Monday, January 30, 2023

Equipment Malfunction

 Folks, bear with me on this one.  It's going to take quite a bit of setting the stage before I get to the point on this post.  I'll get there, I promise. But I'll start with the hero of the story.

No Beans, Not Princess Leia.  Miss B!


Back in the day my folks would try and teach me the need for trust in the world.  One needed to trust their fellow man to do the right thing else one would spend his entire life looking over his shoulder for protection instead of ahead for opportunity.  

Of course they also taught that once someone had proved themselves untrustworthy...Well, don't trust them.  Ever.  I'm not talking a simple "letting you down", but actual betrayal.  Failing to do their duty to honor their word deliberately regardless of reason.  That was the ultimate sin.

Then I joined the military and realized where that ethos came from.  My instructors insisted on trustworthiness in themselves and their students.  That expectation extended through all members of the military.  If you wore the uniform, your word was your bond.  You may fail, but you failed while giving your best.

Source

 

As a "For Instance", even non-flying readers will realize that an In-Flight Fire is an extremely serious event.  They would not be wrong.  Unlike a sailplane, the engines are the things that keep you aloft.  Without them, you are going to be landing.  Whether on a runway or not, is not generally your choice.  The airplane is coming down. Period.

Ok, how does the USAF address an Engine Fire?  The "Bible" on aircraft operations in the Air Force is affectionately called the "Dash One".  The F-4E Dash One can be found here.  Just as an example of how important that document is, 40 plus years after the last time I read it, looking through the Engine Fire or Overhead during Flight Emergency Procedure, I recognized some subtle changes in the wording and punctuation of the procedure from the previous reading.  That's how serious we took that book. In any case, here's the procedure. (It's found on Page 3-9 at the link above.)

Engine Fire or Overheat during Flight

1. Throttle bad engine - IDLE
2. If warning light goes out - CHECK FIRE DETECTION SYSTEM
Depress fire test button to determine that the fire detecting elements are not burned through.
3. If detection system check is satisfactory (i.e., warning lights illuminate when checked) - LAND AS SOON AS PRACTICABLE
Increasing thrust on the bad engine after the throttle has been retarded and the warning light has been extinguished may cause fire or overheat damage, and/or possible burn through the fire detecting elements.
4. If warning light remains Illuminated or fire detection system is inoperative or fire is confirmed - SHUTDOWN ENGINE
5. If fire persists - EJECT
6 . If fire ceases - LAND AS SOON AS PRACTICABLE 

CAUTION
Do not attempt to restart the bad engine. If the fire ceases, and a landing is to be accomplished, make a single engine landing.

Pay particular attention to #5 in that procedure.  If the fire light does NOT go out, you are to eject from the airplane. Period-Dot-End of Story.

So, juvat, interesting, but where are we going with this story?

Trust, my Friend, Trust.  We had an E-model at Moody that was pretty much a hangar queen. (For the non-familiar, the term indicates the jet has a boatload of mechanical problems which are difficult to ascertain, expensive to fix and the fix may not fix the entire problem.) One of the requirements when a Hanger Queen is thought to be "Fixed" is to give it a "Functional Check Flight" or FCF.  This is always flown by a VERY experienced crew and is flown on a fixed profile with specific parameters to make sure the airplane is fixed and ready to be put on the daily schedule.  This jet had passed it's FCF flight and was back on the schedule.

I'm Flight Lead for a 4 ship range ride to go and drop practice bombs and fire the gun at the gunnery range at Eglin AFB FL.  

No those are not 25Lb Practice bombs, those are inert 500Lb Bombs, but that is Eglin Range. Source





Typically the aircraft is loaded with 12 x 25Lb practice bombs and 100 rounds of 20mm bullets. 

 

Source

 Fighter Pilots, being the competitive type, typically bet on the scores.  Quarter a bomb, nickle a Hole.  So, worst case, one could be out 8 bucks, plus the requirement to buy beer in the Debrief.

Bragging rights, however, were worth much more than that.  So, one tried their very best.

Unfortunately, I've drawn the Hangar Queen and, even with my best body English, couldn't get the bombs very close or the gun to hit the target.  I'm irritated at myself on the way home and we're about halfway there when I simultaneously hear/see the Master Caution light come on and hear the WSO yell something about "Fire" over the intercom.  Suffice it to say, I am focused at this point.  

