zeptember

Friday, April 30, 2010 was my last day as an assistant teacher in the 1st & 2nd grade classroom. The school and I knew about this for two weeks, but neither side took a lot of action to figure out where to place me come Monday, May 3, after I helped out with that class’ movie field trip.

On Monday, I showed up for work and got through the field trip and was no longer needed by 11:30am. I tried to find the director so we could discuss where next to place me, since I am still not ready to go back to the outdoor classroom.

The director was not in.

I wrote a letter to the director and placed it in her box. The letter detailed the time off I will be needing for doctor’s appointments and my upcoming trip to Michigan to see family I’ve not seen in six years. I ended the letter with a note about needing to discuss my chemical sensitivity issues, as it would affect my next placement.

She never got back to me, so I talked to the school secretary, who told me to phone the director at home.
I phoned and left a message.

She called later that night, and with a weary edge to her voice, told me to just come in on Tuesday.

I showed up on Tuesday, and the director was not there. She never set foot in the office, which meant she never read my letter.

I decided I would see how much I could take of one morning in the outdoor classroom.

I found out that in an effort to accommodate me, the owner of the school had purchased new foam floor pads to replace the old mildewed pads, and had also purchased some kind of anti-microbial light-weight carpet to replace some of the mildewed carpets.

The outdoor classroom is covered by a burlap roof, with a corrugated plastic roof over the top of that. One wall is cinderblock, as it divides the property from the neighborhood behind the school. One wall is old wood over drywall (with an indoor classroom behind it), one wall is plastic sliding doors which separates the classroom from the playground, and the fourth wall is what appears to be the original back of the building, as it is made of brick.

In the Montessori sense of the word, this is not an actual outdoor classroom at all. A true outdoor classroom would be akin to a large backyard, brimming with shrubbery, trees, gardens, flower beds and the like, for children to learn gardening, botany and observation of the natural world.

This is however a first step for the school I work at. This outdoor classroom is basically the art room; it contains all the messy jobs teachers don’t want the pre-kindergarten students doing inside.

As such, this particular outdoor classroom has a lot of tempura paint, a sandbox, a topsoil container to dig in, water pouring jobs, colouring jobs, play-doh, and water colour paints.
Recently added to this classroom is some kind of clay, which has gotten everywhere, because my co-teacher thinks her students should be free in their association with very wet clay - she wants to provide the maximum sensory experience for them, but unfortunately the parents and teachers are complaining about how messy the children and their clothes are, and the brand new carpets are already coated in the stuff.

When I set eyes upon the classroom I have been absent from for two months, I nearly panicked, it was such a mess.

The co-teacher told me she was ordered by the school owner to wash the filthy carpets, so she flung them from the floor and I saw to my horror that the teacher had laid the new carpets on top of the old mildewed foam padding. I told her the old padding had to go. She thought we could just put the new flooring on top of the old flooring for extra padding. I told her no way, sorry, it has to go.

Beneath the foam padding is dirty, dusty asphalt. The teacher set to work sweeping after she peeled up the old foam pads, and I stood back, and wondered if I should just leave altogether.

But of course I didn’t. It’s that whole ‘if I can’t see the damage then it isn’t happening’ type thinking again. I knew full well there were dust particles and major allergens in the air, but I did not observe them directly, so I did not leave the scene.

Once my co-teacher finished sweeping, she flung down a new pack of padded Best Step Anti-Fatigue Flooring for me to help her open. It made a huge dust cloud and I jumped back, covering my face. She apologised and laughed nervously - she did not expect the dust cloud because in her mind, she’d just cleaned.

We set to work opening up the new padded flooring, and immediately I was choking on the chemical offgassing. It smelled like auto tires, but 100 times stronger.

I had already been chemically exposed first thing that morning by walking into two classrooms to drop off clipboards (because parents are still sending heavily perfumed children to school), but unwrapping the flooring put me over the limit, and I developed a headache and sore throat.

I removed myself immediately from the outdoor classroom and looked up the flooring. It is made of Ethyl Vinyl Acetate (EVA) foam, and per the company’s FAQ, they do not use any lead or latex during the production of the foam, and they do not chemically treat the foam, despite the packaging also saying it is anti-microbial and water resistant.

And yet there I was, choking, gagging, sore throat, headache. The company that makes the foam, and my workplace will say I have been accommodated.

The company FAQ also says, “All EVA foam products will have an odor when you initially open them up. This odor will dissipate over time. The odor is not harmful. Putting them in an open air area will help with the initial odor,” and that it is safe for children.

