a disaster of a day

Oh.  My.  Goodness.  Where do I even start?

We had one heck of a day yesterday.  Everyone is ok and safe and fine, but I REALLY could have done without the drama that we just had.

For starters, we were almost to Cooper's Remicade appointment and we hit a HUGE hailstorm.  The ice was coming down so fast the roads were white and slippery.  We had about 3 blocks to go before the safety of the parking ramp, and I made Dave run a red light or two to get there.  I am pretty surprised we didn't come away with a dented van or broken windshield, but we didn't.  A small miracle.   

Coop's Remicade went ok.  Not great, but not completely horrible.  :/  They had problems with the first IV and had to do a 2nd one.  He was (nitrous oxide induced) snoozing for the 2nd one, so that went well.  But the 2nd line went bad too.  He was screaming and crying before they could figure it out and untape it and reposition it.  Ugh. So he ended up being pretty upset and worked up for most of the visit.  Not fun.  But it is behind us for another 4 weeks.  I will try to forget about it until then.

who looks more exhausted?

The real drama started on our ride home.  There was a huge storm that was rumbling through our little town and we got word that our basement was flooding.  Our niece was home with 3 children, and trying as fast as she could to save whatever she could get her hands on.  We walked into a whole different kind of hailstorm inside our house.

The next few hours were a blur of phone calls to plumbers and cleaners and insurance adjusters, trying to find a way for the professionals to get to us around the barricaded roads, racing to empty our basement, watching the water rise across the entire lower level, and watching our bank account dwindle.  It was a horror show.  Or a nightmare.  One you really hope to wake up from the next morning.

Oh wait, I forgot one key piece of the story:

Photo: Corey Butler, Jr., NorthfieldPatch.com

That would be our van.  Stranded in floodwater about 2 blocks from our house.  Dave had run out to grab a back up sump pump and on his way home the van died when he tried to get across this washed out road.  Scared the HECK out of me.  He called when it stalled and said he was stranded in the rising water.  I yelled at him to get the heck out, leave everything, and get to safety.  I think my biggest fear is water, and being stranded in a car in water is even worse.  I held my breath while waiting to hear from him.  The dork grabbed my purse and the pump first, but then he was able to get out and get to safety.  We had no choice but to abandon it and hope that the water went down enough to push it back out later.

It did eventually go down, and Dave along with some good samaritans, were able to push it out, dry it out, and start it up.  Thank you God.  Thank you thank you thank you.  Losing our basement is bad enough.  If our semi-new van had floated away as well I am not quite sure what we would have done.

So today we are left with a damp basement, all our possessions piled up in the garage, humongous humidifiers and fans running 24/7, a restoration company drilling holes through our walls to speed up the drying process and stave off mold growth, ripped out carpet from Cooper's room, waiting on the insurance company to give us the bottom line***, and decisions to make on an extremely expensive sump pump we paid top dollar to get installed at 10 pm, but that doesn't come with a battery back up system (which we will obviously need, but is even more $$ out of our pocket, that aren't very deep to begin with).  Not to mention dealing with the bigger problem of why there is water coming into our house and how to fix it.  All we are seeing is dollar signs.  Lots and lots of dollar signs. 

Thank you to all our friends and neighbors and family who offered help last night.  It is what made me finally break down and cry last night.  Everyone messaging us, calling us, offering help, and just being so willing to drop whatever they had going on to run out in the driving rain to rescue us.  It is seriously humbling to be put (time and again) in a position where you have to ask for help. We are blessed to know you all.

*** The Kicker

As I was about to hit publish on this post, our Allstate insurance called back. Turns out flooding is NOT covered under our policy. They don't cover one cent of the damages. I am at a loss for words at this point...... Except for the F-word. I did say that one quite a few times.

the root of the problem

 

coop's destroyed room

grace's destroyed room

our hoarder-looking bathroom

living room, destroyed and drying