The right engine fire light is on.  Technically, at this point, I'm supposed to ask the WSO to get into the check list and read me the procedure after which I will perform the procedure.  That works well in the Simulator.  (AFAIK no one has actually died in the Sim.)  I immediately pull the throttle to Idle.  Nothing.  I decide on a count to 10 before skipping to #4 on the Emergency Procedure.  I know it didn't take 10 seconds for that count, more like 1  maybe 2.  

Light's still on.  So I shut down the engine.  Soon as it spools down, the light goes out.  I push the test button, it lights up and goes out when I release the test.  I have one of the wingmen give me a look over.  Nothing, no smoke, no visual damage.  OK we get to skip #5 (Thank you, Lord.  My takeoff #s will continue to match my landing #s.)  

Approach and landing are normal, well, as normal as a single engine approach and landing gets and except for the fire trucks, ambulances and other crash vehicles near the runway, other than that perfectly normal.  Pull into the dearm area.  Dearm crew safes the crucial stuff and give the shutdown signal.  1.6 nanoseconds later, myself and the WSO are on the ground and vacating the immediate vicinity.  

The jet goes back into maintenance, the maintenance repair checklists are applied and she  gets back on an FCF schedule.  The same thing happens.  Back into maintenance and another FCF.  Again a Fire Warning Right Engine.  In that afternoon's Wing Honcho meeting, the Maintenance Commander wants to annotate the problem in the maintenance forms as a "glitch" and keep the jet on the schedule. Maintenance Stats...Gotta love 'em.

At that point in the meeting, the Wing Commander relieved him from command.  As he did so, he said "If the warning light comes on, how does the pilot know that the jet is not on fire? If he stays with the jet and it IS on fire, he and his WSO will likely be killed.  Is your in-service rate worth that?"

In other words, the Maintenance Officer had betrayed our trust.

The jet went to depot maintenance and AFAIK never flew again, at least not at Moody.

BTW, that Wing Commander went on to 3 stars.  IMHO, shoulda had 4.

Interesting story, juvat, but what's behind this story? That would be Miss B's monitoring equipment and sensors.  More knowledgeable medical readers may correct me, but I believe that one of the last organs that develop when a Baby is in the Womb are their lungs.  Therefore, premies, spending less time there, tend to have lung issues after birth.  Miss B is currently on O2 while her lungs get better.  She also wears a Pulse Ox sensor that keeps track of her pulse rate and oxygen saturation level in her blood.  It sets off an alarm when either reading goes below the minimum level. 

That alarm can, and should, be heard throughout the house.

However, the Damn thing goes off ALL THE F.....g time!  The medical equipment company says that's caused by the baby moving.  OK, maybe.  But, then, why does it go off when she's sound asleep and not moving.  AKA one of us is sitting right beside her watching when it goes off.


So...Next they said it's a faulty sensor cord.  OK.  They send a new one.  Except that one is for a different model sensor. 

Top two are the new cable.  Bottom two are the old cable.  I'm not an electrician, but something tells me the new ones won't work.

 They send a new, new one with a technician.  No change.  Course the baby's awake while he's here, so moving.  Later that same day.  No movement, still alarms.  

Drive down to San Antonio to meet with the Pulmonary Docs.  They hook up their device side by side with ours.  There's doesn't squawk and their readings are virtually the same as ours.  Guess what squawks.

I mentioned to them my story about Trust and the fire light and asked what, worst case, might happen in the middle of the night if LJW, being extremely sleep deprived and tired, decided it was a false alarm and rolled over and went back to sleep.

We'll see what the next appointment with them yields. Suffice it to say, the NICU Staff and Docs are on Santa's good list while the Medical Equipment folks...well...aren't!

Nap Time!
Oh, and by the way, as I'm wrapping writing this up Sunday PM, we just got a winter storm warning with icing.  Last year when this happened, electricity was off for quite a while, 3 days for us; up to 6 weeks for some people further in the boonies in the county.  Electricity is needed for Miss B's breathing assistance equipment.  Emergency Action Plans are being developed as we speak.


 


54 comments:

  1. Be careful with the power you supply to that O2 unit. Most cheaper generators have rough power that harms it quickly.

    A uninterruptable power unit is useful IF it has a sine wave power. Acts as a cushion between the maybe rough power (like icy wires and blinking reset the clocks power).