Ugh.

I went to Healthy Child based on the links Susie sent me. They have an article on EVA foam, and they say, “Ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) has been the safer substitute for PVC for several years.”

At that point, I felt like I’m falling through the cracks. I removed myself from the outdoor classroom and I wrote my director another letter. This time, the letter focused on chemical sensitivity. I included the link to the new fragrance free guidelines at the Centers For Disease Control. I included a link to the Healthy Child, Healthy World website, which has information on getting one’s school on a fragrance free policy.

I didn’t hear back from the director.

I went back to work to help with the lunch rush for four different classrooms, and then took my regularly scheduled lunch break. On my lunch break, I asked teachers where I could assist them that afternoon. Nobody needed me, so halfway through my lunch break, I left work for the day.

Today I tried it again. I showed up at my scheduled time and unloaded children from their cars and saw the children off to their classrooms. After that, I was on my own. The director of course was nowhere to be found once again, and the fragrance overload was in full force in the pre-kindergarten rooms I used to work in all the time a year ago.
The classroom I had spent the last two months substituting in no longer needed me, now that their head teacher had returned from sick leave.

So I went back to the outdoor classroom and asked if I could help set anything up. My co-teacher was fuming that the carpets she’d hosed down yesterday still were not clean enough. She said something, though:

“I thought about what you were saying about chemicals, and do you know what? When I was hosing down the carpets yesterday with plain water, foam bubbles that looked soapy came out of the carpets, and I thought AHA! This is what Steph was talking about! They say it’s not chemically treated, but it is!”

I am so glad someone there is GETTING IT.
I found a dust mask and while my co-teacher re-hosed the carpets, I set to work with gloved hands and hot soapy water to remove the clay-encrusted tables and chairs in the outdoor classroom. Once that was finished, I sharpened all the coloured pencils for my teacher, and found a giant moth and moth’s nest in one of the pencil baskets. Feathers or something flew everywhere. That poor classroom has been so neglected in my absense! I was not wearing my dust mask when the moth’s nest incident occurred.

While the co-teacher took a group out to the front of the school for gardening class, I stayed behind with some students who wanted to do general outdoor classroom jobs, like colouring, sorting, sandbox, pouring, and other Montessori Practical Life and Art “jobs”.

At 11am, I helped my co-teacher close the classroom for the morning so we could transition to the lunch hour. I got through the next hour and a half of what I call The Lunch Rush, and that’s when the director finally appeared to me and called me in her office.

She and the teacher I had been substituting for had been talking. The teacher is back to work but not 100% yet, and can only work half days, so they need me to fill in at several points during the day. We went over the schedule and it takes care of me pretty nicely so that I can remain employed and working inside again. Out of all of the classrooms, it seems that the Kindergarten room, the 1st/2nd room, and 3rd/4th/5th room are the only three rooms where I can function without need of a hazmat suit. I have no idea why parents, children and teachers prefer to bathe in fragrance and chemicals in the other classrooms.

It’s a temporary solution for me, but works for now.

After we got past that schedule, I asked the director if she had time to read the two letters I’d sent her. She said she had not yet touched the letters.

So I rehashed everything - my new regular schedule of doctor appointments for pain management for the endometriosis, and my ongoing limitations that crop up as concerns chemical sensitivity.

Her response to the chemical sensitivity is that the world is becoming more and more aware of environmental issues, and as people become more aware, they might become sensitive to things, but really, people just have to remember that they were always fine before, and nothing is different now except for the fact that we are conscious of environmental toxins all around us.

I sat through all of this commentary, and thought carefully about my words.

When the director was finished, I started at the beginning; I was allergic to a lot of things in childhood, but my mother exposed me to these things despite knowing I was allergic, because she didn’t have the coping tools or the financial resources to help me. The worst thing it seemed I battled, according to my own memory, was second-hand cigarette smoke. By the 1990s, I became chemically sensitive to perfumes and colognes. By the year 2000, I could no longer wear scented oils because of chemical sensitivity.

And that was the extent of it, until September 2009, when within a span of thirty days, I had gotten my house sprayed with Deltamethrin to stop the numerous ant invasions (after trying most if not all available natural remedies), purchased a new foam bed and new foam pillows to try to help soften my and my husband’s severe dust mite allergies, and I began working in the outdoor classroom.
Working in the outdoor classroom also coincided with the regular change of season to Autumn, and the regular cycle of cold and flu season.

