What I'm Seeing Now

After a very difficult travel day, which began in the doctor's office at 10am and ended in bed at 8:30 last night, the miracle surgery patient got home.  A very happy little girl got home about the same time.  After over a week at a friend's house, although taken care of very well, she was quite happy to be back in her home with her parents and her dog.  This has been a traumatic week for everyone!

We want to thank all those who expressed concern, sent messages, sent emails, made phone calls, gave flowers, sent flowers (the room is filling up), picked up our mail, are providing meals, offered prayers individually and in church, and basically gave us their love and support.  Many of you we have never met!

And now the healing begins.  She is told to stay in bed from 4-6 months, walk each day, blow into her respiratory therapy device, and eat protein, veggies and fiber.

There are pills with various purposes, ointments for the same, and a short walk to the bathroom.  She is quite tired, quite cared for, and quite glad to eat something other than "the worst hospital food I have ever had, and I have been in a lot of hospitals!"  Well, you can't have everything.

In applying ointments this morning I had opportunity to count her healing surgical holes (no stitches, super glue).  Usually her surgeries leave her with 3.  This time I thought there were 5.  Instead she has 11, and perhaps one more!   They did a lot of work!  I think she looks pretty good following such an ordeal!  (She did NOT want this photo taken...)

Between Dr. Liu and his primary assistant surgeon, they called on her a total of 17 times.  They also called by phone or were called by the hospital another 25 times or so.  Dr. Liu called again this afternoon, just to check in.  These are terrific doctors and people.

So, again, thank you all for everything you have done.

We’ve been in Chattanooga TN since Sunday for my wife to have a serious surgery. It was to repair problems to a previous surgery caused by a car accident she was in three years ago. The previous surgery, in Oct 2000, a breakthrough surgery then, was performed by Drs. Harry Reich and C. Y. Liu, both pioneers in laparoscopic surgery. The car accident pulled some of those things apart and damaged others, so a fix was in order.

Two top doctors in Washington DC and one at Johns Hopkins said that what needed to be done could not possibly be done laparoscopically. One said it would be a “miracle surgery” if it was.

Well, her miracle surgery was done yesterday. She is fine, swollen, bruised and sore, but fine. Usually she only has two holes in addition to the big one in the navel. This time she has twelve. It was deemed a terrific success.

The other “miracle” is that Dr. Liu came out of semi-retirement to perform this surgery. It is said to be his last. How fortunate for my wife. Because it was using breakthrough technologies and techniques, my wife said she met a bunch doctors from all over the country who came to Chattanooga to watch it being done. We’re told that some of them are familiar with my wife from medical textbooks and JAMA articles she has appeared in. When you sign that piece of paper allowing that, you don’t know what might come of you!

My wife says Dr. Liu brings in his special equipment to do all this and that the operating room looks very sci-fi and futuristic. Much of what he uses is of his design and invention. Even the operating table is different.

He truly is the best in the world.  We are grateful and thankful for his service to us.

The team and staff at Parkridge East Hospital in Chattanooga are terrific. They are competent, helpful and friendly at the same time. All in all, this is a very friendly town – I have been called “Hon,” “Darlin’”and “Sweetie” more in the last few days than in all of my life previous! I bet if I asked for a pina colada (virgin) and a foot massage, they would somehow accommodate me.

And this hospital is so proud to have Dr. Liu operate there they can hardly stand it. He puts them on the map. When he walks down the hall it is with Rock Star status! He has invited many Fellows here to study with him. One of the Fellows who participated in this procedure remembers reading about my wife in med school. That is both interesting and weird at the same time!

If you Google the Women’s Surgery Center in Chattanooga, virtually everything on the left-hand navigation was redone or repaired. Pelvic floor reconstruction is a complex surgery by any measure, especially when it is coupled by so many other procedures.

After it was done, Dr. Liu gave me my DVD of the operation, a little over 4 hours. He always gives me one. I have many others, from many other surgeries! It’s quite a collection. You might say I am one of the few spouses who can really say that he knows his wife inside and out. He won’t allow me anywhere near the surgery because he says I am “too jocular.” Can you believe that? So he makes me DVDs. Well, better than nothing I guess… I know, having a DVD of an operation sounds like a big yuck, but it is really interesting to see.

Dr. Liu is a very matter-of-fact person. He is not one to joke around. But I got a smile out of him when I thanked him for putting her in room 207 because of the good feng shui. He smiled and shot his hand upward at an angle, demonstrating that he understood. It is good feng shui to have numbers that go up and not down… don’tcha know.

Now it’s careful recovery and a hopeful return home on Monday. That will be difficult as well. That’s when the real fun begins. Wish us luck!

It took me a couple of phone calls over a week's time to put it together.

But I did.

