Superglue Crisis

Last night at about 11:30, I had settled into bed and was just drifting off to sleep when I heard cries for help coming from the bathroom.

"Rachel! Rachel! Come quick! I need you!"

Fearing catastrophe, I sprang from my bed and ran to the bathroom. Jonathan yelled, "The toilet's broken!"

Indeed it was. For those of you who have not had a chance to become as intimately acquainted with the inside of a toilet as I have, here's how it works.

As seen in the picture, the lever you pull is connected to a long plastic arm.The other end of the arm is connected to a chain that, in turn, is connected to a stopper. When lifted, the stopper lets water into the toilet bowl, causing it to flush. All the water in the toilet tank is clean. This is a very important point for my sanity right now. (Although if it weren't, I would have a story to rival Hannah's. As an aside, you really should read Hannah's story. It is hilarious.)

Anyway, our plastic arm had broken off from the lever. I fished it out of the tank (which is why it's so important that the tank water is clean). We looked at it, and one of us said, "This looks like something we can fix with superglue!" Bad, bad, bad idea #1. Now, it may have been a decent idea if we had any functioning superglue. But no. The only superglue we have around the house is superglue that we've already used once, which means that the cap is unremovable because it is bonded to the part that's supposed to make dispensing the glue easy. We figure, no problem. We'll just take off everything and pour the glue out. Bad, bad, bad idea #2.

Now, at this point, I was holding the plastic arm, and Jonathan poured the superglue onto the end. Unfortunately but predictably, it ran down the sides of the plastic arm. I didn't notice because my hand was already wet from toilet tank water. We shortly realized we didn't know the exact way the plastic arm was supposed to reconnect with the lever. So I tried to reposition my hands so we could try again.

Didn't work.

My hand was glued to the toilet! Now, I realize that sounds a little dramatic. It would be slightly more accurate to say my hand was glued to the plastic part of the toilet's flushing mechanism. Either way, I couldn't move my hand more than about four inches (the length of the chain) from the toilet.

I panicked. Jonathan laughed. I didn't appreciate it. I was identifying with the people who have to cut off their own arms to escape entrapment. I was pretty sure we'd have to cut off my forefinger and thumb, or at least rip off all the skin from my fingertips. "I'm going to bleed!" I yelled.

After a few minutes, I calmed down and read the instructions on the tube of superglue. "Avoid use of excessive force to free bonded area." I was slightly less calmed.

Eventually it occurred to me that acetone might dissolve superglue. I told Jonathan. He asked where we could find acetone. I said nail polish remover. Unfortunately, we had none lying around. "What else would work?"

"I don't know! Check the internet."

So while I sat glued to my seat, Jonathan ran and checked the internet. Suggestions: Nail polish remover, or just pick at it until you are freed. I suggested that I was not thrilled with the prospect of picking myself loose. It sounded too much like the "leave my fingertips behind" idea, and the container had warned about using excessive force. So Jonathan left to go to the store and I sat and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Seriously, twenty minutes has never seemed like a longer time. Finally, Jonathan got back with nail polish remover. After a few minutes of trying to rub it around the edges of my fingers, I decided that what I really needed was to immerse my fingers and the plastic part in acetone so the glue could really dissolve. So we ripped the plastic part free from the chain (it was broken anyway, and we didn't have much to lose at this point), poured the nail polish remover into a tupperware container, and I immersed my fingers in it.

A few anxious minutes later at about 1:00 am, my fingers were freed, minus a few bits of skin that stayed stuck to the plastic. But at least there was no bleeding.

And that is almost the end of the story. Minus the part where we still can't flush our toilet with the lever. Once again, good thing the water in the tank is sanitary.