MIA!

Yes, I have been missing in action! I needed to take a bit of a break with the hectic work schedule going on currently. Plus, some of my ongoing health issues have been diagnosed. I am in the process of trying to get my upstairs ready so that hubby and I can move to the upstairs bedroom my son left behind. Our daughter is ready to go into her room upstairs as well.

We have a forced hot air heating system, and every winter I am incredibly sick. Blood tests show I have a hypersensitivity to mold dust and now things are starting to fall in place. Of course, one of the treatments is to avoid the dust and get mold abatement. That costs in the thousands and is WAY out of my pocketbook range. Hubby has taken steps to clean up a bit in the basement and add cement around the house so that water flows away from the foundation, not towards it. Snow run off has been a big problem, and for several years it has been leaking into our foundation wall... causing mold, mildew and then forcing all that dust into the house via the air ducts. In the summer, the humid, moldy smell was terrible. A dehumidifier has helped quite a bit.

I now sit in my bedroom, the heating grate is covered with cheesecloth to filter out some particles, and hubby changes the furnace filters every month or so. I have a HEPA air purifier in my room and use it daily. I see a pulmonary doctor every 6 months, and have to undergo breathing tests along with blood tests to monitor the level of damage to my lungs. I will tell you, it sucks. Some people are allergic (or as they say hypersensitive) to the mold-I am one of them. Other people it won't bother. I noticed a big difference when I was in Guatemala earlier this year, I was actually well with no chest pain or shortness of breath for 3 weeks out of the 4 that I was there.

Anyways, I have been busy moving upstairs... cleaning out things, throwing out things-but it all takes time, and I can only do a little per day with a mask on to avoid getting particles in my lungs. (Yes, my CT scan shows damage to the lungs) By keeping primarily upstairs where there is no forced hot air heat (I will be using electric heaters, there goes the light bill lol) I hope to reduce the amount of damage being done-walking away from my home is not feasible right now-but one day I do hope to return to Guatemala and at least there I will not have to use heat much-and when I do, I will use a clean wood burning stove and/or gas monitor built into the wall to take the chill off. Living in Maine, the heat is on most of the year-and then with the humid summers the mold growth really takes off, so it has become a vicious cycle.

So there you have it, I apologize to my readers for this break in posting-I hope to post again soon but it promises to be a crazy few months until I can get established upstairs. Kind of sucks being a prisoner in 1-2 rooms (though I will have to go downstairs to cook, for the bathroom etc...)but so be it as I want to be healthy. Have a great Halloween everyone!