Friday, July 6, 2012

Wiring, mold and hotels

Last Friday, after a solid 3 days of packing, cleaning yet somehow with acres left to do, TH and I were flat out exhausted. We realized we had been working since 6:30 am, and was around 3-ish breakfast was long gone. Our favorite Thai restaurant is 1/2 mile away, and TH ran over to pick up some take out. I was upstairs when he returned and hollered up, "come down, we have a problem". His voiced sounded off, and thinking something had happened to one of the boys or a friend I darted downstairs. It wasn't the boys, nor a friend, but TH that had the problem. His family has faulty wiring in their hearts and many things can bring on an episode of afib, caffeine, exhaustion, stress, etc. Well TH had several of his triggers in spades, and his heart was thumping and fluttering and racing like crazy. I loaded him into the car and took off for the hospital. He managed to walk into the hospital under his own steam but collapsed onto a bench just inside the door. They gave him i.v. meds, to no avail, which left only two options, go on blood thinners and hope his heart converts to normalcy, or shock it into working correctly, he chose the shock method. It worked, only took one dose of electricity to make his heart behave. Completely worn out by the ordeal at the hospital, we headed back to the hotel room, where I couldn't stop hovering, it felt to me like he'd had a close look at death, and I didn't trust that he was actually ok.

The next morning I had no choice but to leave him alone in the hotel and head back to the house, we needed to be finished up that day. I worked like crazy and worried about TH the entire time. I had the house mostly done, but the garage was still a disaster zone. Calling it quits around 8, I headed back to the hotel. TH had called me while I was gone often enough that I knew he was ok-ish. While I was gone he'd called our landlords and explained what had happened and why we weren't yet moved out. Luckily they were feeling kindly, and gave us until the 4th. Sunday the two youngest boys and their wives came and helped get things finished up. They cleaned the garage out and toted stuff for me. Monday after work they showed up to help us move into the new place.

The nice cabin in the woods, turned out to be infested with mold. We woke up totally sick the next morning. Both of us had tight chests, trouble breathing, while i also had a swollen face and body. I was terrified that it might trigger TH's heart again while we tried to decide what to do. After talking to the landlord, who it turns out knew the place was moldy. How had we missed it when we viewed it before accepting it? They had a cat and a dog, and where horrible housekeepers. The loft railing was thick with animal hair and dust, so the tight chest feeling and itchy faces we thought were caused by that.

They are letting us out of our lease, and giving our money back, so that's a good thing. However....... We have viewed 10 places in the past few days, all moldy. We are getting desperate, we have savings, but hotels here are crazy pricy, and it's tourist season, so rooms are in short supply and the prices are higher this time of the year. We got a good lead from a lady on the street today about a realtor who deals with loads of rental properties, hopefully we can find something soon. The youngest two are going to help TH empty the cabin of our belongings tomorrow, and youngest son is letting us store this stuff in his garage.

We are stressed to the frayed ends worried about finding a new home. Housing is always in short supply in Alaska, and finding half way decent housing is in even shorter supply.




Sent from my iPad

4 comments:

  1. I've been a little out of touch since I've been a little out of the country and my internet connections have been iffy at best. Today is a good day!

    I'm so sorry you're having so many issues with the move, that a couple of weeks ago seemed set to go perfectly. I hope you are able to find a suitable dwelling before you eat through all the savings! That is no fun at all!

    Peace <3
    Jay

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  2. Gosh, when it rains...yada yada yada.

    Glad TH seems improved, not so glad about your shady ex-landlord and his moldy house.

    Hopefully, out of this mess, something good will happen.

    Sending positive thoughts your way!

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  3. OMG that's horrible to have all this happen all at once. I hope TH is going to be okay and you guys find a good place in the coming days.

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  4. Does TH have a cardiologist? It'd probably be a good idea. He may need evaluation for a pacer if his heart keeps going into A-fib or some other weird rhythm. Anti-coagulation is a good idea long-term because of the risk of clots being thrown by the heart to the brain and other organs when it beats irregularly.

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