# Pink Eye - sewer related illness



## fixitright (Jan 5, 2012)

Pink Eye - Nasty subject 
One we all avoid. 

So my eye turns bright red and stings.
Not feeling myself I pull the pin and go to the Doctor(s).

Bacterial infection usually caused by exposure to feces (poop, LOL).

Been cleaning drains on and off for 40 years and never a problem.

Eye drops and antibiotics for the rest of me.

Watch out for flying poop.


----------



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

That’s something I’m always worried about. Especially when your cutter catches for a second coming out of the clean out and flings sewer juice from tampons right in your face....

My last Master got an ear infection once. Went to the doctor, was put on antibiotics. A month, three visits and over $1k out of pocket they finally took a culture. Turns out he had a vaginal yeast infection. Still tease him about it.


----------



## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

OpenSights said:


> That’s something I’m always worried about. Especially when your cutter catches for a second coming out of the clean out and flings sewer juice from tampons right in your face....
> 
> My last Master got an ear infection once. Went to the doctor, was put on antibiotics. A month, three visits and over $1k out of pocket they finally took a culture. Turns out he had a vaginal yeast infection. Still tease him about it.


I remember that post!

Do you guys wear safety glasses or face shield on occasion?


----------



## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

Get well soon Mr. fixitright. I sympathize with your misery and pain.


----------



## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

fixitright said:


> Pink Eye - Nasty subject
> One we all avoid.
> 
> So my eye turns bright red and stings.
> ...



hope you get better soon, but on the flip side the saying" what doesnt kill you makes you stronger" holds true to all the crap we are exposed to and build up a better immunity than say someone working in a clean office, I guess each person is different and it depends how your overall health is..


----------



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Tango said:


> I remember that post!
> 
> Do you guys wear safety glasses or face shield on occasion?


Not anymore.... for the reason SRDH stated.


----------



## exclamation (Mar 11, 2013)

I got pretty sick a few months back from literally one drop of toilet/sink stoppage water to the eyeball - it was in a damn clinic so all types of sickness in that - luckily only was sick for the weekend, but it was about the most miserable sick I can remember other than like 18 years ago as a helper - pulled a toilet for slab testing and got a lung full of septic air that was blowing out the flange like a damn power vent (no idea why), fking diarrhea for a solid week from that, which is actually the last time I recall being sick before the clinic thing.


----------



## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

Talking about sickness. I will never again solder a lead toilet flange(Not sure the proper term) without a respirator with organic vapor cartridges. The 45$ cartridges will be tacked on the bill next time.

I coughed and coughed between 3 and 4 months. It felt like I had something stuck and itchy in my throat. I should of gone to the clinic, guys always acting tough you know and say to yourself it will pass...


----------



## JohnnieSqueeze (Mar 23, 2016)

fixitright said:


> Pink Eye - Nasty subject
> 
> One we all avoid.
> 
> ...




tell your wife to stop farting on your pillow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

A sewer lid fell over on my big toe a couple hours ago, is that a sewer related illness? Now I ain't working tomorrow.


I got the snake back in the van while my toe was still mostly numb.


----------



## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

A couple years ago one of our guys got his wrist sprained when he lost an arm wrestling match with the 1/2". He's lucky it wasn't the 5/8" or 3/4".


----------



## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

skoronesa said:


> A couple years ago one of our guys got his wrist sprained when he lost an arm wrestling match with the 1/2". He's lucky it wasn't the 5/8" or 3/4".


This guy didn’t fare too well either


----------



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

About five years ago when I worked for p**** ear I came down with a really bad respiratory infection. Started out mild, but kept getting worse. After 3-4 weeks I went home early to go to ready care. I guess It was bad enough for the doctor to ask if I was asthmatic, told him no and he said “Are you sure?”. Can’t say which job I got it from.

I had to take the whole next week off because the antibiotics made me not only married to my wife but the stool too.


----------



## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Debo22 said:


> This guy didn’t fare too well either



Holy shizz ballz that's bad!!!


----------



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Debo22 said:


> This guy didn’t fare too well either


Shnit! How the heck did that happen?!?!!!! 

Almost lost my thumb once being billy bad azz trying to cable a whole house trap, k750 and a frozen pneumatic switch. Cable failed between my machine and the flange then started to fail inside the barrel pulling the cable wrapped around my thumb into the autofeed. Felt like five minutes but probably only ten seconds before I figured out I had to rip the plug out of the wall.