    Best is a so called solar generator with a true sine wave power. You can recharge it various ways to include your car with a inverter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Michael,
      Thanks, I suspected that might be the case, but good to have that confirmed. We do have a vehicle with an outlet. Need to look into that solar generator option as well as something a bit bigger, better, stronger AKA whole house generator.

      Delete
  2. If you can't trust your equipment, things can go bad in a hurry!

    Good luck with that storm!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, juvat's second law of emergencies, "You don't need it, til you need it, then you need it BAD!" comes to mind.
      Thanks

      Delete
  3. Thanks for the lesson by way of background Juvat. While not having to deal with anything as heart stopping as possibly dropping from the sky, I have had a number of much lesser experiences where equipment that is critical to projects goes on the fritz, yet somehow the repair person cannot replicate the problem and questions the issue - even when you have the evidence in hand. Sure sounds like a defective unit overall with the side by side test.

    Judging from the news, looks like you are in for a short but potentially ugly storm. Be safe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. THBB,
      Yep, it was my turn to be the "escort officer" to San Antonio for the pulmonary checkup. The technician actually listened to what we described before offering solutions. Unlike the tech rep from the company. So, much more confident in his answers and suggestions. Gotta jump a few more hoops before replacement, but progress....

      Yeah, a lot will depend on how much ice and how much wind. Last year was almost an inch of ice on the wires and 20+ K of winds. Ripped them right down it did. With a little bit of luck we'll avoid a repeat. But EAP's are being developed and options are appearing.

      Delete
  4. Good luck with the EAP juvat, hope the storms blows through quick. Miss B has come a long way already.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nylon,
      Yep, us also. We're getting a lot of help/suggestions from the medical community in SA as well as locally. Prescriptions (for O2 who knew those were needed) are being forwarded here, so we can get portable bottles to have on hand. We shall see.

      Delete
  5. Definitely want true sine wave output on the UPS, preferably with the ability to use external 12V batteries in addition to the internal. Use the generator to charge the UPS batteries (internal and external.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HTOM,
      Little late for that option right now and don't know the power req's for her equipment, but that's definitely going on the OMG Power's Out Options checklist.
      Thanks

      Delete
    2. Double agree with using a very good UPS between your supply and your demand on this one.

      And when things get quiet with the storm, have the electric company check your supply to make sure that their power is within norm. Explain it in small words that the customer rep can understand like, "We have a premie at home on supplemental oxygen and monitoring equipment and the doctors suggested we make sure the electricity coming into the house is 'clean' and working right." The most common failure in electrical supply other than the line breaking is a failure between the distribution lines (power lines) and your house connection (usually the weatherhead, but sometimes up to the electrical panel.)

      Then when things are good, get your trusted electrical tech to check all your outlets and circuits. I know, new construction, but we're talking LJD here.

      And UPS everything.

      Delete
    3. Beans,
      Some good ideas there. As I mentioned a bit further on, Mrs J. has approved a healthy bit of cash to minimize this issue. Making sure existing "stuff" is up to snuff (see what I did there?) will be high on the list. Thanks

      Delete
  6. One of your backup power options might be an inverter that runs off of a car/truck battery via either a plug in or clamps to the battery terminals.
    It's the same principle as the uninterruptible power supply that Michael advised and the the same warnings apply.
    The inverter option means that you might be able to power the needed device and switch the power supply between vehicles.
    As always, more options are far better than no options.

    As related before, my aircraft engine fire checklist is the passenger version and it is much shorter.
    1. Observe aircraft engine is on fire.
    2. Report fire to crew.
    3. Try very hard to avoid needing clean skivvies.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JIP,
      Again good info, going to add to the list. Now, just need to win the lottery and get my own Nuke Power Plant. ;-)

      Delete
    2. Was going to suggest the car inverter myself as a backup backup. Will provide power as long as there is fuel for the engine. The monitor probably does not take much power.

      Delete
    3. Don,
      The Car Inverter was definitely on my option list. I was a bit concerned about distance and length of extension cord, but it WAS on my list. Fortunately we've got a few better options that we discovered (with a lot of good suggestions from all our commenters). Thank Y'all VERY much. Some are being set in place, other's are on the ready rack just in case.

      Delete
  7. I don't know what is involved in getting an actual cylinder of breathing oxygen with the appropriate regulator and stuff to your location.
    Backup plans that are multi-layered and flexible are the best backup plans.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hear, hear! PACE.
      Praying for Miss B
      Boat Guy

      Delete
    2. JIP,
      As mentioned above, transferring the prescription to local med equipment guys is underway. Apparently, they can't even refuel a tank that isn't theirs. Who knew. That having been said, and fingers crossed, the fix is in progress.

