Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Steve's Story
Steve's immune system is getting stronger every day. It is miraculous how God has and is working all this out, figuring out Steve has mold poisoning and putting all the pieces together. If you have a minute, I'll tell you our story:
It started with what we thought was eczema on Steve's hands back in late 2008. About the same time, he started recycling computer equipment for Mohawk in addition to his usual computer-related job. This required him to go into the plant out of his normal office environment. We tried everything for his hands without improvement and he was growing so fatigued he immediately went to sleep when he came home from work. He also had body aches and muscle soreness 24x7. I was just focused on his hands, trying to find help without looking at the whole body picture. He started having slight shortness of breath about a year ago but we thought it was from COPD because he did smoke for several years but has been quit for 19 years.
A friend of mine sent me an email about asperigillus, a fungus that almost killed her Dad many years ago. I disregarded the email for a while but God just kept bringing it to my memory and I took a look at it. The more I researched, the more it sounded like mold/fungus might be the root of Steve's problems. I found doctors in Atlanta, Dr. Susan Tanner and Dr. Donald Dennis that are environmental specialist that perform mold testing and voila, he is allergic to mold and his immune system was so weak it couldn't fight it so it started to attack his lungs. The lung specialist in Rome that did his biopsy couldn't tell us what caused the fibrosis, only that his immune system was attacking healthy lung tissue. If you read on the internet though, the medical community, Harvard Medical School, New England Journal of Medicine and Johns Hopkins agrees that "environmental pollutants" are the cause for pulmonary fibrosis.
Long story short, God is amazing if we will seek him, listen and then do! Now, why is Steve's immune system weak? The environmental department at Mohawk tested the area where Steve did his computer recycling in the plant, mold everywhere from a roof leak. They are having the area isolated, repaired and cleaned while Steve is in Florida. Also, our house had a leak that we were not aware of. We are having it repaired and cleaned while we are in Florida. Steve was also exposed to mold in two other Mohawk facilities, one has been condemned and the other is full of people. We haven't found the mold that his body is fighting hardest to clear out of his system, we believe it would be identified in one of those two locations.
Steve had lost his sense of smell and is regaining it so much that he can tell now when he comes in contact with mold and begins to sneeze, which is good but his throat also closes up, which isn't so good. He can also smell chicken manure and skunks now! lol The beautiful thing is he is taking supplements (vitamins, minerals, probiotics, etc) to repair his immune system. He is taking an anti-fungal drug and a very tiny, tiny dose of Prednisone to kick start his adrenal gland. His body was so depleted! Oh, and we also identified he is allergic to gluten and many other foods he regularly ate. I didn't realize either until this that 90% of your immune system is in your stomach. That's why diet is SO IMPORTANT!
Anyways, shew! It seems like a long road but the two doctors he is seeing in Atlanta thinks he can be well or much improved in six months if he eats correctly, takes the supplements and rids his environments of mold and pollutants! He needs pure, clean air to breathe. We saw a new doctor Monday, June 25th, an endocrinologist. Steve may need growth hormone to aid his recovery and Dr. Black will administer it if he does. The stay in Florida has been encouraged by all doctors we've seen. The salt air and good ozone will aid the healing process and when we return, his environments should be pretty pristine! I always thought people retire to Florida for the warm weather but that's only part of the benefit!
One more thing that confirmed it all for Steve and me.....the 2nd doctor we saw was pretty intense and he overwhelmed even me, with mold information the first time we saw him. He was very stern and a no-nonsense type of guy. Our insurance is not paying for much of this treatment making Steve and I both skeptical, this is totally not mainstream doctoring. However, on our 2nd visit to this guy (he's about 60 and looks about 35), I decided to quiet my fears and asked him how he knew so much about mold when he is an ear, nose and throat doctor. He looked at me and said, Well, it's a God thing! I didn't want to do this but it's what God wants me to do or called me to do, he said. He continued to tell us about some of his practice successes and papers he's written on the subject. The fears just melted away for both of us!
Folks like you that have continued praying for us has certainly helped our spirits and encouraged me to keep digging. Your prayers, God's amazing wisdom and knowledge has surfaced the improvement Steve is enjoying in only 1.5 months! Thanks so much!