----------



## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

skoronesa said:


> A sewer lid fell over on my big toe a couple hours ago, is that a sewer related illness? Now I ain't working tomorrow.
> 
> 
> I got the snake back in the van while my toe was still mostly numb.


thats what them steel tip boots are for...:wink:


----------



## exclamation (Mar 11, 2013)

Debo22 said:


> skoronesa said:
> 
> 
> > A couple years ago one of our guys got his wrist sprained when he lost an arm wrestling match with the 1/2". He's lucky it wasn't the 5/8" or 3/4".
> ...


Ho Li Fooq - Sum Ting Wong!


----------



## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

Debo22 said:


> This guy didn’t fare too well either


A whole new meaning of being bitten by a snake....thats gota hurt...:surprise:


----------



## exclamation (Mar 11, 2013)

skoronesa said:


> A sewer lid fell over on my big toe a couple hours ago, is that a sewer related illness? Now I ain't working tomorrow.
> 
> 
> I got the snake back in the van while my toe was still mostly numb.


Bang Din Aou! I suppose it does count haha - hopefully not broke man


----------



## breplum (Mar 21, 2009)

That happened to me years ago.
It could have broken it. Best to get an xray.
They tape toes, so no cast likely.
Good healing.


----------



## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

skoronesa said:


> A sewer lid fell over on my big toe a couple hours ago, is that a sewer related illness? Now I ain't working tomorrow.
> 
> 
> I got the snake back in the van while my toe was still mostly numb.




















Hope you get well soon.


----------



## fixitright (Jan 5, 2012)

Pink Eye Update:

Eye is fine. 
Used two different antibiotic eye drops to kill the nasty. 

Still wasn't feeling myself and have been on oral antibiotics for three weeks.
All done today.

Thing about most antibiotics is you can't drink while taking them.

Not that I'm a big drinker but a couple of beers or some cheap whiskey now and then is a stress reliever.

Here stress, over here stress!


----------



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

fixitright said:


> Pink Eye Update:
> 
> Eye is fine.
> Used two different antibiotic eye drops to kill the nasty.
> ...


Ain’t that a btch! Antibiotics can sometimes seem worse than the sickness. I spent a week on the stool, I kid you not! About 8 hours a day. I didn’t take a picture or ask the wife, but I bet my butt looked similar to a baboons!

Glad you made it through this bout!


----------



## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

OpenSights said:


> Ain’t that a btch! Antibiotics can sometimes seem worse than the sickness. I spent a week on the stool, I kid you not! About 8 hours a day. I didn’t take a picture or ask the wife, but I bet my butt looked similar to a baboons!
> 
> Glad you made it through this bout!


eat alot of yogurt to replace all the good bacteria in your stomach that the antibiotics kill off and your stomach will thank you...


----------



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

ShtRnsdownhill said:


> eat alot of yogurt to replace all the good bacteria in your stomach that the antibiotics kill off and your stomach will thank you...


That was about 6-7 years ago. Funny you should mention that. I have a few infections going on in some one gallon cider fermenters, club meeting was tonight. 

We got talking about yeasts and ph levels. Yogert yeasts are very good for the digestive track. 

My infected, treated with the right amount of campden, still infected with wild yeast. Going to rack into a 5 gallon fermenter primary Friday. See how it turns out.


----------



## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

how about adding some honey? honey has antibacterial properties and is used in medical treatment of tough infections..give it a google.." medical honey"...


----------



## exclamation (Mar 11, 2013)

OpenSights said:


> I didn’t take a picture or ask the wife, but I bet my butt looked similar to a baboons!


Haha - pink ass instead of pink eye!


----------



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

ShtRnsdownhill said:


> how about adding some honey? honey has antibacterial properties and is used in medical treatment of tough infections..give it a google.." medical honey"...


lol! I’m all stocked up on raw honey! About 5 gallons at the moment. One gallon, which is 12 pounds, is going to a friend of mine for a 5 gallon batch of mead.

My grand father was half German and half Cherokee. Grew up during the depression. I wish I spent more time learning from him. He was a licensed Master plumber, master carpenter, always grew his own food. When I was a teen he lived in a single wide trailer on his property in the woods of upstate New York. No electricity, lp and wood heat. For a hot shower he had a large pot that he would heat in the winter on the wood burner and transfer to a holding tank with a gate valve and shower head.