      Delete
    3. Not recommended, but as backup backup, welding oxygen is not USP, but would be better than no oxygen. I believe the O2 is pure, and the tanks have to be clean (no organic gasses).

      Delete
    4. Don,
      Yeah when we were at the Local Med Equip store this afternoon, the lead tech kinda sorta, mighta alluded to that as an option. Fortunately, it didn't come to that. But...I'da done that before she ran out of O2 given the likely outcome of that.

      Delete
  8. Juvat, check the email address that I use to communicate with you independently of the blog comments. It's regarding the weather situation, etc.
    Thankfully this weather event will/should be of short duration.
    Best regards and good luck to all of us,
    Cletus Valvecore

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cletus,
      Thanks, potential lifesaver. Hopefully not needed.

      Delete
  9. Having lived through both, false engine fire lights and scary baby alarms that go off in the middle of the night, I really enjoyed this post. I'm glad your launches per landing record remained even and Bella is all GTG.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry, I mean Miss B. Not sure where I got Bella from ;) She's a beaut though!

      Delete
    2. Tuna (1). Been through both. Baby Alarms are scarier. I knew what I was doing in the airplane. Haven't a clue with a newborn.

      Delete
    3. Tuna (2). No Worries, Mate!

      Delete
  10. Ditto the O2 cylinders. Those should be de rigueur. Honda makes a small sine wave generator, EU 1000 is the small one. They weren't cheap but work well and sip at fuel. There are line conditioners that take choppy power in and smooth it out. I have one, if you want it, I'll test it and deliver, no charge for the first 1000 days. ;) Gasping for breath like a trout on a river bank ain't fun for anyone. AMHIK

    Prayers up for you all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. STxAR,
      Thanks for the offer. That Honda looks like a good idea (wish we'd had this conversation a week ago, although the urgency might not have been there). Suffice it to say, Mrs. J and I are going to be purchasing that shortly.

      Thanks, Prayers are always appreciated.

      Delete
  11. Our best to Miss B. It looks like the miracles and straight thinking/planning are outnumbering the bureaucratic stuff one has to put up with in the medical world today. It was almost bad when Doctors were just dealing with patients, now we have doctors running big pharma and big Insurance and big Advent. Your posts continue to give me good vibes, medically speaking, where Miss Jeanie and I are sometimes being jerked around by Docs in the wrong boxes.
    You write, " the problem in the maintenance forms as a "glitch" and keep the jet on the schedule. Maintenance Stats...Gotta love 'em." Yup. We would occasionally have a Phantom (actually shot down earlier) come up for a flight of four. That meant that the spare would fly and there would be no spare for the actual mission. But the printouts looked good to Mr. Mac Namara and his friends back East. That was the important thing, it seems. When I got selected by the evil forces of the North to carry some of their lead back home, I had an interesting selection of warning lights come on. Glad to say that there was not a fire light.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LtFuzz,
      I guess a bit of time in the (5 sided) kingdom of bureaucrats taught me a lot about dealing with them. Seems to have worked. We were able to get 3 large bottles of O2 from the local medical supply and it only took a fax from the Pulmonary Doc with the prescription for them to say "C'mon Down (and bring your checkbook). Actually it was relatively inexpensive. But, that took a lot of pressure off the "What do we do if..." problems.
      I'd bet my bottom dollar there was a lot of warning/caution lights. I'd also bet that your instrument cross check was spending a lot of time between that panel, fuel and DME to friendly lines and thereafter to a friendly runway. Glad you made it, as I am sure that Miss Jeanie is also.

      Delete
  12. Check out Inergy for a solar generator that will power anything. Their Kodiac 2 generators are awesome. Pure sine wave and will charge up with solar panels or wall plug or generator. We use it to keep my O2 equipment up and running during power outages

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tewshooz,
      Thanks for the pointer. That looks like a relatively inexpensive gap bridger until we can get a whole house generator in. And it'll probably be helpful even after that. So, again, thanks

      Delete
  13. I also concur on one of those 'electric generators' that are just huge battery backups. Between UPSessesssss and house generators and voltage cleaners and a mobile battery bank, you will cover the whole "2 is 1, 1 is None" prepper quote. Best is 3-5 ways, multiple gennies and battery packs.