A perfect storm for an immunological freakout, if I ever saw one.

I think this got through to my director.

I then mentioned the CDC recently going fragrance free, and the Healthy Child, Healthy World references to creating a fragrance free school.

The director withdrew her understanding and sympathy at this point, citing how enough parents are already upset with the recent change last year to a nut-free school environment, and one parent even took her child to a new school because of the nut-free policy. She does not want to chance, in this economy, losing more parents and teachers for that matter to a forced fragrance free policy.

We ended our discussion with her saying I am one of her best employees, and that she’d hate to lose me, and that she’ll do what she can within reason for the school’s sake… but…
I told her we will both see what we can do, and for how long, and whatever happens, happens.

So right now it’s a battle to get to the end of the school year on June 11 - just over one month - and then I will take the summer off as planned to go to school to finish my head teacher certification.

Sadly, during my meeting with the director, my husband left me a message, which I retrieved right after my emotional meeting with the director:

The departmental head at his work just handed in his notice, and now the future of the entire department is uncertain - it may be absorbed into other areas of the company, or killed outright. My husband could lose his job very soon.

This means I cannot go back to school this summer. It means both of us are likely losing our jobs and we both have to start job hunting quick. It will be a lot easier for my husband to get another job, and he’s the much highly paid head of household, anyway.

And we’ve already got a bunch of money spent and allocated to a trip back home next week to visit my family whom I’ve not seen in six years.

I’m a bit stressed out at the moment, which I know isn’t going to help my compromised immune system. I came this close to breaking my 125-day sobriety streak (sobriety meaning I’m a social-setting alcoholic, not a full time at home, at work, sneaking drinks type alcoholic).

Instead of drinking shots, I ate sushi. :p

Toxic Teacher Syndrome: Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
Ronald Grisanti D.C., D.A.B.C.O., M.S.
Reviewed and submitted on August 18, 2005

A 25 year old women begins her new career as a 2nd grade school teacher. After many of years of preparation, this new educator is ready to serve the public and help her young students learn how to read and write.

Beginning in a newly renovated school is an extra bonus which makes our new teacher proud that she became part of the educational system. Everything is moving along fine.. she couldn’t be happier!

Three months pass by and our teacher has noticed that her concentration is just not right. She has been getting a little “edgy.”

Definitely not like her.

Her husband is concerned that maybe she is pushing herself a little too much and encourages her to simply slow down and pace herself.

As the weeks go by, she begins experiencing headaches over her eyes and the back of her head. The headaches are now occurring more frequently a minimum of 3-4 times a week.

Six months into the school season and her symptoms are getting worse. In addition to her headaches, lack of concentration and irritability, she is now having insomnia, cries over nothing and has noticed an unusual tingling in her face, hands and feet.

Concerned, our once “excited” trainer of children decides to see her family physician. After a brief consultation and a basic physical evaluation, her physician is confident she is again just overdoing it and recommends she lighten her work load.

In the mean time, she is prescribed Xanax, a mild tranquilizer to settle her nerves.

Feeling reassured that nothing is seriously wrong, our teacher returns to her young students and pushes on.

Another three months pass and this time our once highly motivated teacher is only a “shadow” of herself. It takes every ounce of energy to get started in the morning.

She is having greater difficulty preparing her school assignments and simply is just exhausted!

In a state of desperation she is referred to a psychiatrist. He diagnoses her with depression and prescribes an anti-depressant and also recommends counseling.

After two emotional years of trying an assortment of anti-depressants and hours of counseling, our young teacher is stuck in a nightmare.. a web of medical labels… depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, stress … just name a few!

Is It Possible Something Has Been Missed?

Every year thousands of teachers are afflicted with a condition that simply “zaps” the life right out of them.

Most physicians are at a total loss to understand what is behind this mysterious illness.

Unfortunately, many people are looked at as hypochondriacs and continue to suffer year after year.

The Diagnosis

By a stroke of luck and a lot of prayer, our school teacher stumbled on a medical article that “painted” an exact picture of her health challenges.

She was amazed to find that she was not alone and that thousands of other teachers were experiencing the same problem.

She was able to find a physician who was trained in making this difficult diagnosis and learned that she was suffering with something called “Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS).”

Some physicians have coined the term “The Toxic Teacher Syndrome” due to the numbers of teachers suffering with the same symptoms.

What is MCS?

Chemical Sensitivity is not a new term. It has been around for many years. The diagnosis MCS was researched by allergist Theron G. Randolph, M.D. (1906-1995).

