Braeden was scheduled to be released from the hospital around noon. About 11:00 Kevin called and said, "Hi Mom, can I speak to Pete?" I heard the tone of voice and took the phone to Pete and said in a whisper, "It's Kevin and he's in trouble." I didn't dare wonder what was wrong.
Turns out, the soil around their house has a lot of clay and drainage around the basement has been a problem from day one. Two summers ago, Pete cut out a strip of cement about 12" wide around the inside walls of the basement and layed drainage tile and ran it out beyond the house into a deep hole he had dug. That seemed to take care of the problem.
Then yesterday Ian discovered a puddle going across the basement floor about 15' and creeping into his new carpet in his room in the basement. By the way, they have probably 14-16" of snow on the ground and then it began to rain. It rained a lot as it had warmed up outside and of course the snow was melting. Turns out the outside ground water pressure was so strong that it was literally squirting through his basement wall around where the pipe went out to the well and also a little less by some electrical conduit. He tried to patch it with hydrolic cement on the inside but the water was coming in so fast it washed the patch right out. Somebody from church called and Kevin told him what was going on. The guy brought two friends and they all dug down 4 1/2' and removed the soil to below where the water was coming in. Kevin happened to have some tar so he put on a rubber glove and shoved the tar into the cracks and forced it in as much as possible. They then backfilled to hold the tar in place. He then cemented inside too. He still has a tiny bit of seepage by the conduit.
Come spring, Pete will take the digger up and dig out all along the house and slather tar on the foundation and then put up plastic and tar over that. What next?
Two of the wives of the men that came to help went to the hospital and picked up Braeden and Dawn and brought them home.
Kevin said it was so nice to be able to grab Braeden and tickle him or pick him up and not have to worry about the tubes pinned to his shirt. He always would worry that he would dislodge it somehow or hurt Braeden. And now Braeden can bathe in the tub or swim.
Kevin is so amazed to think of all the hurts and suffering that little guy has endured, yet he always comes back with big smiles and teasing everybody. I told him that it was because of his loving family and dedicated mother. He said also it was because of the loving caring people who doctor and nurse him at the Children's hospital. They just do such a wonderful job when you think of the emotional stress they must go through every day.