It started with what we thought was eczema on Steve's hands back in late 2008. About the same time, he started recycling computer equipment for Mohawk in addition to his usual computer-related job. This required him to go into the plant out of his normal office environment. We tried everything for his hands without improvement and he was growing so fatigued he immediately went to sleep when he came home from work. He also had body aches and muscle soreness 24x7. I was just focused on his hands, trying to find help without looking at the whole body picture. He started having slight shortness of breath about a year ago but we thought it was from COPD because he did smoke for several years but has been quit for 19 years.
A friend of mine sent me an email about asperigillus, a fungus that almost killed her Dad many years ago. I disregarded the email for a while but God just kept bringing it to my memory and I took a look at it. The more I researched, the more it sounded like mold/fungus might be the root of Steve's problems. I found doctors in Atlanta, Dr. Susan Tanner and Dr. Donald Dennis that are environmental specialist that perform mold testing and voila, he is allergic to mold and his immune system was so weak it couldn't fight it so it started to attack his lungs. The lung specialist in Rome that did his biopsy couldn't tell us what caused the fibrosis, only that his immune system was attacking healthy lung tissue. If you read on the internet though, the medical community, Harvard Medical School, New England Journal of Medicine and Johns Hopkins agrees that "environmental pollutants" are the cause for pulmonary fibrosis.
Long story short, God is amazing if we will seek him, listen and then do! Now, why is Steve's immune system weak? The environmental department at Mohawk tested the area where Steve did his computer recycling in the plant, mold everywhere from a roof leak. They are having the area isolated, repaired and cleaned while Steve is in Florida. Also, our house had a leak that we were not aware of. We are having it repaired and cleaned while we are in Florida. Steve was also exposed to mold in two other Mohawk facilities, one has been condemned and the other is full of people. We haven't found the mold that his body is fighting hardest to clear out of his system, we believe it would be identified in one of those two locations.
Steve had lost his sense of smell and is regaining it so much that he can tell now when he comes in contact with mold and begins to sneeze, which is good but his throat also closes up, which isn't so good. He can also smell chicken manure and skunks now! lol The beautiful thing is he is taking supplements (vitamins, minerals, probiotics, etc) to repair his immune system. He is taking an anti-fungal drug and a very tiny, tiny dose of Prednisone to kick start his adrenal gland. His body was so depleted! Oh, and we also identified he is allergic to gluten and many other foods he regularly ate. I didn't realize either until this that 90% of your immune system is in your stomach. That's why diet is SO IMPORTANT!
Anyways, shew! It seems like a long road but the two doctors he is seeing in Atlanta thinks he can be well or much improved in six months if he eats correctly, takes the supplements and rids his environments of mold and pollutants! He needs pure, clean air to breathe. We saw a new doctor Monday, June 25th, an endocrinologist. Steve may need growth hormone to aid his recovery and Dr. Black will administer it if he does. The stay in Florida has been encouraged by all doctors we've seen. The salt air and good ozone will aid the healing process and when we return, his environments should be pretty pristine! I always thought people retire to Florida for the warm weather but that's only part of the benefit!
One more thing that confirmed it all for Steve and me.....the 2nd doctor we saw was pretty intense and he overwhelmed even me, with mold information the first time we saw him. He was very stern and a no-nonsense type of guy. Our insurance is not paying for much of this treatment making Steve and I both skeptical, this is totally not mainstream doctoring. However, on our 2nd visit to this guy (he's about 60 and looks about 35), I decided to quiet my fears and asked him how he knew so much about mold when he is an ear, nose and throat doctor. He looked at me and said, Well, it's a God thing! I didn't want to do this but it's what God wants me to do or called me to do, he said. He continued to tell us about some of his practice successes and papers he's written on the subject. The fears just melted away for both of us!
Folks like you that have continued praying for us has certainly helped our spirits and encouraged me to keep digging. Your prayers, God's amazing wisdom and knowledge has surfaced the improvement Steve is enjoying in only 1.5 months! Thanks so much!
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Blown Away
Over the rainbow and still I'm,
The Happy Handicap
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Sloane has a "friend" coming over....
So....Sloane has a new "friend" coming over! "Not a boyfriend" she says, although he is a boy, rather a man. When my kids were young, I'd never let them invite friends over because I didn't feel like I had time to clean the house properly. They didn't like it but those were my rules. Before Sydnee was married, she would help me clean to have a "friend" over and Sloane helped me clean today. I might need a rule against "friends" coming over now but it did help me get Sydnee out of the house so I'm thinking these visits will do the same for Sloane!