Dr. Randolph discovered that many of his patients became ill from chemical substances that were normally considered safe at the recommended dosage. In the 1950s, Dr. Randolph concluded that people were failing to adapt to modern-day synthetic chemicals.

As more research was done on the effects of MCS, doctors suggested that the immune system is like a barrel that continually fills with chemicals until it overflows and symptoms appear.

Potential chemical toxins include:

• Formaldehyde which can be found in foam insulation, plywood, particleboard and press cabinets, fabric finishes, new carpet, polyurethane foam rubber (used in pillows, cushions, mattresses and rug padding), mobile homes, adhesives, synthetic clothes that crease resistant, wrinkle resistant.

• Oil vapors: from oil furnaces, motor-oil air-conditioning filters, electric kitchen appliances such as food processors, blenders, can openers.
• Polyethylene plastics: fake leather, artificial flowers, shower curtains.
• Household chemicals such as dry cleaning chemicals in clothes, mothballs, rug-cleaning products, paints, solvents, stain removers, air fresheners, window washing compounds.
• Polyesters in clothing, upholstery, drapery, furniture and stuffing for pillows and quilts.
• Pesticides residue on cottons and woolens; residues from exterminators.
• Epoxy adhesives on plastics, electronic equipment (TVs, microwaves,) which release gases when heated up.
• Common school paraphernalia such as carbon paper, ink, mimeographic and duplicating chemicals, glue.

How Do These Chemicals Cause Health Problems?

For most people the constant exposure to the above chemicals may not pose any health challenge.

However, an individual may come in contact with a freshly painted room and begin to experience dizziness, nausea, headaches etc..

Usually, however, it requires the constant everyday exposure to various toxins that simply become cumulative and eventually overwhelm the body’s ability to eliminate them.

When your detoxification system is in good working order, it protects you from low level chemical build-up.

It is interested that most of the sixty thousands chemicals in current use today have been developed in the last forty years.

In other words, it seems quite clear that these chemicals are being made at a faster rate than our bodies are able to get rid of them.

Chemicals are noted to injure the part of the cell that produces energy causing swelling of the cell membrane and a decreased ability to pump out chemical toxins.

When this occurs you can experience fatigue, weakness, poor memory, migraine headaches, insomnia, anxiety, etc..

So What Happened to our Teacher?

When the teacher first arrived in her new school, she was greeted with fresh paint, new carpet, new furniture etc.. which was all piled in her small room. This was further complicated by inadequate ventilation.

When the chemical load to her system was too high, some of the chemicals were simply unable to be detoxified.

This resulted in the slow accumulation of chemicals backing up in the blood causing her health to slowly spiral downward.

How Was She Helped?

Our school teacher was thoroughly evaluated receiving a physical examination, blood tests for liver function and a comprehensive detoxification blood test.

This test is used to determine how well her body is getting rid of toxins.

A chemical blood exposure test was also performed. This test is extremely valuable in determining the levels of chemical toxins in the blood.

A checklist of suspected chemical toxins was done as well as an assessment of the schools ventilation system.

The Results

After suffering for a little over two years, her tests revealed the following:

1: The Liver Profile was normal

2: The Detoxification Profile was seriously compromised resulting in an inability to process the load of chemicals.

3: The Chemical Testing revealed high levels of Formaldehyde, Toluene and Xylene

4: The checklist accurately correlated with her high levels of chemicals in her blood.

5: As suspected, although the school received a face-lift with new furniture and a fresh coat of paint, the ventilation system was functioning at approximately 40% efficiency and needed a major overhaul!!

The Treatment

The first step was too begin treatment on improving her ability to detoxify.

The next step was for the school to upgrade the ventilation system and for the teacher to purchase a four stage air filtration system for her classroom.

Finally, our teacher had a comprehensive safe environmental check of her classroom. Chemical toxins were replaced with non-toxic products. This was carried over to her home as well.

The Outcome

Within 2 weeks, our school teacher began to notice an improvement in her health. Her energy gradually increased, headaches were reduced to 1 every 2 weeks, the depression lifted, insomnia was replaced by sound restful sleep.

By the end of 2 and half months, she felt like her old self again and has continued to do well ever since.

Dr. Grisanti’s Comments:

This article presents a real case and demonstrates the sad fact that thousands of people are suffering needlessly.

Unless a physician has studied and been trained in the diagnosis and treatment of environmental illness, many more people especially teachers and other professionals working in similar environmental surroundings will continue to develop MCS and unfortunately be “branded” undiagnosable and sadly a hypochondriac.

