Warning: The pictures in this post are somewhat graphic so if you don’t do well with blood I would recommend skipping this one.
Two Thursdays ago I had set an appointment to have our ducts cleaned. Our house is always dusty (we do clean, I promise) and we found a Groupon so it seemed like a good thing to do. Well the appointment was set from 8-12 (don’t you just love those) so I stayed to work from home that morning as they assured me they would be done by noon. Around 11 no one has arrived so I call to check in and they inform me that “No, your appointment is 10-2” (Ummm no, when we set it and you called to confirm yesterday it was 8-12…. Ugh!). Anyway, I was assured they’d be there within the hour. Once they arrived they hooked this huge vacuum thing to one of the main ducts and began to suck out all the nasty. He came into the living room to open the first return and I heard “oh no” …
Him: Do you have terrible allergies?
Me: No, neither my husband or I have allergies.
Him: Is your house always dusty?
Me: YESS!!!!
Him: Ya, these are disgusting. They haven’t been cleaned in over 15 years and are covered in over an inch of dust, mold, pet hair and other nastiness. I can’t believe y’all can breathe in here. (see below – sick nasty)
Thanks again previous home owners…. Anyway we ended up doing a deep cleaning, brushing and sanitizing to get all the gunk out. Unfortunately this took longer than originally planned and I had to take the whole day off. (Bummer because I had been working all day and could have been lounging and watching a Dawson’s Creek marathon on Netflix – my current addiction.) Anyhoo, I digress, all that to say the day did not go at all as planned. (But our house is so much better now! I think it just feels cleaner, but I can definitely tell a difference in the dust that no longer accumulates on everything. They recommend having your ducts cleaned once a year.)
Ryan got home and we were supposed to head to Lowe’s to purchase material for our upcoming deck build. As I am getting ready to go he decides he needs to rile up the puppies and begins chasing them up and down the halls. This is all fun and games until he tries to jump on the guest bed and I hear THUD… “Owwwww”
Me: Are you ok?
Ryan: Yes, I just stubbed my toe.
Ok, so he goes to sit down in the living room and I grab my purse to head out the door. As Ryan is putting his flip flops on he feels something slimy and looks down “Oh, I’m bleeding” – Holy Moley! Yes he was… blood all over the rug, pooled in his shoe and running down his foot. His big toe is split right where it meets the foot and I’m thinking he’s going to need stitches. Ok, change of plans… I guess we’re going to the emergency clinic. Well we get to the clinic and they confirm that yes he definitely needs stitches. Ok, I’ll fill out the paper work for you – honey, where is your wallet? “Ooops, I left it at home” Okey dokey, I’m back in the car headed home to find his wallet. After looking high and low and even tearing off the couch cushions I conclude there is no wallet at home. Call Ryan, “ohhhh, you’re right, I left it at the office.” (He put it in his desk drawer so he wouldn’t forget some papers he needed to bring home… you got to love that guy.)
Ok, on my way to the office… While I’m driving I call my grandma to check in. I fill her in on our humorous string of events and brag on myself for cleaning his wound and getting him to the clinic. (Most of you know I am not a big fan of blood and open wounds.) She is proud of me as I got this trait from her and she said she definitely would have passed out. (Oh the irony…) Finally I make it to the office; they already have Ryan back in a room where he’s reading Sports Illustrated, happy as a clam. I sit with him while we wait and the nurse comes in to clean out the wound before the doctor stitches it up. She has a big syringe and is flushing out the cut with sterile water. Things start to get fuzzy here, but from what I recall she couldn’t tell if there was dirt in the cut or if it was just bruising. In self-preservation mode said, “I’m pretty sure it’s just bruising” but she wanted to make sure. Ryan, happy to comply, pulls his toe back so she can really get in there….
I open my eyes and I’m lying on the floor in the hall way. There are three nurses crowded around me looking very concerned.
Me: “Oh, did I pass out?”
The nurse: “Um ya, you did.”
Me: “Ooops sorry. I can just lay here for a while.” (All I wanted to do before everything went black was lay down, so I figured I might as well take advantage of the opportunity.)
Ryan filled me in later that the nurse noticed my face go white and came towards me in time to catch me as I was falling forward in the chair. She propped me up and asked me a series of questions about my name, what I ate today, etc. The only thing I remember from this is when she asked me where I worked, I said “Maxim… Not the magazine!!” Apparently I was convincing enough, so she told me we could walk to another room to lie down. I got to the doorway of the room and he watched me go down. Well darn, I guess I’m not as tough as I thought I was. I spent the rest of the time lying in a room down the hall with an ice pack and nurses coming in occasionally to take my blood pressure.
5 stitches later they sent us on our way just in time to meet the Clays and Brewers for dinner. The one plan we had that worked out that day. Mexican food, a patio, good friends and a margarita or two were a good end to our crazy day.
Another Warning: Since this incident Mommy has sustained several cuts and bruises from mountain biking, Daddy went to the emergency room for x-rays from a bike wreck - a few fractured ribs, cracked vertebre, and a separated shoulder later, he was fine but in a lot of pain and Cinda tore her ACL playing racquet ball (surgery to come). Clearly my family is too accident prone. Watch out for us…
