Question
I recently purchased a white Phalaenopsis from the grocery store. The night I brought it home our heater broke and the room that it is in got cold. Ever since that night the blooms have looked terrible. The petals are drooping and have turned transparent. I do not know what to do. I tried putting it near the window and letting it get sun, as well as watering it. Please help me as I do not want it to die.

Answer
Roxanne, phalaenopsis flowers and buds are very sensitive to cold so it sounds as if your plant will lose it's flowers and, maybe, its buds.  What you want to focus on is the leaves.  If they still look healthy and not droopy, you have a good chance to save the plant to bloom another day.  There is a good chance that your plant will need to be repotted in fresh orchid potting mix.  You need to locate a source for orchid potting mix.  If you can't find it locally, there are many places you can get it via mail order.  Once you have some, you need to unpot your plant, discard the old potting mix, wash the roots off thoroughly and remove any rotted roots.  Healthy roots feel firm whereas rotted roots have collapsed.  Once you have prepared the plant and its roots, find a plastic pot thta is large enough to comfortably fir the remaining roots and add the new potting mix.  Old potting mix contains a greaat deal of decayed paerticles which are too small to allow air to pass thoruh the mix.  It also holds water and both of these conditions lead to root rot.  If you an east window, place the plant there after you have repotted it and water it once per week.  Do not let it stand in water and do not use water from a water softner.  You could still see the old flower spike develop new buds if it stays green.  If not, the new flower spike will emerge from the base of the plant.  Patience is required at this stage.  Let's hope you still have some healthy roots to help the plant recover and grow on to provide many years of beautiful flowers.  This process of repotting should be done annually following flowering.