We were getting ready to go to breakfast with some friends. I had just flushed the toilet and picked up my electric razor when the head of the razor suddenly flipped off and flew ... right into the toilet. Since I had just flushed the toilet, the head of the razor quickly disappeared before I could attempt to grab it. I tried unsuccessfully to find it, but it was gone. It was about 3 inches wide and I hoped that it might just pass through the four inch sewer line without causing a problem, but I wasn't sure When I realized I could not retrieve it I tried a few flushes to see if it had caused a blockage. I thought the flushes were a little slower than normal, but the flushes seemed to still be working.
We went to breakfast and then off to a two hour session of physical therapy. When we returned home I tried to flush once again. And guess what? It was blocked and draining very slowly. I checked our drain in the basement to see if it was backing up there and PTL it wasn't. Needless to say, I was very concerned. I've cleared blockages before, but not when a piece of metal was causing the problem. I was concerned and perplexed. After doing some worrying, I decided to do what I should have done first ... pray.
I couldn't help but remember an incident that happened to us a number of years ago when they built the street next to us. They had to relocate part of our sewer line which had been placed deep in rock in order to drain our basement. Suddenly we found sewage backing up in our basement. I called the contractor and even though they were done for the weekend he had a man come and bring a backhoe. They dug up the line expecting to find that the new line had broken somewhere. But instead they found that somebody had dropped an empty soda can down the sewer vent. This was removed and our problem was fixed. It didn't cost us anything because it was part of the construction. But if we had had to pay for this it would have been a major expense. This certainly was in my mind as I contemplated what might happen this time.
Getting back to my new problem, I finally decided to make a call to a company which deals in blockages. They told me it would cost $175 to come and that would include up to an hour of service. Then it would be $35 for every additional 15 minutes. They also said that they could arrive sometime between 1 and 3 pm. I said please come.
The man who came thought the blockage could be somewhere in the toilet because he felt the piece should eventually pass safely through the four inch sewer pipe. So he used a tool to try to move it or break it up. After about 15 minutes of "drilling" he felt that it was finally opened. Time will tell if he is right. So far, so good.
But I still had about 30 minutes left in my one hour charge so I put him to work. In the basement we had a very slow drain that often backed up when there was a heavy flow. I had thought once about having this company in to try to clear it, but had decided that I could live with it a little longer because of the cost. So he worked on that and cleaned it out. PTL, it now seems to be working properly once again.
Now what was the total time? Believe it or not, exactly one hour. My bill? $175. So not only did I get full hour of work for my money, but I actually had two problems solved. He told me that if I had not had him do both, I would probably have had to pay $350 for two 30 minute service calls. PTL!
Of course that wasn't my final bill for this even. I also needed a new electric razor. But I had received a special 20% off coupon for CVS that worked perfectly for a new razor. Final total bill for the day and my carelessness? $225. It could have been much worse, especially for an unplanned careless error.
I admit that because I am not skilled in doing home repairs, I can quickly panic and get upset when something goes wrong. I wish that I were more handy and more daring. But, PTL, I have a heavenly Father who provides guidance and wisdom when needed. And I think I need more of that to survive than many people need.
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