The truth of the matter is.. there is an answer and this answer can pull many people out of this nightmare.

References:

1: Rogers SA, Depression: Cured at Last. Prestige Publishing, Syracuse, N.Y., 1997

2: Rogers SA, Chemical Sensitivity, Part I, II, III, February-April 1992, Internal Medicine World Report, 322-D Englishtown Rd., Old Bridge NJ 088857

3: Ashford, Nicholus, J.D., PhD., and Miller, Claudia, M.D. Chemical Exposures-Low Levels and High Stakes. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1991

4: LoSasso GL, Rapport LJ, Axelrod BN.Neuropsychological symptoms associated with low-level exposure to solvents and (meth)acrylates among nail technicians. Neuropsychiatry Neuropsychol Behav Neurol. 2001 Jul-Sep;14(3):183-9.

5: Courtade S, Giordano-Labadie F, Bazex J. [Formaldehyde related textile allergy in atopic patient] Ann Dermatol Venereol. 2001 Jun-Jul;128(6-7):765-7.

6: Teng S, Beard K, Pourahmad J, Moridani M, Easson E, Poon R, O’Brien PJ. The formaldehyde metabolic detoxification enzyme systems and molecular cytotoxic mechanism in isolated rat hepatocytes. Chem Biol Interact. 2001 Jan 30;130-132(1-3):285-96.

7:Sorg BA, Bailie TM, Tschirgi ML, Li N, Wu WR Exposure to repeated low-level formaldehyde in rats increases basal corticosterone levels and enhances the corticosterone response to subsequent formaldehyde. Brain Res. 2001 Apr 20;898(2):314-20.

8:Pitten FA, Kramer A, Herrmann K, Bremer J, Koch S. Formaldehyde neurotoxicity in animal experiments. Pathol Res Pract. 2000;196(3):193-8.

9: Czap A The ultimate sick building syndrome. Altern Med Rev. 2001 Oct;6(5):447.

10: Kimmel R, Dartsch PC, Hildenbrand S, Wodarz R, Schmahl FW. [Insufficient ventilation as the etiology of illness perception in an elementary school] Gesundheitswesen. 2000 Dec;62(12):660-4.

11: Thorn A. Building-related health problems: reflections on different symptom prevalence among pupils and teachers. Int J Circumpolar Health. 1998 Oct;57(4):249-56.

12: Fischer FM, Morata TC, Latorre Mdo R, Krieg EF, Fiorini AC, Colacioppo S, Gozzoli L, Padrao MA, Zavariz C, Lieber R, Wallingford KM, Cesar CL. Effects of environmental and organizational factors on the health of shiftworkers of a printing company. J Occup Environ Med. 2001 Oct;43(10):882-9.

13: Gericke C, Hanke B, Beckmann G, Baltes MM, Kuhl KP, Neubert D. Multicenter field trial on possible health effects of toluene. III. Evaluation of effects after long-term exposure. Toxicology. 2001 Nov 15;168(2):185-209.

14: Juntunen J, Matikainen E, Antti-Poika M, Suoranta H, Valle M. Nervous system effects of long-term occupational exposure to toluene. Acta Neurol Scand. 1985 Nov;72(5):512-7.

15: Eller N, Netterstrom B, Laursen P. Risk of chronic effects on the central nervous system at low toluene exposure. Occup Med (Lond). 1999 Aug;49(6):389-95.

16: Jo WK, Kim SH. Worker exposure to aromatic volatile organic compounds in dry cleaning stores. AIHAJ. 2001 Jul-Aug;62(4):466-71.

17: Romieu I, Ramirez M, Meneses F, Ashley D, Lemire S, Colome S, Fung K, Hernandez-Avila Environmental exposure to volatile organic compounds among workers in Mexico City as assessed by personal monitors and blood concentrations. Environ Health Perspect. 1999 Jul;107(7):511-5.

I have a pet peeve.

When I am telling someone about how bad my recent virus-turned-lung infection is, and that person says, “but have you tried Mucinex?” And I respond with “No”, it annoys the living piss out of me when said person gives me a look that says I have utterly failed as a person and worse, that I have brought this worsening of the condition upon myself.