It was a husband and wife tag team.  With the same foreign accent.  With the same questions about my prices.  With the same suggestions about what discounts I should offer.  All on an inspection they wanted to schedule in the same area of the same city.

They found my website and knew all about me.  They knew my pricing backwards and forwards.  They started by trying to negotiate down my inspection price.  How much could I discount it?  That didn't work.

Then they took a different tact - that I should do an IR scan on their whole house as a part of the inspection.  It should be free.  I would make more money if I offered free IR inspections because more people would call me and that I should begin on their house.

Oh, then there was the "other" inspector out there who will do an inspection cheaper than I, and throw in IR and a free termite inspection.  It got comical.

Amazingly, I quoted them each the same price for what they were asking.  I do discount an IR exam $100 IF it is done at the same time as the home inspection.  That is on my website and beyond that I didn't budge on my pricing.

They were consistent with this negotiating technique while each calling me independently over the course of many days.  I eventually put them together.

Then yesterday the wife called to say there was an inspector they called who would give her, in addition to all of the above, a free 6-month home warranty and she wanted me to offer her one too.  I called her by her husband's name and she got dead silent. 

"You are very clever," she said. 

"Not really.  I started bowling when I was 8 and I can add really well.  But as you see, I don't subtract well.  Not only do I not offer a home warranty, I have you sign an agreement which specifically states that I do not warrant anything in the house beyond the day of the inspection.  I can't warrant that my furnace will be working 6 months from now, how could I possibly warrant yours?  You probably also think the government is going to provide you better medical coverage then you have now and for free!  If you are looking for a free home warranty, you are looking for the other company to do your inspection.  You should call them.  And good luck."  (Yes, I said that...)

I hung up.

Of course I blew them off!  Free IR?  Free termite?  Free home warranty?  I know there are those home warranty programs out there and I have read the exclusions.  Those companies are making a LOT of money offering "peace of mind."

My recommendation:  Be who you are.  Don't be who "they" are.  And remember the very time tested economic principle - There is no such thing as a free lunch.  Because there isn't...

I was 520 pm yesterday. I was finishing up my last inspection for the day. The mobile phone rang.

A lady was having moisture issues with the HVAC system ducts, dripping on the ceiling between the first and second levels. It was causing mold development in many spots in the ceiling and general staining all over. "I just found your website and want you to do a thermal image examination of this problem. I have had two HVAC companies over and they can't tell what the problem is."

"Sure, I can help you. When would you like this inspection, morning, afternoon or evening?"

"How about right now? I work at the Pentagon but happen to be home this afternoon. I don't care what it costs."

Now, what am I going to say to that! "OK, I can do it now. It will take me about an hour to get there. Is that alright? Is your AC on? (She said yes.) Good, keep it on!"

"Yes! Thank you! I will be home."

The problem turned out to be the rear wall of the house. It just happened to be in the sunlight when I got there, very hot, and easy to evaluate with the camera. PERFECT!!

There is a small roof overhang over the rear door and windows. It starts over the window on the left and extends all along the rear wall. Two sections of it had little to no insulation. They just happened to be in line with the two ceiling registers. You can see the duct trail as it turns left to service the ceiling register. That lack of insulation and open-web floor trusses would heat the area between the floors dramatically. In the image, that area over the kitchen door is 98.7 degrees F. The max temp at the window is 131F. The duct work is 50.1F. They are circular, solid metal ducts. I think that Delta T (difference in temperature) might just cause those ducts to sweat. What do you think?

This second picture is of mold development (which I called "evidence of mold" in the report) on the ceiling. It is one of many spots - all with a colorful, moldy appearance.

It is 60.2F, as opposed to the ambient air of 68.7F. So it is moist. I didn't put my moisture meter on it because I didn't want to disturb it. But it is moist.

I think the problem was evaluated. I recommended that she have an insulation company come and add insulation to those areas. With my photos, they can see exactly where they need to install insulation, and perhaps improve the other areas as well.  I also recommended a mold remediation company to evaluate any mold problem(s) and get rid of it.

While there I swept the rest of the house, for fun, which really impressed her. I found a lack of insulation in many aspects of a cathedral ceiling of the upstairs TV room (4th level of a townhouse). She said, "So that's why this room is hot." Yeah, I guess so!

So, because of my website and diligent SEO work, my site popped up and I was available to this client. She was very happy last night to get her report. She was impressed with - my website, its rankings, my professionalism, my willingness to come late in the day and the final product. And how cute I am...

I ended my day a few hundred $ richer than I thought I would be when I started! It all began with the website.

Thanks Dom *!

* That's Dominic Maricic, owner of Home Inspector Pro -- computer, inspection software and website man en excelsis!  Call him, you will be glad you did...

My recommendation:  Have a great website, work on it to get it onto page 1 of Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc., and answer the phone!