About these visits...I do want my house to be exceptionally clean but I can never get EVERYTHING just right. I'm gonna give you a few examples of what I mean. First of all, we concentrated on these rooms (dining room, kitchen, den, living room and half bath). The rest of the house did not get touched. I don't know if you ever "specific room" clean like this but you should try it.
Here's the living room. At first glance, one might think all is OK. BUT NOT SO upon closer inspection. See those windows in the pic below, I have hired a carpenter to take those out and replace them with smaller, high efficiency ones because the sunlight is fading my wood flooring. He hasn't gotten to it yet and I gave my Mom my curtain rods from that window. So, in a pinch, I hung the curtains with some string rope that I had (notice the droop)! Sloane can explain it to her "friend" if he notices. Who cares anyway, especially with that big Christmas piece still on the mantel and it's March! I think it's so pretty and Christmas is every day to me that sometimes I leave it there all year long!
About these visits...I do want my house to be exceptionally clean but I can never get EVERYTHING just right. I'm gonna give you a few examples of what I mean. First of all, we concentrated on these rooms (dining room, kitchen, den, living room and half bath). The rest of the house did not get touched. I don't know if you ever "specific room" clean like this but you should try it.
Here's the living room. At first glance, one might think all is OK. BUT NOT SO upon closer inspection. See those windows in the pic below, I have hired a carpenter to take those out and replace them with smaller, high efficiency ones because the sunlight is fading my wood flooring. He hasn't gotten to it yet and I gave my Mom my curtain rods from that window. So, in a pinch, I hung the curtains with some string rope that I had (notice the droop)! Sloane can explain it to her "friend" if he notices. Who cares anyway, especially with that big Christmas piece still on the mantel and it's March! I think it's so pretty and Christmas is every day to me that sometimes I leave it there all year long!
Secondly, I always worry about my baseboards not being clean enough. I wonder how many people actually check baseboards when they go to visit people? Anyway, I'm hoping that the spit shine I put on the foyer tile will blind him enough that he won't notice the baseboards. See below!
One of my greatest fears when having visitors, especially "friends" of my daughters, is they might need to use the bathroom. I know this is a natural occurrence and I don't want them to "hold it" but my fear is a natural one too. I am scared to death he will lift the toilet lift and a curly hair will stare him right in the face! This wasn't Sloane's fear though, she just wanted me to get the dust off of my topiary roses. See picture below.
We have steam cleaned the kitchen, dusted all the rooms and I'm going to sweep the porch now. I wish that I would learn that my daughter's "friends" are not coming over to grade me on my cleaning skills. I secretly already know that whatever shine I might manage to put on my house isn't the reason they come - because the beauty of either of my daughter's would outshine my clean house any day. The thing I enjoy most about a "friend" coming over is getting help with the work!
Friday, February 24, 2012
my crooked view of cleaning!
It's cleaning day! I write that as I am blowing all the air out of my lungs from desperation and exhaustion! I have been cleaning the entire day. I don't call myself a housewife because I'm not married to this house! This house hasn't courted me, proposed to me or kissed me, so, I'm not really a housewife rather a housekeeper or maybe even a house slave! I enjoy a clean house but I despise getting it to that state. I've made myself a few rules to live by and wanted to share them with you.
1. Don't sweep or vacuum everyday. I take pride in my work and like to see results! I get bigger and grander results if I only sweep or vacuum once a week.
3. Only use dishwasher safe cookware. I've come to the conclusion if it's not safe to put in the dishwasher, it must not be safe to cook in!
4. Don't mop everyday. I know hard surfaces are resilient but I'm not taking any chances on wearing mine out prematurely. Besides, if you can't see the dirt, it's probably not dirty, right?
5. Don't do laundry on rainy days. If you do, you can't hang it out on the clothesline to dry which increases the electricity bill. This rule has worked out pretty well for me in 2012, it's been extremely wet and my laundry days have been scarce.
6. Don't clean the shower everyday. Keeping a tight budget this year and looking for ways to make money, I came across a research project that pays 15 cents a pound for mold and mildew (that's more than tin cans). It takes several days for it to grow so even though I'm allergic, me, mold and mildew are the 3 amigos!
7. Don't clean the refrigerator everyday. I'm hoping my experiments will get me a guest appearance on The Big Bang Theory. Sheldon is my hero!