I know that this person has no idea that the last time I tried Mucinex, my face wanted to explode. This person has no idea that doctors kept pushing the Mucinex on me and that in January, 2009, I gave it another try just to say I did it - to prove them wrong.
This person doesn’t know that I ended up having to go on antibiotics again, anyway, because Mucinex makes it all worse for me. Either I have tiny ducts or really thick constantly inflamed mucus in my sinus cavities, or both. Mucinex, which is guaifenesin, is supposed to thin the mucus enough to allow it to exit the sinus cavities more freely. It never works that way on me. The stuff gets thinned out in the sinus cavities, but builds up like a pressure cooker, because the ducts themselves are either too narrow or easily blocked.

Yes, I’ve tried Mucinex. It doesn’t work for me. Yes, I drink enough liquids. I’ve been on soup, tea, electrolyte water and occasionally Lemon Ginger Echinacea juice constantly for two full weeks, now.

I didn’t have all of this history in my head to recite back to the person who gave me a dirty look for not taking Mucinex. I just know that I shouldn’t take it. That was enough for this person to judge me - to think that I wasn’t doing all I could do to take care of myself, or worse, making excuses to seek pity for my illness.

So I am laying out my history here for myself and for others. The person who judged me today won’t even know or care what I’m talking about come Monday if I try to recite all this back to her - people judge and move on to other things and forget.
I’m the one taking it personally. I’m the one trying to prove myself to others every time they give me that look and say, “yes but have you tried…?”
But what happens every time - is that I get all crazy trying to PROVE MYSELF, to PROVE A POINT, and to SHOW THEM THEY’RE WRONG - and who gets hurt out of it?
ME!

So I get just a wee bit touchy. Just keep your goddamned advice to yourself, OR if you really really think I need to hear your advice or hear about some latest drug or remedy, DON’T give me that look when I say I can’t take that drug or remedy.
Take me at face value. Don’t make me feel like I have to go and prove myself to you. Don’t make me justify my reasons. You can take what I say on its own and be satisfied that I know what the hell I’m talking about, or you can go shove a hot poker up your ass. And leave me the hell alone.

 
April 22, 2010 edit: I am fully justified in my attitude above, as I went and got a face x-ray in February which diagnosed me officially with Chronic bilateral maxillary sinusitis.

What that diagnosis means: when I get an upper respiratory tract infection, it WILL turn into a sinus infection, so doctors - you WILL give me antibiotics immediately, no questions asked, cuz you have my friggin x-rays right there.
Well-meaning people on the street, friends, family - you will NOT tell me to take Mucinex, because for chronic sinusitis, it DOES NOT WORK. None of the over the counter remedies work.

Woohoo justification. I love it when it’s proven that I’m not insane.

That’s what the reality of the story was - not food allergies but viruses. I went from being bedridden the last week of January/first week of February, and on February 5 while walking to dinner, I had declared how wonderful it was to be alive and walking with my husband again. And BAM within an hour I was sick with what the doctor later said was enterovirus.

The enterovirus took me down hard. I never had so much diarrhea in my life - and within a span of 3 days. I could not eat anything more than soup, tea and banana mush for a week straight. I found out that the Cream of Rice was making my fingers split open, so I cursed it and stopped using it. I don’t care if it says Gluten Free on the package - I call cross-contamination and won’t use B&G brand ever again.

My fingers cleared up within 48 hours of no longer eating Cream of Rice.

By Friday, February 12, I once again declared I was feeling better. I had gone back to work and worked Feb 10, 11, 12.
By Friday night however, I had a lot of sinus drainage and was sneezing a lot.

By Saturday, February 13, a full on respiratory tract infection was now at play. My head felt full of rubber cement, yet my right nostril had a continuous thick leak of goo. Despite that, I rode my bicycle to run some errands, and went out into the cold night air for a local zombie-themed pub crawl. I endured cigarette smoke at the bars (ppl smoking in the doorways and smoke coming inside), which of course did not help. I blew my nose all night.
Saturday or Sunday I’d called the doctor’s office, and the on-call doctor called me back. He said that I likely caught a secondary virus, that it wouldn’t be a continuation of the enterovirus. He said there was nothing to be done except pain meds, neti pot, salt soaks, and a heating pad to my face. We had talked about over the counter (OTC) remedies - I can’t take most of them because of various side effects. The doctor told me the sinus infection was likely not bacterial and to just keep doing what I was doing.

On Sunday I was bedridden all day. I thought I was getting strep throat, my throat was so sore. I had a pounding sinus headache. Both ears plugged up; I had really bad left ear pain, and droning engine noise in head. I did the neti pot, huffed salt water, drank lots of tea and soup and water all day. Other than that, I didn’t eat much. Running fever up to 100°F - it was up and down all day.

