About 3:00 this morning, Reggie sat right up and let out a little “oof.” He NEVER does that, so I knew something was going on in the house. It wasn’t too long before I heard it, too. Something was making noise in the house. About 90 seconds later, I figured out that one of the smoke detectors was chirping. Thinking it was the one in the back stairwell, I went out there, only to hear it coming from inside the unit. This madness went on for close to ten minutes until I figured out it was the one in the hallway outside the bathroom. Oh, and it was also the one in the second bedroom, too. They were both beeping.
All of the smoke detectors in my building are hard-wired into the house power, so I’ve never had the need to pull them down and change batteries. I just assumed they didn’t have batteries. Thinking I’d have to get my landlord to call an electrician in the morning, I put a pillow over my head and tried to fall back asleep. That was an exercise in futility. Finally, I got up got a ladder and looked at the smoke detectors, hoping there was a way to disconnect them. Nope. They are hard wired right into the house power. What I did notice is that there was a compartment door for a battery. I opened the little door and found a 9v battery. I guessed these needed to be replaced. Do you think I have any 9v batteries in the house? Of course not.
Here I am at 4:00 AM, and I’m driving around Salem, looking for batteries. Two convenience stores and $20 later, I have three batteries. Seriously, $20. At 4:15 in the morning, I’m not going to argue about the price. Next, I’m back up on the ladder, replacing batteries. By this time, it’s 4:30, Reggie has had an accident on the floor (despite having just been outside), and I’m wide awake. I tossed and turned for over an hour, trying to fall asleep. No such luck. I got up to get my work laptop and check my calendar (and my boss’ calendar), knowing we have auditors coming in this week. Fortunately, our calendars were clear. What I did notice is that I was a little woozy on my feet and that I had chills. These are MS symptoms, and my body was telling me to rest. I e-mailed my boss, telling him I was taking a sick day, took something to help me sleep, and went to bed. I also fed Reggie so that he wouldn’t be waking me up at 6:00.
I got another five hours of blissful sleep, waking up about 10:30. I got myself up, and headed into work.
I really hate to take sick time because of my MS symptoms. This was one of those cases where I really didn’t have a choice. My body was telling me it was time rest, and that’s what I had to do. If I had pushed myself, I would have been a mess and risk crashing. That’s the last thing I want when I’m supposed to go on vacation in less than two weeks.
I’m feeling better and back in the game. And you’d better believe I’ll be changing those batteries on a regular basis now. I hate it when these things go beep in the night.