(no subject)

[rootofnewt]

So...


I'm sitting on the couch, half-heartedly watching Stargate SG-1 and chatting on IRC. Normal night. My connection dies, I think nothing of it until the dialer can't find a dial tone. I check line two, switch over to that, and plug line one into the phone. No tone. I go check the non-electric phone. No tone.

I say crap, double check all the wall connections. No problem. Think about going outside, but it's cold and snowy and I'm not wearing pants.

A few minutes later, I check line one again. MAJOR static. crap. So, I pull on pants, look outside, judge there to be four inches, pull on sneakers. Who needs socks? I walk around the house, collecting screw drivers, a line tester, a flashlight, and a non-electric telephone with a short cord.

I go outside, step off the porch into 6-7" of snow. My ankles curse me. I walk halfway around the house and realize the flashlight is still inside. Go inside, track snow across living room, get light, go back out. Ankles curse me some more.

I crouch down and see that the box is fasted by a screw *AND* a hex bolt. I don't feel like trudging over to the car and finding the socket wrench set, so I hope the bolt isn't tight. Fortunately, I can unscrew it with my nails. I do so, then unscrew the screw. Open the box. Test both lines, the polarity is reversed. Realize the last time I noticed this, I was too high on dilaudid to (a) remember, or (b) fix it. Decide I'm too damn cold to do it tonight. Both lines have a clear dial tone. Curse the gods that be, the problem is either already resolved or internal. Really hope it's not internal.

Put flashlight in mouth. Realize the taste of black rubber. Allergic to rubber. Allergic to rubber accelerants. Allergic to PPD, the black dye used in black rubber. Hope that I'm not actually anaphylactic to black rubber, which is far more processed than latex used for gloves. Say "shit," hear flashlight hit the snow. Curse and screw things back together in the dark. Gather up stuff, think about leaving flashlight but grab it grudgingly, trudge through snow, take off wet clothing, put most stuff away. Forget about evil flashlight.

Sit down, reboot the computer. Check lines. All normal. Sigh and curse.

Realize as I'm relaying the story on IRC that my lips are itchy... and swollen. Mouth very itchy. Swallowing is difficult.

Yeah.

Curse some more, run to find some ephedrine. Remember that I've neglected to buy another inhaler. Curse. Realize I have no caffeine pills, either. Do not want to take epinephrine injection, as that usually necessitates a hospital visit. With this much snow, that's not feasible. Finally unearth some ephedrine tablets. Take them immediately, hope that they work quickly.

Sit back down. Hives.

Curse some more, run to steal one of boy's instant loratidine tabs, hope they aren't too extended release.

Then I sit back down and breathe.

So... the Alavert tabs taste like horrific spearmint hell and contain aspartame, which gives me headaches. So does ephedrine (tension headaches, not vascular). The ephedrine jitters have hit me, as have menstrual cramps. We all know that my premenstrual moods are dark and evil. And now I'm not going to be able to sleep.

My throat swelling has gone down. The hives haven't. And my lips still itch horribly.

I wish I wasn't allergic to diphenhydramine.



explodingcat can bag the flashlight (it's on top of the tv) and anyone local can have it. It's small and perfectly good, so I don't want to trash it. But since I reacted to it within five minutes, it's gotta go.

If I'm bitchy today, please forgive me. I'll try to remove myself from the computer if it gets bad, but I'd rather distract myself here than destroy my house. ;)

†

Comments

[firinel.livejournal.com]

How horrible, I'm glad that you're alright though, and I hope you're feeling better tomorrow. :/

[knkdyke.livejournal.com]

Geez, sounds like you've had a hell of an evening. I'm sorry you're feeling so icky.

How did the polarity get reversed in the first place? I've had tons of problems with my phone lines lately, so I know how frustrating that is.

However, I don't have allergies like that. I can't even imagine.

Don't worry about being crabby. Definitely better to get it out of your system here than start breaking things. :)

[krasota.livejournal.com]

the wires just aren't on the right poles. it's not a big problem. so long as the whole house is like that, it's not a big deal.

i normally fix it when i see it, but dilaudid prevented that the first time... i was probably on fentanyl, too, so i don't even know HOW i got into the box then. ;) this time, the 7" of snow prevented me from sitting out there and rewiring the box.

Re:

[knkdyke.livejournal.com]

The last phone problem we had was caused by the dog - the DOG ate my phoneline. Suddenly one day we had no dial tone. I looked all over and could find nothing wrong, checked the box, both lines working fine, but still no dial tone in the house. On the way back into the house I noticed that the phone line was hanging loosely from the side of the house. That's when I noticed the teethmarks. I patched it with some electrical tape, but as soon as it rained we lost all dial tone again. Just as soon as we had some extra cash I replaced the entire line and tacked it up to the eaves where she can't reach it.

[porcinea.livejournal.com]

Our bunnies chewed our Ethernet. *chomp*

Hives? Ugg. (Hee.) I last had them when I was 4. They had to strap me to a rocking chair to keep me from scratching. Ugg.

[datagoddess.livejournal.com]

Eeep! Glad the reaction wasn't worse! I guess I should have tried harder to stay awake so I could have chatted with you on IRC.

[ashbet]

AUUUUGHHHHH!!! :(

**huggles**

-- Andi

[shanspice.livejournal.com]

well, you can look at it this way... at least your water main hasn't been frozen for a week. at least you're not completely w/o water until spring and at least your pipes aren't probably all bursted apart. sorry, had to vent :)

[krasota.livejournal.com]

of course, we have 8" of snow on the ground with more on the way. and this is uninsulated virginia. if a snow-laden bough falls and knocks over a power line, we may well be without water or heat. it it's down long enough, a pipe *will* burst. ;)

i hope you get some relief soon.

Re:

[shanspice.livejournal.com]

thanks. perspective seems to help. one good thing is that not many other things seem all that bad in comparison. if you can deal with something like that, i think you can deal with anything. i just keep saying, it could be worse. and no heat, would -yes- be MUCH worse. i've just been reminding myself a lot that of all the things you could lose in your house, water is probably the most easy to deal with. heat and electricity would be the worst. much worse than water and phone/internet connection. i'll especially be reminding myself of this as i dig up my front yard to replace water mains this spring. indeed. if only this didn't have to coincide with remodeling a bathroom though. damn.

[jkatj.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine just spent a couple days with no electricity, no heat, no water. All they had was a wood stove in the basement so they weren't going to freeze to death (they live in Canada). They kept going outside and getting pots of snow to melt and boil over the stove so they'd have water. Gads.

[krasota.livejournal.com]

Do these people not have gas-powered generators? Sheesh. I can't imagine living in an area that *will* lose power at *least* once for multiple days every single winter and NOT have a generator.

mom would haul the generator up onto the deck and hook it up, in cycles, to the furnace and anything else we needed. the cooking stove was gas... when i was little, we used a woodstove for heat.

sure, we'd fill up the tub and buckets when we knew an ice storm was coming. that kept us from having to go outside to melt snow to flush the toilet with, but we did that a few times, too.

[lady-lion.livejournal.com]

Oh dear jesus... I think that karma owes you a nice massage and candlelight dinner or something. ;-)

[moominmuppet.livejournal.com]

Definitely...

Glad you're ok, though, for some version of ok.

[xiane.livejournal.com]

Oh nooooooo! :(

I hope you're feeling better by now [I'm reading this rather late]. I hate that even the most innocuous things hold possible dangers for you.
*love*

[chorus-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

oh man, that bites. I don't have a lot of allergic reactions like that but do have a few...good for you for keeping your calm!