Another Week… Another… Well, What Now?
Greetings, fellow humans.
Yes, our construction project is starting to feel a bit like the photo. But first, the dog:
It’s been a rough week for Tinkerbelle. We finally got our hands on the immune suppressor (cyclosporine) last Friday, and started her on it. The initial reaction included a day of digestive upset, which seems to have resolved itself. But then on Wednesday she was so lethargic we were very concerned. She didn’t eat anything but treats, and barely even went outside. I thought we might wake up a find she’d died overnight. In fact, I spent several hours sleeping in a chair downstairs with her, just to be around if she needed something.
But Thursday morning dawned and she was still alive, and even seemed to be feeling a bit better. She started eating anything that came with treats and showed more interest in things going on around her. By Thursday night she was basically back to normal in most ways. We have no idea what was going on.
And yes, we kept up the medications at the prescribed rates all through this mess.
As of today she’s been on the cyclosporine for a full week, but that’s not long enough to note any changes in her blood work. The next vet visit is scheduled for a week from today. That’s when we might see changes (hopefully positive ones) as a result of the immune suppressor. And of course given the appointment time any news won’t be available when the next post goes out, so you’ll have to wait two weeks to learn more. Sorry.
As for the house… yeah.
We got the first quote from the abatement contractor back. It’s big, but not cripplingly awful. However, the real problem is the timeline. He wants seven business days to get all the asbestos removed, which puts us out of the house for nine days. That’s just not practical for any number of reasons, and it is causing us to look for alternatives.
But in addition to that, we got the tests back on the fireplace and they found lead in the paint on the chimney. Whee! So now it seems the abatement contractor has to be the one to remove that as well, and that expense wasn’t in the original bid.
Honestly, this project just keeps getting more and more difficult to schedule. But as projects go, it’s really not all that hard… it’s mostly a huge timing issue.
Our general contractor is working with the abatement folks and his flooring guy to figure out other approaches. We might, for example, encapsulate the tile and mastic with some sort of sealer, and then level the floor out over the top of that. But we will still have to remove some of the mastic in areas where the walls in the kitchen are moving around a bit. There are official documents that the city inspectors will want to see saying the abatement work is done, and we can’t have the contractors getting into the encapsulated asbestos while moving a kitchen wall a foot to the west.
In short, it’s still way too complicated for us to have a clue. And we’re already at the point where we hoped the contractors would be starting, but of course they haven’t. Fingers crossed we get something figured out in the coming week.
So that’s been my week: worrying about the dog and the house at the same time. Fun, eh?
I hope you’ve been better. Drop me a note and let me know, please. I can use the distraction!