Operation!

Pedro and I spent today playing operation... on his car. Lately the car has had a heart block with starting up so we knew the battery was going to go soon. Luckily it waited to totally enter into cardiac arrest for two days after Pedro finished his internship and driving to and from Salt Lake in traffic every day.

RULES: Only do those things which wear you out and require some ingenuity, no easy solutions allowed!

First off, we tried some CPR (push starting). We did it about four times by ourselves without any luck. Then three times with other people helping push rather than just my wimpy self. usually multiple people performing CPR is helpful, but no such luck. After Pedro and I had our first few turns, we tried calling a friend to bring his defibrillator (jumper cables), but unfortunately, his wife had them and she was in meetings. Other people that came out to help us also were not able to provide the easy solution. So we ended up going to emergency surgery for a temporary transplant.

One of the kind helpers offered his surgical services and a donor. He removed the battery from his car and hooked it up to our car just to get it started, once started we removed the temp and were on our way for a permanent transplant.

After evaluation of the faulty battery, we learned that it has a leaky valve and battery acid regurgitation built up around the attachments so there was not a great connection, thus the heart block. We asked how long batteries typically last, and the "surgeons" told us that with Utah weather it lasts about 18 months. The battery in the car was eight years old... so I feel like it was justified to go into cardiac arrest since it lived in Idaho most of its life with weather that was more harsh. All in all, everything turned out well and our little trooper is all patched up and recovering from the surgery.

The mechanics had to come in and ask where the battery was at because when they cracked the sternum, it was missing! We told them it was in the back seat and they chuckled that we had driven to the car hospital without a battery. It was a pretty comical day. I would have loved to have seen myself pushing the car through the parking lot while Pedro strategically found the hot spot to release the clutch (I didn't trust my skills to do the clutch part). All is well now, and we have a new battery so we should be good for a while. It was a great day for laughs.