Any minute my head is going to explode: UPDATE

Two or three weeks ago I woke up, piddled around the house in my pajamas and then tried to take a shower. Except no matter how long I let the water run it never got hot. It didn't even get warm. No hot water. Fantastic.

After several phone calls to various and sundry people we found out that the hot water heater in our building (it's gas and the whole building shares one) had been leaking and there were men here trying to repair it, but the hot water should be back in about an hour.

Four hours later there still wasn't any hot water, but we got another phone call telling us that they were going to have to replace the hot water heater and that wouldn't be accomplished until the next day.

That day I took a bath with hot water in a pot because I don't have a plug for my bathtub.

Anyway, they got a "new" hot water heater and things have been alright. I put "new" in quotations because our landlords are cheap frugal, and they didn't actually buy a new hot water heater. Oh no, they found one that had been discarded by someone else. Now, don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with buying a used appliance, as long as said appliance comes from some place that has repaired any possible problems before selling it. The "new" hot water heater did not.

So this past Saturday the water went out again. We tried calling several times, but there was never an answer, so I took another hot-water-in-a-pot bath and waited until we could try to call again. Except that a few hours later the hot water miraculously came back on. Problem (mysteriously) solved, no need for a call to the landlords.

Yesterday I did manage to get a shower, but I noticed that the hot water didn't really want to stay hot and by the end of it I had the knob turned all the way over to the "scalding hot" side, and the water was just comfortable. By one thirty yesterday the hot water was completely gone.

We thought maybe this new hot water heater just ran out more often than the old one (which never ran out, ever. Not once in over two years.) and took a while to reheat the water. So we didn't call, trying to give it time to heat back up again.

Except the water didn't fix itself this time. We still didn't have hot water when we went to bed last night.

We don't have hot water now. Almost 24 hours later. Andy called this morning and they said that the pilot light is out and they have to find someone to relight it. They also told him that is what happened on Saturday.

It's beginning to sound like a faulty pilot light is why the water heater was discarded in the first place. And how many times are they going to pay someone to come out and relight it before they just go buy a new hot water heater?

If this were any other day I could handle the inconvenience. I would be upset and angry, but I could deal with it with a reasonable amount of aplomb.

However, in about three and a half hours Andy and I have a very important meeting. A meeting concerning the accident in which we begin trying to wrap the whole thing up with the insurance company.

I am nervous. Actually, nervous doesn't really cover exactly how I feel right now. I'm looking right into the face of a grueling afternoon spent rehashing all my injuries, physical and emotional, how I'm doing now (not great) and what all that is worth to me.

I'm a freaking basket case right now. I want to cry. And I want to throw up. And I want to crawl back in bed until this day is over.

And I'm dirty because I don't have any hot water. Insert expletives here...

Luckily (really? Is there a "luckily" in this situation), the meeting is in our hometown, where our parents live. So we're driving down early to take showers. Because everyone feels a little better when they're nice and clean.

I have to go pack up my stuff. Say a little prayer for me this afternoon. It would be much appreciated.

UPDATE at 6:30 pm.

We're home and I'm alive.

Thankfully someone came to relight the pilot light and we had hot water here in time to take showers and get ready. So we didn't have to pack and haul all our clothes and bathroom crap all over today. One less thing to worry about.

The meeting is over. I only melted down once and not for too long. I'm glad it's over though. I'm going to pour a glass of wine and curl up with a book.