Anyhow, he knew a lot about natural medicine. One thing he always did, and my son does it for his eczema... an ounce of apple cider vinegar with the mother in an 12 oz glass of water. Give it a shot. Takes some getting use to, but it really helps your overall health.


----------



## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

OpenSights said:


> lol! I’m all stocked up on raw honey! About 5 gallons at the moment. One gallon, which is 12 pounds, is going to a friend of mine for a 5 gallon batch of mead.
> 
> My grand father was half German and half Cherokee. Grew up during the depression. I wish I spent more time learning from him. He was a licensed Master plumber, master carpenter, always grew his own food. When I was a teen he lived in a single wide trailer on his property in the woods of upstate New York. No electricity, lp and wood heat. For a hot shower he had a large pot that he would heat in the winter on the wood burner and transfer to a holding tank with a gate valve and shower head.
> 
> Anyhow, he knew a lot about natural medicine. One thing he always did, and my son does it for his eczema... an ounce of apple cider vinegar with the mother in an 12 oz glass of water. Give it a shot. Takes some getting use to, but it really helps your overall health.



where upstate NY did he live? when I remember I have a tablespoon of ACV in water..definitely a learned taste, but put a little raw honey to make it taste better..


----------



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Very small town, not up, up state, but north of the Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York corner. From Connecticut you have to drive up through Millerton, then north up into the mountains. Ancramdale. One of those towns that if you blink, you’ll miss it. His property was north west of town. Been over 20 years since I lived back home, but have visited many times. Probably won’t again. Dad’s dead, not really very close to the rest of my family. I miss home, not the cost of living and certainly not the politics. I miss the mountains, now I live on flat land that was made out of swamp.


----------



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Every time I’ve been out there since I joined I’ve just been able to turn on the right road to get to where I’m going. Sh*t! I rode my bike as a kid to every fishing hole in the tri-state corner. 

But that was back then.... in today’s world my kid can’t do what I did.

Edit: Barbra Streisand is a liberal btch. Sending armed guards to see about a kid fishing on the side of the road in the runoff of her lake.


----------



## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

I hear you about the mountains, soon im gona pack in the long island living and make upstate permanent ......way too many people down on the island..


----------



## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

To those of you who wished me well, thanks, I am doing fine.


I will be out for the rest of this week and next. All of what you guys mentioned is the case. Tip of the toe broken, though the nail hurts worse where it pushed in and cut through. Got a couple x-rays. I am on anti-biotics and eating yogurt per my wifes instructions which definitely helps stop the monkey butt.


All in all could have been much worse. I thank my stout military surplus ICW boots with liners for really saving me from any worse damage. I really wish they had steel toes and I always used to get steel toes but these ICW boots are just perfect in every other way.


I think the real issue was carelessness. I was doing something I had done a thousand times at the end of the job/day and wasn't watching everything i should have been. The lid was still somewhat in the collar when it tilted back so luckily the bottom started sliding in halfway through falling which really helped limit the bang. 



My new protocol will be hook AND shovel. Hook it up a couple inches, slide the shovel in, then hook to slide it over. No more standing them up when I am alone.


It was an extra reinforced lid for lumber trucks so I couldn't just slide it over like any other lid. The bottom wasn't flat, the center stuck down about 5". Had to weigh at least 220lbs.


----------



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Damn! I’ve never come across a lid like that before!


----------



## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

the scrap guys would have that loaded and gone in 1 minute or less by themselves..lol...the scrap yard had to stop taking in manhole covers for that reason alone..


----------



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

ShtRnsdownhill said:


> the scrap guys would have that loaded and gone in 1 minute or less by themselves..lol...the scrap yard had to stop taking in manhole covers for that reason alone..


Scrap theft has gone down big time around here. Back when China was buying everything and prices were up it was almost a guarantee that a vacant house was going to stripped of copper. Made lots of money back then.

Six years ago we used Reheau for pex, which is big brass fittings and sleeves. Whole house repipe. Fudgers broke in, cut all the fittings out, stole what little copper that was left and even broke the laundry tub by ripping the central brass faucet off. I didn’t get to repipe it the second time because I was back east when it happened. 

I have a friend who is between jobs right now and we’ve been giving him all our scrap, with the exception of brass and copper of course. Yesterday he took 6 heaters, a grinder pump, cast iron floor drain, and probably a hundred pounds of miscellaneous metal. $48

To me that’s not worth my time or gas.


----------



## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

I save all steel scraps for a friend that collects it, but any brass, copper or aluminum stays in my mongo pile...on garbage night you can see all the rotted out pick up trucks going down all the streets looking...


