Day: February 3, 2015

In the morning, I always send Red out to do his outrun around the big apple tree, it is a beautiful sight and he dearly loves his outruns.

The last two words I ever want to hear in winter is “busted pipe,” especially in an old farmhouse. it was – 20 degrees when Maria and I woke up this morning, I got up early to make a doctor’s appointment.  The cold was brutal, it was hard to be outside for more than a few minutes.

When I got back, we met in the house for lunch, as we most always do, and suddenly Maria turned toward my study and asked “what’s that?,” and she ran towards the sound of gushing water.

A hot water pipe in the baseboard heat in my study had broken, sending a gushing stream of water into my office, a few inches from all the electrical connections tied to my printer and office equipment. The extensions are mostly in the floor, if they got drenched in water, I would have lost my computer, back-up disk and all of my office equipment, and the electrical system for the house have been shorted out and probably destroyed.

If we couldn’t stop the gushing water, the house would be flooded, the floors ruined, there would have been extensive damage. Maria rushed to get towels and clothes to try and soak up the geyser coming off of the radiator – we couldn’t figure out what had happened, the heat had been on for hours – and I ran to the basement to try and find the source of the water and shut it off. Curiously enough, the first knob I saw in the ceiling – it was near our point well – turned easily and it stopped the gushing water.

Pure luck or dumb instinct.

We turned off the heat and had no water, it looked like that might be the case for several days. The plumbing and heating oil company said they were swamped with frozen-pipe calls, and as we had two wood stoves, we were way down the list. Might get there by tomorrow, they said, maybe not.

I called Jay Bridge, the carpenter and house genius who works with us on the farmhouse, he was at home and came right over (after finishing his cup of tea, Jay does not rattle) and repaired the pipe, turned the water and heat back on. It took him five or six  hours of hard work – sawing, soddering, drilling, replacing pipes in the basement – but he got everything working by tonight. We appreciate him, we are very lucky, this night could so easily have been so much worse. We have water, the toilets and faucets are working, the furnace is on.

It was my fault, really, I closed the door to my study last night to keep the downstairs warmer. I knew it would be cold, but the farmhouse has never had a busted pipe in it’s long life. I also turned the heat off before going to sleep, the wood stoves were going strong and I have a problem heating a house to keep two barn cats warm. That was my second mistake. Because it got so cold the closed door and shut down furnace turned my study into a freezer and the water in the baseboard heating coils froze, tearing a hole in the end of the pipe.

I always leave the heat on at night, at least to 50 or 55, I just wasn’t thinking and I didn’t know the forecast called for such extreme weather. Miraculously, there is little or no damage, my office is up and running, I am awash in gratitude, there are so many horror stories up here about frozen pipes in old farmhouses rupturing and causing massive damage. If we had not both been home, we would have come home to a nightmare.

Lessons learned, Maria and I compliment one another well, we both seem to know what to do in a clutch. We had a busted pipe, it is fixed.

Before last summer, I had never been in a hospital, rarely seen a doctor, took no pills of any kind, was a stranger to pharmacies, almost never paid attention to my health insurance. My life changed in the past year or two, I confronted a genetically-driven form of diabetes and had open heart surgery,

I was plunged into the world of conventional medicine, insurance, drugs and had open heart surgery. I see a cardiologist, an orthopedic surgeon, an endocrinologist, a chiropractor, a massage therapist and a nurse practitioner – she has saved my life at least twice in the past year.  My pharmacist is one of my best pals, I see her regularly.

I met with most of my doctors in recent weeks, I contracted the flu, was on the edge of pneumonia, and met this morning with Karen Bruce, who has been coordinating the care of her headstrong and reluctant patient. I am checked out, good and healthy, ready to resume my life.

My diabetes is under control, my numbers are normal, my heart is strong and healthy, my lungs are clear, I understand my medications and am tolerating all of them well. I have more mobility and range than I have had for years, good stamina. I walk and exercise daily and love doing it. I like and trust my doctors, and especially, my nurse-practitioner. She told me this morning that I can – should – shovel as much snow as I want to and would like to.

I know my heart better, we are on the same side, finally.

I can be out in frigid cold walk as much as I want, life as much as I wish, rake the snow off of the roofs, haul hay and water all day. And I can plunge into my book, my blog,  my photos, my play. I feel yesterday’s snow storm was a turning point for me, the boundary between one place or another. The open heart surgery threw my life into turmoil and chaos, I am on top of it now, truly recovering, healthier and more aware. I could see it in the storm, Maria and I both noticed I was shoveling more, doing more, feeling stronger.

How fortunate I am. I am checked out, ready to live my life.