On Monday, February 16, I was bedridden half the day. I had another pounding sinus headache. Both ears plugged up and I had really bad left ear pain. Mucus strained with blood when I cleaned out my nose with the neti pot. I also huffed salt water, drank lots of tea and soup and water all day. I had spicy Thai chicken dish for late lunch and again for late dinner (leftovers). I took one tylenol 3 and felt better for awhile, then congestion returned and both nostrils plugged up again. Running fever up to 100°F - it was up and down all day.

On Tuesday, I went to the doctor. Still getting blood spatter in the nose goo. Doctor confirmed I still had a fever - it was 99.4°F I think - and the doctor said yeah, I have a sinus infection alright. She heard out my medical history (had chronic sinus infections all through childhood thanks to living with a pack-a-day smoker in an industrial part of town), and decided to put me on antibiotics.

I was back in the doctor’s office again on Wednesday, February 17, because I’d tried to go back to work that morning. The chilly morning air and the thick fog made my lungs ache badly and it became hard for me to breathe. I looked pasty white. I barely fixed my hair to go to work, I was so sick. I turned right around and came back home because my lungs hurt so bad and I was having trouble breathing. I was able to get into the doctor’s office at noon that day, and saw a different doctor. She listened to my heart and lungs. She said I have ‘junk’ in my lungs, and that I was wheezing. She gave me my first ever albuterol treatment (nebulizer delivery).
Although it cleared my lungs and made for velvety smooth breathing for the next six and a half hours, the ingredients in the albuterol treatment also made me very light headed, gave me tremors, and removed my ability to concentrate. I darted my eyes and head around and had anxiety all day long. I told the doctor I can’t work in that state, and that the treatment is no better than the illness itself. I opted to stay home another day.

When I got back home, I found Alameda County Industries vehicles all over the intersection near my home. They were shoveling a sand like material onto a spill of some sort, which was all up and down two streets and filled the intersection. I saw a garbage or recycle truck with its hazard lights on. I went over to the working men and asked if it was hydraulic fluid that had spilled. They said it was. They assured me that the sand they were putting down was harmless, and was like ‘kitty litter’.

Please google hydraulic fluid toxicity to learn more, and also check out a news story about a woman who died after a similar accident.

I have also uploaded photos here. My lips were stinging when I got back into the house last night after taking pictures. I should have worn a mask of course. Of course.

I shed all my clothes in the kitchen and put them in a garbage bag. I took a shower immediately.

Last night I filed complaint with the Alameda Department of Public Works and the City Clerk’s office for Boards and Commissions. This morning, following Susie Collins’ advice, I phoned up the police department to make sure they’d been notified. They said they had, and seemed indifferent to me. They routed me over to the fire department, where I was told I’d get a call back. I got a voicemail saying they’d send someone over to check out the street, but I didn’t see anyone come by in a Fire Department uniform or vehicle.

At 3pm today, I received the following email:

Good afternoon,

I am responding back to your e-mail that was sent to ACI this morning, at approximately 2:30pm on February
17,2010 one of our fully automated trucks had a hydraulic hose rupture and leaked fluid onto the street, our driver immediately contacted our dispatch center and a field supervisor.

Upon notification of the spill we immediately contacted the City of Alameda, Public works department. Both the City of Alameda Fire and Police department were called and responded to the scene to assist us with the cleaning of the street and traffic control.

After meeting with the fire department and the urban run-off group they
released the scene back to us for our cleanup process. We responded
with 7 ACI employees to put dry sweep on the on the fluid and swept up
all the areas effected. The hydraulic fluid
can become slippery and that’s why we reacted to get it cleaned up
immediately. The fluid that was on the ground is a premium hydraulic
oil that is commonly used in hydraulic systems, The absorbent that was
used is called select sorb professional multi purpose spill aid.

We are keeping in contact with the city of Alameda and the urban run-off Manager, today we had street sweepergo thru the areas that were effected and he will be returning again
tonight after cars have left the street. As far as the City of Alameda
and ACI is concerned there are no direct health hazards as a result of the spill.

I apologize for any inconvenience this matter may have caused you, please
feel free to contact me should you have any further questions or
concerns.

Best Regards,

Guy Martinez Safety Manger

I sent an email back to Mr. Martinez, asking for specifics on the hydraulic fluid; “Thank you for your response. Can you tell me what type of hydraulic fluid had spilled, aside from it being ‘premium’? Was it mineral oil, organophosphate ester, or polyalphaolefin?”