----------



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

ShtRnsdownhill said:


> I save all steel scraps for a friend that collects it, but any brass, copper or aluminum stays in my mongo pile...on garbage night you can see all the rotted out pick up trucks going down all the streets looking...


We should start a tread for pictures of all the scrap trucks we see. I know I’ve seen some winners that made me change my route.


----------



## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

OpenSights said:


> We should start a tread for pictures of all the scrap trucks we see. I know I’ve seen some winners that made me change my route.


when I drive past the scrap yard in the morning if its on the way to where im going ,there is a long line of trucks, its hard to tell if the truck itself isnt scrap from the condition of it..:surprise:


----------



## fixitright (Jan 5, 2012)

Just to let you know.

My pink eye is better!

LOL, scrap LOL


----------



## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

fixitright said:


> Just to let you know.
> 
> My pink eye is better!
> 
> LOL, scrap LOL


thats good..back to work.....lol


----------



## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

skoronesa said:


> To those of you who wished me well, thanks, I am doing fine.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Tommy plumber said:


> skoronesa said:
> 
> 
> > To those of you who wished me well, thanks, I am doing fine.
> ...


----------



## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

skoronesa said:


> Tommy plumber said:
> 
> 
> > Because I couldn't just slide it over with the hook. It was like an upside down truss design. Imagine a flat lid, then add ramps coming from the outside edge going torwards the center which get taller as they converge. Like the 4" brass floor drain covers. The outer rim can be thin but the center has to be thicker to take weight. On this lid it was like 5" thick at the center and it wouldn't just slide out of the collar.
> ...


----------



## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

I know exactly the extra ribs underneath that you guys are talking about, and I slide them. With my manhole hook I lift one side and slide the cover. Trust me, it will slide with the ribs dragging on the pavement. I do it with no problem. And I am not a weakling but I am no Hercules either.


----------



## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Tommy plumber said:


> I know exactly the extra ribs underneath that you guys are talking about, and I slide them. With my manhole hook I lift one side and slide the cover. Trust me, it will slide with the ribs dragging on the pavement. I do it with no problem. And I am not a weakling but I am no Hercules either.





Some of us have large lunch boxes that make certain movements less than desirable.


----------



## 89plumbum (May 14, 2011)

skoronesa said:


> I was in a busy drive and I just lifted it up quick to see if my snake made it to the street. I didn't want to block traffic and I was in a rush.


Never fails.

Kind of hard to explain the scenario, but last year I was trying to drop a 5' piece of 4" cast through the bottom plate of a stud wall that rested on the edge of a column pad. We chipped out underneath the wall in order to drop the pipe to the bottom. The 5' piece was actually broken on one side and I was just using it as a guide to see if we chipped out enough concrete with the broken side down. It actually got jammed in the wall and I couldn't move it. 

As I turned to grab my mini sledge. It slipped through the wall straight down about 3' right on my foot. 

That thing ripped right through my boot. My co-worker was kind of shocked because it happened so fast.

It could have been a lot worse, but totally my fault for being in a major hurry that day.


----------



## fixitright (Jan 5, 2012)

89plumbum said:


> Never fails.
> 
> It could have been a lot worse, but totally my fault for being in a major hurry that day.


OUCH! Worse than my Pink Eye. 
Just think if you had just tennis shoes on.

OK, before anyone else says it, 
YOU GOT SOME HAIRY FEET!!!

There, that's over with and no one else should notice.
Hope it all healed well.


----------



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Not sewer related, but plumbing....

Maybe a few years ago my Master and I were removing one of those old heavy softeners of a basement when the head broke off and slammed down on my foot. I don’t think I broke any bones, but got one heck of a bruise. Foot swelled so much I could barely fit it in my boot with the laces pulled loose. It was a hard enough impact to break the step my foot was on.

Took a few months before I could walk without a limp.


----------



## 89plumbum (May 14, 2011)

fixitright said:


> OUCH! Worse than my Pink Eye.
> Just think if you had just tennis shoes on.
> 
> OK, before anyone else says it,
> ...


I’m often asked if I was the first to walk upright in my family?lol

I was at work the next day, and it’s healed pretty good.


----------



## sethro1981 (Oct 31, 2016)

i have an electric eel machine with a pin you depress to lock the bit in and it can sling just a little sewer juice as you take bits on and off,it got me in the eye and a few days later PINK EYE!


----------

