Black Mold Rears It's Ugly Head

I woke up at 4:30 this morning contemplating my life and that of my families lives. I went to bed about 2 am. I am sick but at the same time grateful for the blessing of health I do have. I am tired but at the same time coming to terms that it affords me nothing to "sleep" my life away. I am lost but at the same am found like NEVER before.

Again, I am wading through emotions of personal opposition and trust. Trust for myself. Trust for my husband. Most importantly, trust for my God. Reexamining faith and it's place in my life. Recognizing I have already been given all the answers....finding them....and believing in them, is the hard part. Does everyone go through this or is it just me?

Wednesday evening I started to get sick. My children have had mild coughs, runny noses, watery eyes, etc. since the beginning of the week. We have had rain all week which has been a big blessing seeing how east Texas is on the verge of a drought. But...it rained for a week straight. Oh, it came and went but every single day we had some rain, usually in copious amounts.

Within a few days of the rain starting, we noticed a black spot forming on the ceiling of the family room. I commented about it to Chris and then went about my daily doings. 2 days later we saw that the spot was growing quite rapidly and was now uncomfortably large and quite foul looking. We called my Dad who promptly came to look at it and covered the space where the hole was in the roof with a billboard tarp until the rain stops and the roof can be fixed.

I began to vaguely remember, years back, friends of mine sending links and talking about this black mold that houses can get which has potential health hazards and can cause illness. Very quickly and very profoundly.

I mentioned to Chris that I remembered this and asked him if he thought it could be making us sick. Both of us have had pretty severe allergies since moving here. Allergies, for me, are COMPLETELY uncommon. For Chris, he has dealt with them his whole life so even though they seemed a bit worse than normal, we both thought nothing of it at the time. Dean has had allergies off and on too but as we thought back, our memory was that all our kids have had some discomfort or another, since moving here, that simply looked like allergies and was treated as such.

We decided to leave the house that evening and come and stay with my mother in law in town. Upon arriving, I spent the next several hours researching black mold and the "effects"...if any....on human health. This information is from one of the first websites I looked up. Another one is HERE!

"According to a 1999 Mayo Clinic Study, nearly all chronic sinus infections (afflicting 37 million Americans) are a result of molds."

"A 300% increase in the asthma rate over the past 20 years has been linked to molds. (according to 1999 USA Today Cover Story)"

That seemed scary to me. As I read on, I saw that many of the symptoms we were having, and had had on a regular basis since moving in, were congruent with what I was reading. I had heard of a dear friend who moved to California to move close to the coast so she could relax and heal from breast cancer. Only to soon find out that her house was covered in mold and making her sicker than ever.

Chris went back today and with mask in place, cleaned up the mess. We researched cleaning agents that we're supposed to be more "natural" and less invasive on human and environmental health. He purchased one and used it only to find it didn't really work that great. Unfortunately, he had to pull out the Clorox and he said within twenty minutes the mold was gone. Of course. Refreshing to know how often we, as a society, use Clorox and how effectively it kills life. Oh well. Just one more check on the chemical list I'm already putting together.

For now, we are still here...at my mother in laws....waiting out the storm, figuratively and literally. I don't know if the mold is causing all or any of our health issues. I am feeling somewhat better but am still pretty sick and we have been out of the house for 2 days now. I think it's so hard to know exactly what to peg on our health issues just because allergies can look just like a little cold and allergies are quite prevalent here in Texas. I believe there are SO MANY factors that go into each persons health, that all of them should be looked at before a proper diagnoses can be formed.

So, I'm wondering what each of you think. Give me your opinion. I know I have many family members in the medical field....please speak up and give your insight. All you alternative friend...you too...don't hold back. We are praying and searching for answers on how to properly deal with this situation. Last thing we want is our children's health compromised in anyway. We are willing to take the measures, if need be, to thwart that from taking place.

Living in the lake house has been such a blessing for our pocketbook. We will be forever grateful for Grandmama and Dad letting us stay there. Thank you! Thank you~ But if changes are needed then changes we much make! If staying is the order of the day....then stay we will!!

Abundant peace to all,
Rachel