what was in those sewer pipes, and I won't tell you, but rest assured, it was NO fun cleaning up...

 

But I can say now that those cast iron pipes are long gone!  All of the things that were up to code in 1964 weren't code today, so they had to do a little more to get it right, but I can say that hot baths were enjoyed tonight with NO sewer stink!  Hallelujah!  Now, I just wish Christopher had listened to me 4 years ago!

 

Taa daa!  New pipes!  Now I can't wait until Saturday to get the paneling and cabinets hung back up!

Ready or not

Right now, we could've been on our way to Disney, stopped somewhere south of Atlanta for the night.  That was the original plan, but Christopher's rheumatologist told him never to go to Florida again in the summer after our last trip, so we had to opt out of the annual family vacation with the in-laws.  They're on their way, along with my sister in law and her family, much to the disappointment of my children.  We're going in December, though, so we have that to look forward to.  Plus, the weather will be much cooler- I don't do well in heat!  But really, us not being able to go was just another one of those moments where God had other plans- plans we didn't foresee earlier this year when we decided not to go, but the timing is impeccable.  We've got plumbing problems!

Now, we've had these problems for 4 years now at least.  When we drain the tub or shower in the summer (only in the summer), we get a horrible sewer smell in our basement.  Lovely, huh?  Those of you who know Christopher know that 1. he is cheap and 2. is a do it yourselfer, so his solution for the past 4 years was to take quick, lukewarm to cool showers and pour bleach down the drain afterward.  You can imagine how well cool showers went over...  A few weeks ago, I got mad and told Christopher after he got grouchy about the smell when someone took a hot shower, that something HAD to be done.  We'd spent 4 years treating the symptoms, but not taking care of the problem and that the plumbers MUST be called.  Called, they were.

Apparently, we've got a mess.  When our house was built in 1964, all of the main sewer pipes were cast iron.  Flash forward to now, and they are breaking down, one in particular is pretty bad.  So when we drain the tub, sewer gas is released.  SO thankful it's not our septic tank!  There are also several PVC pipes that leaked and the previous owners tried to patch with putty that badly need replaced as well.  They may also be replacing the sewer vent to the roof as well.  It's all a pretty major undertaking.  Thankfully we were able to talk them into cutting the main line that runs to the septic tank off inside the house instead of completely replacing them all the way to the tank because they'd have to dig up our patio, further racking up the bill as well.  But all of the cast iron main lines will be replaced as well as the patched pipes.  To do this, Christopher had to take down some of my laundry room cabinets and the paneling that was on the walls.  He tackled that today and this is what my laundry room currently looks like.

All of these black pipes, plus some more will be gone.

I'm hoping the kids don't want to play shop or piano this week...

There is one "person" excited about all of this, and that's Nonnie.  We can't keep him out of the ceiling.  It's like Disney World for cats.  Those of you who know Nonnie, know that he's a large breed cat that is the size of a full-grown beagle, so he just barely squeezes through the rafters and pipes, but he loves it!

So Wednesday, the plumbers will be here to get rid of our sewer stink, FINALLY!  It will be a blessing!  We'll be taking over the in-law's house while they're gone, using their pool since we won't have any water or toilets for at least 6 hours.  It's going to be a big mess, but I can't wait for this to be fixed!

Post-op ENT/Audiology appt.

See that little guy up there?  That's the latest in the collection of tubes recovered from Preston's latest surgery.  It looks big, but it's really tiny.  I didn't take any pics today, so this was the closest it gets!

Since this was his 4th set of tubes, we kind of felt like old pros.  The hospital staff treated Preston like he was pretty special going in yet again, and the nurse laughed after she read his discharge papers to us, saying that she probably didn't even need to read them!

Aside from his 2nd set when he had his adenoids out at the same time, there's really no recovery.  He basically has to rest the first day while the anesthesia wears off, and then ear drops three times a day for anywhere from 3-7 days depending on the condition of his ears.  Pretty straight forward.  Well, this time we got thrown for a loop.  For the first week, he had severe pain in his right ear and lots of drainage.  We kept up the drops in case it was infected and it did stop.  But after that, he would often grab at his ear and complain of "sharp pressure" and had occasional drainage.  But what was most concerning was his complaint of not being able to hear well.  Usually, there's a marked improvement post-op.  So to say that I've been very anxious for his post-op visit is an understatement.

Today was his appointment.  It didn't go exactly how I'd planned.  Of course, Dr. S didn't like his episodes of pain, but assured me that we were doing the right thing for it.  He looked at both of them with the otoscope and said that they actually looked good, but wanted to look at the right ear better with his microscope.  That's nothing new, his right eardrum is pretty scarred up and he often takes a closer look at it.  He even let me look as well even though I had no clue as to what he was telling me to see!  From what he can see, something isn't quite right.  Either there is something like a membrane over the tube, or the tube has went behind the eardrum.  He wasn't willing to  mess with the "membrane" as it would've been extremely painful.  There is still a visible opening in the tube, so it will be able to drain.  If the tube has started to migrate behind the eardrum, then he'll be back in for more surgery to "fish it out."  Lovely!  At this point, there's not much that can be done, so it's basically a wait and see thing unless he continues to have a great deal of pain or the tube becomes completely blocked and he starts having bad infections again.  We go back in October, and I can already tell you that I'm anxious for the 9th to arrive (although I'd really rather enjoy a long summer).

After seeing his ENT, we went down to audiology for his hearing test and to have new swim plugs made since his others were too small.  I was prepared for hearing loss as it's something we're prepared for due to his extent of infections and a medication he had to take when they thought he had a staph infection in his middle ear.  Luckily, his hearing remained stable since his last test!  What a blessing!  It will continue to be something we monitor closely, but for now, we're thankful for good hearing! Now he has no excuse when I tell him to turn the tv down!  He got his new plugs molded and we'll go back in 2 weeks to pick them up.  Good thing it's been too cold to swim yet!

It was a long appointment this morning and I'm so glad to have it behind us.  I'm trying to not be paranoid about his right ear issue, but it's going to be hard not to when he complains of pain.  Please pray that all is well.