Anthony Martino
Royal Flush
So earlier this week near the end of my shower I noticed a gurgling noise from the toilet as I finished showering. Eventually this lead to the toilet not flushing correctly, so went out and bought a 3-6' toilet-specific auger and I thought that did the trick.
But then the next day I'm washing dishes in the kitchen sink and afterwards when I go back to that bathroom I notice the shower has a bunch of mucky water stopped up in it, which eventually goes away, but it's a super slow drain. And the water is not only messing with the tub and toilet, but it's leaking from the bottoms of them onto the bathroom floor too.
I decide to go out and buy a 25' drain auger and fix it myself, rather than paying one of those franchise plumbers $500+ to do it. Well, I lead a decidedly sedentary lifestyle, and I beat the hell out of myself trying to unclog the fucking thing.
With no success I try again the next day, with my whole body sore as hell and still can't seem to push through whatever blockage I've hit. I'm googling plumbers and find one that doesn't look like a franchise where a lot of times guys are paid on commission and I speak with the guy who can come by in about 1-2 hours. As I hang up I notice this # is a contact in my phone, and I check my texts and realize it's a plumber I had tried years ago when we heard a foghorn sound in our pipes from time to time. He hadn't been able to replicate it, so didn't charge us a dime for his time (I still gave him some money for lunch as a thank you)
Anyway, he shows up and he can't bust it up with a 75' snake, which is getting towards the septic tank at that point. So he finds a massive clog around our kitchen sink piping from outside the house that he's able to clear, and winds up digging up the septic pipes and clears it there.
So I wound up spending a little over $300 on the drain snakes I bought, only to fail. Fortunately this guy busted his but and only charged $295, I'm sure a company like Roto Rooter would've been over $500.
While the plumber was at the house I started shivering uncontrollably and had a lot of trouble staying warm. The next day I wake up and my lower right leg is really red, warm to the touch and sore (although my legs, thighs, butt and arms had been sore from trying to clear the clog on my own). I look it up online and discover I most likely have Cellulitis (a bacterial infection) which makes sense because I had chills the day before and the redness is only on one leg, plus I had been working in the backed up water that was on the floor of the bathroom.
I swing down to an urgent care clinic nearby and see the doctor. He touches my leg and notices it feels a lot harder than my other leg, so while I have all the symptoms of Cellulitis, he's concerned I may actually have a blood clot, so he decides to send me to an ER that can perform an ultrasound on my leg to figure it out. Fortunately they also call me right after I leave and say they're refunding the $110 visit fee.
The location they send me to is an Advent Health ER, and in nice bold signage they let you know you're paying ER pricing, and expect $1,433 or more for the visit (yippee!). They take me in fairly quickly but it's a bit before the doc swings by. He just looks at my leg and tells me I'm probably right, it looks like Cellulitis, but they wind up doing the ultrasound and confirm it's not a blood clot, and give me a prescription for antibiotics for 10 days.
When I'm leaving they can't even tell me what my bill will be, but they'll send it to me (I can't fucking wait to see how much this is going to cost lol). When I get up each morning my right leg is painfully sore and difficult to walk on, although it goes away after I've walked on it a bit, plus taken some ibuprofen.
CLIFFS: Spent $300 so I wouldn't have to spend $500 on a plumber, wound up spending another $300 on a plumber. Spent $110 at a clinic and they give free antibiotics, but they sent me to an ER to diagnose me with what I already diagnosed myself with, which is going to cost me four-figures, plus had to go to CVS and pay another 30 bucks for the antibiotics. But at least I caught this all in time and didn't just ignore it.
But then the next day I'm washing dishes in the kitchen sink and afterwards when I go back to that bathroom I notice the shower has a bunch of mucky water stopped up in it, which eventually goes away, but it's a super slow drain. And the water is not only messing with the tub and toilet, but it's leaking from the bottoms of them onto the bathroom floor too.
I decide to go out and buy a 25' drain auger and fix it myself, rather than paying one of those franchise plumbers $500+ to do it. Well, I lead a decidedly sedentary lifestyle, and I beat the hell out of myself trying to unclog the fucking thing.
With no success I try again the next day, with my whole body sore as hell and still can't seem to push through whatever blockage I've hit. I'm googling plumbers and find one that doesn't look like a franchise where a lot of times guys are paid on commission and I speak with the guy who can come by in about 1-2 hours. As I hang up I notice this # is a contact in my phone, and I check my texts and realize it's a plumber I had tried years ago when we heard a foghorn sound in our pipes from time to time. He hadn't been able to replicate it, so didn't charge us a dime for his time (I still gave him some money for lunch as a thank you)
Anyway, he shows up and he can't bust it up with a 75' snake, which is getting towards the septic tank at that point. So he finds a massive clog around our kitchen sink piping from outside the house that he's able to clear, and winds up digging up the septic pipes and clears it there.
So I wound up spending a little over $300 on the drain snakes I bought, only to fail. Fortunately this guy busted his but and only charged $295, I'm sure a company like Roto Rooter would've been over $500.
While the plumber was at the house I started shivering uncontrollably and had a lot of trouble staying warm. The next day I wake up and my lower right leg is really red, warm to the touch and sore (although my legs, thighs, butt and arms had been sore from trying to clear the clog on my own). I look it up online and discover I most likely have Cellulitis (a bacterial infection) which makes sense because I had chills the day before and the redness is only on one leg, plus I had been working in the backed up water that was on the floor of the bathroom.
I swing down to an urgent care clinic nearby and see the doctor. He touches my leg and notices it feels a lot harder than my other leg, so while I have all the symptoms of Cellulitis, he's concerned I may actually have a blood clot, so he decides to send me to an ER that can perform an ultrasound on my leg to figure it out. Fortunately they also call me right after I leave and say they're refunding the $110 visit fee.
The location they send me to is an Advent Health ER, and in nice bold signage they let you know you're paying ER pricing, and expect $1,433 or more for the visit (yippee!). They take me in fairly quickly but it's a bit before the doc swings by. He just looks at my leg and tells me I'm probably right, it looks like Cellulitis, but they wind up doing the ultrasound and confirm it's not a blood clot, and give me a prescription for antibiotics for 10 days.
When I'm leaving they can't even tell me what my bill will be, but they'll send it to me (I can't fucking wait to see how much this is going to cost lol). When I get up each morning my right leg is painfully sore and difficult to walk on, although it goes away after I've walked on it a bit, plus taken some ibuprofen.
CLIFFS: Spent $300 so I wouldn't have to spend $500 on a plumber, wound up spending another $300 on a plumber. Spent $110 at a clinic and they give free antibiotics, but they sent me to an ER to diagnose me with what I already diagnosed myself with, which is going to cost me four-figures, plus had to go to CVS and pay another 30 bucks for the antibiotics. But at least I caught this all in time and didn't just ignore it.
