Must Save The Ice Cream!

Last night we had our first casualty in the battle with Misophonia;  the refrigerator,  protector of food and source of one of Colin's many triggers. While the low hum of the fridge's motor is barely audible to the rest of the family, my 12 year-old son has a hard time eating at the kitchen table or hanging out in the family room with out being bothered

To help accommodate our son, for the past few weeks my husband has been turning off the fridge for short periods of time. This allows my son to eat at the table and be in the kitchen for an extended period. Colin is also able to switch the refrigerator on and off. There have been a few times the fridge has been off for as much as six hours.

I had come downstairs last evening after a long strategy-session over the phone with my brother in Chicago who is a Radiologist. I wanted to update him on our situation and get a medical professional's view of MRI's and other diagnostics. I also wanted to know, "What would you do if this was your child?"

My eldest son and husband were playing C.S.I. over a moldy take-and-bake pizza and looking for other "food-victims" of "global warming". For the last day or so, we had been dealing with not-quite-cold milk and ice cream that was a bit soft. After a thorough investigation, it appeared that the heating coil that prevents over-freezing, had failed and our food was enjoying 60 degree temps.

I sprung into action, offering my cooler and freezer at work as well as suggesting we take my mini-fridge home to store bare-necessities until repairs can be made. I went to help load my mini van when I found my sleeping child in my vehicle. He will sometimes retreat to my van when it is parked in the driveway so that vital machines (air conditioning, water heater, laundry) can be run.

My husband relocated Colin to his new sleeping area for the past few weeks, the downstairs half-bath. For some reason, he prefers the cold linoleum floor to a couch or bed. We then began our food relocation project. We now have a tiny refrigerator in our garage and the big one in our kitchen is on life-support until we can get new parts.

On the bright-side, last night was the best Colin has slept in weeks, I now have all sorts of good eats at work and have saved the ice cream! We also learned about a potential pitfall of frequent switching off the refrigerator. This has made us more cautious of how we handle the water heater in the basement.

We are a work-in-progress.