    Those 'solar generators' or 'electric generators' that are just huge battery backups usually come with all sorts of line cleaning and voltage polishing stuffs. And are good enough to power electric tools in the back-beyond that require a plug, so it's not like you're going to not need/use it, as most battery powered tools aren't as strong as cable powered tools, so to speak.

    As I said above, get your electric company and your trusted electrician to come out and check to see if the power supplied to your house and the power in your house is tame and complacent, or if it's got electric rabies or something. Even 1 bad or slightly bad wall socket can make the whole house act weird, and is a royal pain in the tucus to track down, which is why... trusted electrician.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beans,
      Spent the day looking at options. I think we're going to go with a Whole House Generator. Our problem isn't generally within our house, rather it's when the whole area loses power. That having been said, if/when we get that Generator installed, the Electrical Bubbas are going to do some checking.
      Thanks

      Delete
    2. Yep, wish I had the scratch for a whole house generator. Then again, wish I had the scratch for a whole (albeit small) house.

      Talk to the sparkies about what to do with your rental properties and such, too. Hate to have you lose rental income because of power issues, not to mention having water lines freeze because of no power.

      Delete
    3. Beans,
      Yeah, good point. Had some higher priorities in mind, but those are important secondary ones. Went down there between sentences. Water is set to trickle. Icing has begun, not too bad...yet!

      Delete
  14. As to that whole plane thingy stuff, back in the days of 1st and 2nd gen jets, as related to me by my dad, the last words many a jet fighter pilot said was, "I got this" or "I can fix it." Then again, not a lot of people back in 1st and 2nd gen jets trusted being able to get out of the cockpit safely.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beans,
      Yeah, those were still "Famous Last Words" on a lot of accident reports I read also. And that was "After" ejection survivability rates improved significantly.

      Delete
  15. So good to see a "MY" tail. Was there 82-86, maintenance, avionics in general, electronic warfare/countermeasures specifically. Fire systems not that hard to troubleshoot/repair, so if they depot'd it, probably a wiring bundle under a riveted panel wing or cockpit. So many systems added to that airframe, shoe-horned and made-to-fit in places never planned for.
    Were you there when aircrew 'launched' a ALQ-119 EW jamming pod into the Eglin swamps? Yes, one of mine, although I wasn't on the load crew. Good times.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alan,
      Yep, I was there Early '81 to Jun '84, so we had some overlap. I was with the Silver Tailed Gang. Flew in an awful lot of good exercises as part of the RDF and learned an awful lot.
      I recall that EW incident, but not enough details that it was likely I was there when it occurred.
      Yep, those were pretty darn good times!

      Delete
    2. You rattled old brain cells with the pictures. That first one, not the best look for a publicity photo to have those divots in the starboard fuel tank.
      The 'EW incident' occurred when aircrew returned, came down ladder, and observed the left forward missile well was absent a 6 foot x 2 foot several hundred pound ALQ-119 jamming pod. They were pretty sure they had left with it, and no idea when it departed the airframe, somewheres Eglin-ish. I'm sure their careers flashed before their eyes, as did our load crew. Pod was retrieved, flattened, wet, containing mud and various bits of ex-wildlife. In the end the LFMWA (left forward missile well adapter) we hung it on was found at fault. In back of our shop we spent much joyful time swapping originally manufacturer installed screws for longer, engineer specified ones.

      Delete
    3. Alan,
      Did not notice that in the picture, although, I'm not sure I ever saw a drop tank that didn't have a dent or two in it.
      Even in level flight, having a several hundred pound weight lose would have caused some kind of unexpected aircraft reaction. Unless it released with the same pickle button push as the bomb on the TER. But....They didn't call it the Phantom for no reasons. Lot's of unusual things happen with that jet.

      Delete
  16. Yep, fire lights (and other warnings) get the old heart rate up! I'd have pushed for a 'new' monitor from the docs, but that's just me trying to be proactive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Old NFO,
      We have been, but...It took that last visit to the Pulmonary Folks and the side by side to convince them. Then they had to tell the Med Equip folks to put up a new monitor or...Got the call back from both those people this PM. The Pulmonary Tech said to expect the call from the Med Equip folks "momentarily" and to let him know if we didn't. Not two minutes later..."Why, of course, LJW we're sending a new monitor overnight. Please let us know if you have ANY problems."
      Just got to jump through ALL the hoops. And...unfortunately, it ain't over til it's over, but this is a good start.

