FRAZZLED

Some people hate Mondays. I don't. I was born on a Monday and Monday's have mostly been good days all my life. I have now come to hate Fridays. Yesterday in particular.

I have been dealing with a plumbing issue. The first plumber visit was not productive and did not provide the results anticipated. But one problem was found and on the second plumber visit (same plumber), the shower drain that had separated from the sewer drain pipe, causing major water to collect on the basement floor, was fixed and an old mis-routed pipe was connected properly.

It was finally determined that a third visit was needed to find out why the sewer line was not draining properly, and was still backing up on the basement floor. So Friday I stayed home waiting for the plumber to call to say what time he would be able to fix the problem (not at my house).

At noon, I finally called and was told between 2pm and 4pm to be expecting a call and visit. At 3pm, I received a call from the plumber that he was unavoidably detained due to a problem found at a different residence where he was working.

In the meantime, as the time approached for that call, a friend called me and was all upset and needed assistance. Her husband is very ill and she could not get him into her car to take him to the emergency room. I told her to call 911 and get an ambulance. I assisted by directing EMS to her driveway.

The plumber called, and I was on the way to meet him. My friend called from the hospital (second call) and was getting ready to come home, because her husband was being transferred to a Columbus hospital. She is in a wheelchair and I have always assisted her when I can. I drove to the plumber's destination, and when I saw he was not there yet, and my phone rang again from the hospital, I left my location and went to the emergency room to make sure she got home alright. I just can't be in two places at once, but I sure try hard.

I began texting my son with all this information. I kept him up to the minute with the changes and my need to clone myself for the afternoon. Luckily, he left his out of town location and came to my rescue. He arrived at the location to greet the plumber before I got there. Sometimes I need four hands instead of two, but with his busy schedule, he is not always able to be there for me. Today he was. What a relief. I can usually handle one crisis at a time, but throw two at me at once, I have to call for reinforcements.

After getting my friend safely into her house, I went back to deal with the plumbing issue. At least this time, we found out what the problem was in a more direct way. The jetting and camera intrusion into the sewer line found a blockage of some sort, but it could not be corrected from inside the house. The plumber went out into the yard and found the cleanout pipe and the location of the line coming from the house, and where it turned to connect to the city sewer lines. Oh, Joy!

After trying the camera in the cleanout pipe, a clog was found, so the water jetter was again used to unclog it. What we found in the early stage of the cleanout pipe was amazing.

The next door neighbor used to put their barbeque grill next to the back fence, near the cleanout drain - which I learned had no cap on it. We found tin foil, a plastic water bottle, and various other yard items in the drain. The grill is now put away for the winter, but paper plates and other debris still line the fence where the grill used to stand. A call to the landlord of that house is first on my agenda for next week (my third call related to this incident).

The jetting of the cleanout pipe was so strong that a backflush of water could be seen spraying out into the yard, but the clog was finally gone and the water in the basement started to exit out the overflow drain in the basement floor. The plumbing in this house was fine for six years, but has recently reared its ugly head. I was not financially prepared for this at all.

Of course, it was also raining today so by the time the job was finished, I was soaked and ready to go home to a warm house and dry clothes. When I got home, I called my friend to check on her and her husband in the Columbus hospital. Since she cannot drive that far, I have offered to drive her to Columbus today (Saturday), so I will wait for her call and do just that.

My diet has been very successful and the 15 pounds I lost in the last 30 days is great, and it has given me so much more energy, but I didn't expect to exhaust all that energy in one day, going from one location, to hospital, to friend's house, to plumber and back. I feel like I've been on the treadmill and it won't slow down.

I am the dependable one, always willing to carry the burden, help whenever I can, until I am worn out. But, as I take one day at a time, I will move forward, not look back, and just take life as it comes...sometimes taxing my last nerve, but I am a survivor. I will survive to deal with the next crisis in my life, as I always have in the past.