The Long Ordeal. A Bad Ending to 2017 - A Bad Beginning to 2018

The long ordeal is almost over and I’m so glad it is because I don’t think I could have taken one more day!

Photo Credit - Tucson Daily Photo

Let me backtrack and provide some history. On Nov 11^th my sister Lisa and I drove our mother to Arizona to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with her Arizona family. She had a wonderful time but somewhere along the way she picked up what we think was a “flu bug”.

When Lisa and I went to go pick her up in Arizona on Nov 25^th, poor mom was coughing and miserable and she continued to be miserable the whole way home. She went to the doctor and got some medication and inhalers and a Nebulizer, we thought this would be the end of it. Unfortunately by her birthday on Dec 19^th she was still miserable but she put on a brave face for her children and grandchildren as we celebrated her 81^st birthday.

On Dec 21 at about 11 pm she asked me to take her to the ER room. She was in pain and having a hard time breathing. I called Lisa and we took off with her and stayed there throughout the night until around 5 am when we both went home to get a few hours of sleep and a change of clothes. I was back at the hospital about 9 am and mom was still in the ER room as there were no rooms available.

Unfortunately there was a horrible Flu Bug going around and because of our bad air there were lots of elderly folks and kids with respiratory issues. It was a tough couple of days for mom, she hates hospitals and especially hospital food but on Dec 23^rd at about 8 pm they finally released her and I was able to bring her home. 

We had planned a Christmas Eve family get together, but we had already discussed it and decided to postpone it until the following weekend. So it was a sad Christmas Eve; where we had expected everyone to come over now it was just a quiet day. Mom did cheer up because she got to open the present I gave her and it was a Google Home system and we had fun setting it up and teaching her how to use it.

Life decided to throw another monkey wrench into our lives as on Dec 23^rd when I got back home from the hospital with mom, my daughter took me into one of the bathrooms and showed me the walls that appeared to be bubbling…I knew right away there was a leak. 

So here I have a sick mom, it’s Christmas holiday time and I have a leak somewhere! I tried to call my insurance and left a voice mail and called a plumber who said he would send someone on Dec 26^th.The assistant plumber came in on the 26^th as promised and went into the attic and said there appeared to be a small leak, the insulation was barely wet to the touch and said he could come back on Dec 30^th to make the repairs.

Dec 30^th the actual plumber came in, went in through the attic, said it appeared to be much more serious than his assistant had stated and because of the extent of the damage and the condition of the existing pipe he would have to make major repairs and there was no way they could make the repairs in the small crawlspace attic so they would have to tear down walls!!! 

He told me he believed it would be covered by my homeowners policy but to call them and get approval to start.I still had not heard back from my agent, so I went to her office and of course it was closed so I called the 800# and just asked to speak to anyone, I set up the claim, this was on Dec 30^th. 

To make a long story a bit shorter I had to keep calling my insurance company and could never get in touch with the adjuster but kept speaking to whoever answered the phone so who told me to have the plumber start immediately by making sure there was no mold or asbestos issues.

To Be Continued...