After the fire, the fun begins!

I've had a heck of a day, friends! I won't say it started badly, because yesterday didn't finish! I couldn't sleep properly all night, coughing and hacking the smoke out of my lungs. Today I went to my doctor, who had a chest X-ray taken, said that it didn't look too bad, and put me on a short course of Prednisone to clear things up. He says the risk of severe smoke inhalation is that one can develop pneumonia, so he wants to watch me carefully for a few days until things improve.

Then came the fun of starting to get quotes. $2.5K to clean out my A/C system and replace the vent pipes (which, being cheap tinfoil aluminum, can't be cleaned properly); new carpets and vinyl, because the smell can't be fully removed from the old; painting the entire house, because the smell ditto out of wallpaper; planning to move all my belongings out of the house (after de-smoking them) while all this is done; etc., etc. The nice man from Servicemaster (who'll be doing the cleanup) said at once that my computer and all electronic equipment in the room with the fire were write-offs due to smoke damage, and should be replaced. The insurance assessor agreed, fortunately: so I've got to start getting computer quotes as well now.

I'll be gathering quotes for a few days, and by the middle of next week I should know roughly what it's going to cost. The good news is that I'll come out of it with a completely renovated interior. I suppose if I wanted to sell the house (which I don't), there couldn't be a better preparation for it!

Thanks to everyone who posted a comment below the previous post. Your good wishes are much appreciated. Stingray, could you please e-mail me your telephone number, or your e-mail address, so we can establish contact?

Peter