Until a week ago, I was fighting hepatitis of unknown origin. Blood tests last Thursday show the infection has gone away and I am now in the “recovery phase” – which includes bouts of overwhelming fatigue and tiredness for 3 to 8 weeks (typical). I lost 7 pounds (very common) during the infection.
Separately, with my doctor’s permission, I went ahead and had a scheduled routine colonoscopy exam done. For that I was put under general anesthesia yesterday morning (no problems found – excellent health). Until today, I have not eaten normal food or quantities in 2 1/2 weeks.
I came home to find my neighbor running a loud tractor[1] that vibrates the entire house as he renovates his backyard. Due to the hepatitis recovery, and the effects of the anesthesia, I felt like crap. In addition, due to past traumatic brain injuries I am super sensitive to low frequency sounds and vibrations such that they case me to become nauseous. I had not eaten in almost 2 days and slept almost nothing the night before the procedure due to the mandatory 12 hours of induced diarrhea before the procedure. I desperately needed to sleep and desperately needed quiet.
I felt like shit yesterday and much of today. Yesterday afternoon, my wife drove us to a park where we parked and I lay in the car with my eyes shut for 2 hours to get away from the vibration torture. (Due to the anesthesia, I was not permitted, nor mentally capable of driving, yesterday.) I asked my wife to check me in to a hotel but she declined, correctly noting I could not be left alone for 24 hours after anesthesia (she is a retired R.N.) She couldn’t check both of us in as her 90 year old Mom was visiting us this week as well.
Thus, I was stuck with no alternatives.
I spent the 2nd morning in the public library but still felt terrible and want to sleep. I went home and lay on the floor in my office (furthest point from the shaking) for over an hour and fell asleep.
In the future, I plan to have a backup plan to stay in a hotel or AirBnb in case something disastrous like this happens again.
Why are small tractors designed for backyard use so damned loud? They are being used in close proximity to residents and their homes. The engineers at the companies that design these are not in touch with the market needs they should be fulfilling.
[1] Update – a week later another neighbor is doing similar work in his backyard. But he’s using a Bobcat brand tractor, which is about 1/4th the noise level of the tractor used by my immediate neighbor.