      Delete
  17. Hey Juvat;

    When my son was born, he was born early, like 7 weeks early, and his lungs were not developed so he spent time in a medically induced coma and 29 days in the NICU. those were scary times, now he will be 20 years old next month so something to look forward to. As far as your Phantom(Hanger Queen) goes, I am a what you zoomies would have called a "Maintainer". but on the commercial side, and I would have dropped the motor, and swapped it rather than jerk around with it. This is what the issue in my mind is, there is something wrong internally with that motor and the Maintenance chief was trying to push it off hoping that it "would go away".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mr. G.
      Good to know that things work out. Yep, quite scary, especially when it's not you, but someone you love.
      I honestly don't know what work was done on the jet. One would certainly have thought the maybe it wasn't a wiring problem but an actual problem with the engine. But...I only got one ride in it....Thank you, Lord! So, I don't know. I do know that what was tried didn't work.
      I'm also, extremely glad that our Wing Commander had the intestinal fortitude (I was going to use a word for round sporting objects) to say No! He was an excellent example of an Excellent Commander.

      Delete
  18. In the medical field, Doctors have to order everything. And if it is an item that doesn't need a prescription, calling the physician's office, asking for the Nurse Case Manager, and telling her the issue can many times fix the issue. RN CM's are there to solve the issues. They know ALL the right language, and have contacts, to get optimal patient care provided at a cost effective price. Having been able to send Miss B home, which automatically drops the cost of her care, the insurance company will be willing to do quite a bit to keep her out of the hospital. So, bottom line, keep all your receipts for the generator install and see if any of it can come off the tax bill.
    Secondly, yes, Beans is right. Have back-ups for the back-ups. Get a working O2 sat with alarm system. Then get extra tanks in the home--the little E tanks only last an hour or so, but there is a tank that stands about 4 feet tall about a foot diameter that will last most of a day.
    Then figure out the best--shortest, easiest to drive in crappy weather--route to the local fire department--THEY have lots of O2 tanks...the other alternative is to get from the DME company a concentrator that you can refill your smaller O2 tanks from. It does need electricity to do so, but, if you get a Honda 2000 portable generator--they are running about 1K these days, you can run the concentrator to refill your tanks.
    Another option is to call the NICU and ask the nurses there if there are battery powered O2 monitoring units. If anyone knows, they would. Get the name of the unit from them, then call your DME store and beat them over the head with it until they get the lead out and get you one. It would be a peds specialty item. The DME store can call the MD, get the script, and the certificate of medical need from the MD, and then get the pre-auth from the insurance company...which I am assuming is Tri-Care. Again, Miss B should have a RN CM handling her medical case. Get that person's name and put them on speed dial. LJW will need it again in the future, I promise.

    And pray for global warming so that ya'll don't keep getting ice storms!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suz,
      Thanks, We were able to get 3 of those tanks yesterday and they are in our home as we speak. The portable generator is next on our list and whole house generator is immediately there after. Our monitoring unit does have a battery mode, but it's the one that alerts at everything. We did finally get through to the Pulmonary Tech we saw at our last appt. He is handling the getting us a replacement unit. Unfortunately, because of the weather it'll be a day or two. It's not optimum, but it's reality.
      While we didn't know the right titles, I think LJW, with a lot of persistence, was able to get through to the right folks at the Hospital. (She did an excellent job of putting her "Mom of small Baby" outfit on and verbally kicking some you know what. I was impressed.)
      We do have a few more options up our sleeve in case worse comes to worse, but so far, so good.
      Thanks.

      Delete
    2. Mama Grizzly Bears don't just live in Alaska, or the Rockies....they don't all have heavy dark brown coats...just saying.
      And don't even think about getting between me and any of my "little ones"...you will NOT like the results. It's a switch that gets flipped sometime during the birth process...

      Suz

      Delete
    3. Suz,
      Yep! Mrs. J demo'd that early on and quite apparently passed it on to both MBD and LJW.

      Delete
  19. Also, call your power company and tell them you have a medically fragile person living at your address. Cause ya do. That will put you much higher up the "places to fix first" list when the line men are figuring out who gets turned back on first.

    Suz

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suz,
      That last one was well worth the price of admission. Did NOT know that and will take care of that immediately. Thanks.

      Delete

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