8. Recycle only on Thursdays. I go around 2 pm every Thursday and there's no one else there! It's easier for me to pick up items out of the "Free Stuff" pile without being seen.
9. Don't ever move your husband's belongings anytime. Ladies, this needs no explanation!
10. Don't ever clean the upstairs. Since me and Steve are practically empty-nesters, nobody goes up there anyway.
Now.....I have to clean more than it seems because I don't want Steve to think I'm just sitting at home all day doing nothing....that, would make me a house sitter!
1. Don't sweep or vacuum everyday. I take pride in my work and like to see results! I get bigger and grander results if I only sweep or vacuum once a week.
2. Don't dust everyday. I have environmental allergies and it is my healthy theory that keeping a house too clean prevents my immune system from building antibodies.
3. Only use dishwasher safe cookware. I've come to the conclusion if it's not safe to put in the dishwasher, it must not be safe to cook in!
4. Don't mop everyday. I know hard surfaces are resilient but I'm not taking any chances on wearing mine out prematurely. Besides, if you can't see the dirt, it's probably not dirty, right?
5. Don't do laundry on rainy days. If you do, you can't hang it out on the clothesline to dry which increases the electricity bill. This rule has worked out pretty well for me in 2012, it's been extremely wet and my laundry days have been scarce.
6. Don't clean the shower everyday. Keeping a tight budget this year and looking for ways to make money, I came across a research project that pays 15 cents a pound for mold and mildew (that's more than tin cans). It takes several days for it to grow so even though I'm allergic, me, mold and mildew are the 3 amigos!
7. Don't clean the refrigerator everyday. I'm hoping my experiments will get me a guest appearance on The Big Bang Theory. Sheldon is my hero!
8. Recycle only on Thursdays. I go around 2 pm every Thursday and there's no one else there! It's easier for me to pick up items out of the "Free Stuff" pile without being seen.
9. Don't ever move your husband's belongings anytime. Ladies, this needs no explanation!
10. Don't ever clean the upstairs. Since me and Steve are practically empty-nesters, nobody goes up there anyway.
Now.....I have to clean more than it seems because I don't want Steve to think I'm just sitting at home all day doing nothing....that, would make me a house sitter!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
It's Steve's Birthday!
Happy Birthday to my best friend and husband, Steve! He's 55 today! We've been married (26.5 years)almost half as long as he's been alive. I wonder if he's calculated that up or looked at that in such a way? On the other hand, I've been married to him longer than half my life at 48. It's a happy day, let's talk about something else. lol
Steve and I have shared many good times together, bad times together and everything in between. With the help of God, we have two beautiful daughters, Sydnee and Sloane and a beautiful home. I bet your mind went to the house we live in made of white vinyl siding and brick. But, I'm talking about the home you see in the picture below.
This home is a shared bond of love that keeps us warm when the cold winds blow, makes us feel safe to sleep at night, welcomes us with outstretched arms, is always waiting for our return and keeps a light on in the window of our hearts for each other to find our way. Yep, I definitely love my husband and as one commenter said on Facebook, this picture represents "Total Happiness".
I'm not a sentimental person or a hopeless romantic, must've slipped off there for a moment. I made Steve some pretzel Rolo bites for his birthday to share with his co-workers. I also put on my makeup today, on a Tuesday, so he wouldn't have to strain his aging eyes to see my beauty!
Truly yours,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
p.s. If you haven't watched the video at the top lefthand of the screen, please do!
Steve and I have shared many good times together, bad times together and everything in between. With the help of God, we have two beautiful daughters, Sydnee and Sloane and a beautiful home. I bet your mind went to the house we live in made of white vinyl siding and brick. But, I'm talking about the home you see in the picture below.
This home is a shared bond of love that keeps us warm when the cold winds blow, makes us feel safe to sleep at night, welcomes us with outstretched arms, is always waiting for our return and keeps a light on in the window of our hearts for each other to find our way. Yep, I definitely love my husband and as one commenter said on Facebook, this picture represents "Total Happiness".
I'm not a sentimental person or a hopeless romantic, must've slipped off there for a moment. I made Steve some pretzel Rolo bites for his birthday to share with his co-workers. I also put on my makeup today, on a Tuesday, so he wouldn't have to strain his aging eyes to see my beauty!
Truly yours,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
p.s. If you haven't watched the video at the top lefthand of the screen, please do!
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