Lucky Me

[other dog]

I wondered how bad my luck was going to get, but...

I had the gout so bad this week that I could hardly walk, I believe because of getting too hot on several occasions last week and almost melting. I couldn't work all week. Went to the Dr. in Appomattox Tuesday and had to use my left foot on the brake in the car because my foot hurt so bad.

If you've never had the gout, the pain is excruciating. I'd only had it a couple of times before, and never anywhere near this bad, or that lasted this long.

She gave me a prescription for some medicine, some pills that you took 2 of, then waited an hour and took one more. Then you had to wait 3 days before you could do it again. My insurance would not cover it, so I paid $20 cash for one dose, 3 pills. Took them, they did nothing.

So I called the doctor back on Wednesday, told her it did nothing, so she said she would call in something else. Went back to Altavista, picked up the prescription, this time for 21 pills. Insurance covered it this time too. I had to take 6 pills the first day, 5 the next, then 4 and so on. You have to stop taking it gradually like that, or bad things will happen. 

By Thursday morning my foot was still sore, still had the big red spot where the big toe bone connects to the foot bone, but the pain had eased enough so I thought I could go to work. So I called headquarters, and they had a load going to Salinas, Kansas that delivered Monday. That was great. I would stay home Thursday, go load yesterday, then hit the road, try to get over around Charleston, W.V,  then have all day today and tomorrow to get to Salinas, plenty of time.

But as I was getting ready to leave yesterday- almost ready to walk out the door in fact- I went to get a pair of lace-up boots out of the closet because I thought it wouldn't hurt my foot as bad getting them on and off as my pull on boots did. And I noticed that the laces were wet. So I turned the light on in the closet and saw water all over the floor. The hot water tank was leaking- of all the rotten luck, and on top of everything else!

So I had to call headquarters, put off loading until Monday, go to Lowes, get a water heater, got the wrong one- the water lines needed to connect on the side of it, but they went in the top- so I go all the way back to Lowe's, which is in Madison Heights, to get some longer connector hoses so I can hook the water lines up. And they don't make longer lines than what I had, 2 feets. I needed one about 6 feet long. So I got another tank instead, with the connections on the side this time.

Brought it home, and it's just enough bigger than the old one that it wouldn't fit in the little space. I could hook everything up, but instead of being back in the little corner it would be sitting out in the closet. That was unacceptable, so I put both heaters back in the boxes. Or I should say what was left of the box the first one was in, because I pretty much destroyed it getting it open. 

This time I measured, researched, looked on the interweb, and found the heater I needed. It said 5 were available at the Madison Heights store. So I loaded both heaters on the pickup, went back to Lowe's again. Got my money back for the two wrong ones, but they did not have the right one. They checked the Lynchburg store and said they had 6 available. So I said "I looked on the internet before I left home and it said that you had 5 available, but you don't have any."

So they called the Lynchburg store, and they did have one, so I drove over there and grabbed it, came back home and put it in and hooked everything back up and turned the water back on. After I was satisfied that there were no leaks, I had to put the panel back in place and put all the stuff back in the closet.

After all this running around it was after midnight by the time I got to bed. And I was thinking, man, I sure had some rotten luck this week. 

And then I got to thinking, about how lucky I was. If I had not decided to get those other shoes, and walked out of the door, I would have been gone until the end of next week- with water leaking in the floor the whole time. That would have been a real disaster, probably costing me thousands of dollars. 

I was sure lucky!

[j hancock]

Jeeesh.... what the hell.

[theakerstwo]

I try to not to thank the Lord for what he does as much as what he kelp from happening.I was having a virbration all day thrusday in my truck and did not have time to worry.We was hauling asphalt to the turn pike job.When we got done for the day I raised the bed and took a look at the drive line and saw a Ujoint cap almost out of the yoke.The two bolts were there but almost out.That would have been a ugly day if the joint came out.

[Vladislav]

Yes, you never know where water will leak tomorrow... Good thing when things turn out good.

[mowerman]

sometimes things just dont work rite,,,,but glad you going up wards now........bob

[j hancock]

On 7/21/2018 at 2:42 PM, theakerstwo said:

That would have been a ugly day if the joint came out.

Ain't that the truth!

[h67st]

OD, I hope your gout is all cleared up now.

I had gout for the first time 3 years ago, got a prescription from the doctor that cleared it up. I looked online and a lot of people recommended taking tart cherry extract pills to keep it away. I've been doing that and so far no gout.

[1958 F.W.D.]

Someone told me once that cherry juice blended with Siberian anti-freeze is pretty good for the gout. 

 

[other dog]

1 hour ago, 1958 F.W.D. said:

Someone told me once that cherry juice blended with Siberian anti-freeze is pretty good for the gout. 

 

I've been drinking the heck outa cherry juice, Wal-Mart had pure tart cherry juice, no added sugar or anything, except water. Tastes pretty good too.

[Ezrider]

that sure sounds like some rotten luck. it could be worse though. i had a similar hot water heater issue one time but it dripped for so long un noticed it rotted out the sub floor. i had no idea it was leaking till one day i noticed the carpet was damp in a adjacent room under a dresser. sub floors were damaged by the time i noticed the leak and they were damaged under a interior wall. had to not only had to rip out the sub floors but part of a wall to repair the damage. 

the house i own now has a full basement rather than a crawl space. and the utility room with the furnace/hot water heater ect is in the basement on a concrete floor with a floor drain. hot water heater could leak for years with no damage, much better setup. 

[Dirtymilkman]

When you were telling this story and said you felt something wet, I thought you were gonna say your foot burst. Thank God it was just a water heater. 

[Hobert62]

7 hours ago, Dirtymilkman said:

When you were telling this story and said you felt something wet, I thought you were gonna say your foot burst. Thank God it was just a water heater. 

Can that happen?

[j hancock]

On 7/24/2018 at 11:21 PM, Hobert62 said:

Can that happen?

Rarely.

Gout pain can be EXTREME.  Gout can be treated with medicine short term and modifications to diet for the long haul.

[other dog]

On 7/24/2018 at 11:21 PM, Hobert62 said:

Can that happen?

that's the first thing I wondered!

[other dog]

13 hours ago, j hancock said:

Rarely.

Gout pain can be EXTREME.  Gout can be treated with medicine short term and modifications to diet for the long haul.

It is extremely extreme, that thing hurts like- well, it is very painful. Still looks like this right now, and it's been two weeks.

 

[Mack Technician]

It likes to hit the people with legendary meatloaf I'm told?

Gout is bad, bad stuff, sympathy to the foot. My Dad passed away a few weeks ago and the hallmark of his ailments was gout. His legs got bad from diabetes and the poor blood circulation would not clear the purines. Doc said the meds would ruin his kidneys so it was a constant reoccurrence.    

 

[VaPatentman]

Having had gout several times I feel your pain. At work one day the guys were joking about wishing a low life person death. I said no! I would just like them to have a terminal case of gout 24/7.