Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Carbon Monoxide Scare

This Christmas I am feeling very blessed that Ed, the boys, and I are all Ok and healthy after a Carbon Monoxide scare.  The really scarey part was there was no reason for it to happen.

Monday night, Tuesday early morning, Nicholas and I woke up with severe headaches.  I know my shoulders, neck, and head hurt horribly.  I could not understand why I hurt at that time as I had taken a Vicoden for my ankle pain for that on going sprain.  When Jacob woke up in the morning he also had a headache.  Something inside me triggered a thought to call Ed at work.  He was on his way home as he did not feel good either.

After a bit of thought I put it all together.  As soon as Ed got home I had him install a smoke/carbon monoxide detector we had laying around to replace our old ones.  Within a short while it was going off.  Ed started checking everything out and finds it must be the water heater as nothing else was on and doesn't have pilot lights.  He shut it off and opened the house. 

I went to get my hair done and I picked up another detector as precation.  So far all is well and OK, just that I am shook up at how close we could have come to losing our lives.  So the inconvenience of no hot water is OK.  We turn it on for a quick shower and that is it.  Since the part is almost as the ones we saw online we will be buying a new water heater. 

The carbon monoxide poisoning, I guess for better of any other word, is causing me to flare some.  My upper body is hurting and tight.   A bit unusual for me as I tend to feel more pain in my back, hips, and legs, so I know it is relate to the carbon monoxide.  Also my exhaustion is horrible.  If we were not out looking for parts today and Christmas shopping I would have slept a lot I am sure.

So I beg of you to put in carbon monoxide detectors as well as smoke alarms as recommend.  It is not something you want to take lightly.  There are programs if you can't afford them.  Take the time and install them for your families safety.

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