And now I wait.

That brings us up to Thursday - today. I’m home, still on antibiotics, still getting painful ears plugging up, still filling the waste basket with snotty tissues…and avoiding going outside to save my life.

Edit:

Today I got another answer from the ACI guy regarding the hydraulic fluid spill:

Good morning it is a petroleum-based mineral oil, have a good day guy.

Well, since I didn’t get a brand name or anything, I turned to google and found a MSDS for a petroleum-based mineral oil hydraulic fluid by Graco (get the PDF here).
The usual applies - respiratory, CNS and skin damage can occur with the use or misuse of hydraulic fluid. I just have to watch my health over the next few months to see if anything manifests out of this. I’d already developed an upper respiratory infection which turned into either bronchitis or RSV before the spill happened.

Today is the second day in a row that I did not have diarrhea upon waking. Today is the second day in a row that my stomach and intestines tried to stabilise - until I fed myself something other than Cream of Rice with mashed banana.

Last night it resulted in 8 episodes of diarrhea. This afternoon it resulted in moderate nausea and stomach and intestinal gurgles. I’m worn out. I’m tired as hell. And I worked a full day today on top of it.

I was supposed to see a physical trainer today, but instead I went to the doctor.

That’s when I found out that it’s not JUST a food reaction I’ve been having, and it WASN’T food poisoning.

My doctor is certain that I have an enterovirus. She said it’s going around - she’s seen patients with my exact symptoms for over a week, now.

I know that what’s going on with me IS also a food reaction on top of the enterovirus, because my left thumb is covered in flaky dermatitis, and my thumb is cracked and will probably start bleeding tomorrow.

According to MedScape, I was harbouring the enterovirus for up to a week before the diarrhea hit me on Friday. It says, “The average incubation period is 3-10 days, during which the virus migrates to regional lymphoid tissue and replicates. Minor viremia results, which is associated with the onset of symptoms and viral spread to the reticuloendothelial system (spleen, liver, bone marrow).”

Another MedScape article says, “The enterovirus enters the human host through the GI or respiratory tract. The cell surfaces of the GI tract serve as viral receptors, and initial replication begins in the local lymphatic GI tissue. The virus seeds into the bloodstream, causing a minor viremia on the third day of infection. The virus then invades organ systems, causing a second viremic episode on days 3-7. This second viremic episode is consistent with the biphasic prodromal illness. The infection can progress to CNS involvement during the major viremic phase or at a later time. Antibody production in response to enteroviral infections occurs within the first 7-10 days.”

I could have caught it at my neighbor’s house when we went over there last Tuesday to watch the season premier of the last season of LOST.
I could have caught it from my new psychiatrist’s office on my first visit.
I could have caught it at work.
I could have caught it anywhere.

The bum deal out of all of this is that I went from being bedridden with endometriosis pain right into being laid out flat with massive diarrhea for three days. I lost two weekends of fun out of that deal. I didn’t get to see an old high school acquaintance who was in town for the weekend. Worst of all, I went out on Sunday to a party while still sick with the virus, because I was convinced it was food poisoning and/or food reaction I was still dealing with. I ate some home cooked food at the party after having been on mush earlier that day, and the stomach cramps returned with a fury. When I got home at 9pm Sunday night, the diarrhea returned and I had 8 rounds of it.

I didn’t want to go in to work today, but I was still partially in denial about actually being SICK sick…even though I called to cancel my physical trainer appointment on my way to work. To be fair, I took my temperature at work and it was 99.8°F at 11am. I hinted that I should go home, but the director told me I was fine. The secretary told me I was fine.
What they meant was, “Lunch rush is coming up in the next half hour, and we’re short staffed. You have to stay, we need you.”

I did stay on, but that’s when I called my doctor and scored an appointment after work.

When I left out of the doctor’s office, it was raining, and I hadn’t brought my raincoat with me. I walked in the rain back to my car, parked a block and a half away. When I got home, I took a blow dryer to my hair, put some dishes in the new dishwasher my husband recently bought, scooped the cat litter, and got into my jammies and crawled into bed.

I’ll be staying home tomorrow - I made sure to get a doctor’s note the moment the doctor suggested I stay home. I called work the moment I left the doctor’s office to let everyone know I won’t be in.

Once again, I’m kicked when I’m down, thanks to my immune system being deficient, thanks to endometriosis and allergies and lord knows what else I have going on immunologically.

I guess if one can find a silver lining… I lost 6 pounds in 3 days. I’m down to 158lbs.