A Warning........!
If you don't have a Carbon Monoxide alarm system in your home.....make a point to get one this weekend. The results of chancing an encounter with the stuff can be deadly or, at the least, earn you a very miserable trip to the emergency room. We found this out today first hand.
I had seen the ads for Carbon Monoxide alarm systems accompanied by the warnings of it's undetectable menace. But, truthfully, I had filed these warnings away as something that happens to poor people in ramshackle homes with 50 year old patched up heating systems, or as the result of living in a cheap trailer home heated by open flame heaters. In other words, something that happens to someone else. No more.
This morning at 7 A.M. I received a call from Julie saying that she was violently ill, nauseous and with a terrible headache. On awakening her son Jack, he also complained of a bad headache. Being a smart cookie she added up these facts, along with the salient point that she had turned the heater on in her house last night for the first time this season, and came up with a quick assesment of Carbon Monoxide poisoning. She was correct.
Luckily her folks live within blocks. Unluckily they had left their phone off the hook all night. So...barely able to stand, she phoned a neighbor who drove to her parents house and summoned help. They immediately loaded Julie and Jack into the car for the quick trip to the hospital. All Julie could do was lie in a wretched condition while Jack rode with his head, like the family dog, out the window in the 35 degree air, a smart thing to do. By the time I arrived at the emergency room they had been probed, stuck and hooked up to IV's and oxygen masks. Not a pretty sight, but they were on their way to recovery, Jack more quickly, but Julie not far behind.
By policy, and a good one, the emergency room notified the fire department of the situation. The good fire fighters quickly arrived at Julie's home and their monitors pegged for CO as soon as they entered. We were very blessed that the outcome was not a more tragic one. Fortunately, Julie is an early riser and she fought her natural instinct to go back to bed when she started feeling ill. Many people might....and it would be a fatal mistake, the sleep that never ends.
Julie's house is a modern home which she purchased less than two years ago, at which time a complete inspection was made of the heating system. Apparently the heating vent discharge flue had been shaken loose over the last year causing the problem. This should be the lesson for us all.....it doesn't matter the age of your home or heating system. Things can happen. I have a security alarm system in my home with a hardwired fire detector with....I think....a carbon monoxide detector built in. I think? I bought another one today just in case. I hope you get yours!
If you don't have a Carbon Monoxide alarm system in your home.....make a point to get one this weekend. The results of chancing an encounter with the stuff can be deadly or, at the least, earn you a very miserable trip to the emergency room. We found this out today first hand.
I had seen the ads for Carbon Monoxide alarm systems accompanied by the warnings of it's undetectable menace. But, truthfully, I had filed these warnings away as something that happens to poor people in ramshackle homes with 50 year old patched up heating systems, or as the result of living in a cheap trailer home heated by open flame heaters. In other words, something that happens to someone else. No more.
This morning at 7 A.M. I received a call from Julie saying that she was violently ill, nauseous and with a terrible headache. On awakening her son Jack, he also complained of a bad headache. Being a smart cookie she added up these facts, along with the salient point that she had turned the heater on in her house last night for the first time this season, and came up with a quick assesment of Carbon Monoxide poisoning. She was correct.
Luckily her folks live within blocks. Unluckily they had left their phone off the hook all night. So...barely able to stand, she phoned a neighbor who drove to her parents house and summoned help. They immediately loaded Julie and Jack into the car for the quick trip to the hospital. All Julie could do was lie in a wretched condition while Jack rode with his head, like the family dog, out the window in the 35 degree air, a smart thing to do. By the time I arrived at the emergency room they had been probed, stuck and hooked up to IV's and oxygen masks. Not a pretty sight, but they were on their way to recovery, Jack more quickly, but Julie not far behind.
By policy, and a good one, the emergency room notified the fire department of the situation. The good fire fighters quickly arrived at Julie's home and their monitors pegged for CO as soon as they entered. We were very blessed that the outcome was not a more tragic one. Fortunately, Julie is an early riser and she fought her natural instinct to go back to bed when she started feeling ill. Many people might....and it would be a fatal mistake, the sleep that never ends.
Julie's house is a modern home which she purchased less than two years ago, at which time a complete inspection was made of the heating system. Apparently the heating vent discharge flue had been shaken loose over the last year causing the problem. This should be the lesson for us all.....it doesn't matter the age of your home or heating system. Things can happen. I have a security alarm system in my home with a hardwired fire detector with....I think....a carbon monoxide detector built in. I think? I bought another one today just in case. I hope you get yours!
