Happy Friday! This week has gone super great and while you read this I am probably getting my hair done…. cause my ends were in serious need of a trim. It has been too long since I had my last haircut and it’s time to get my hair in order for this New Year, plus my birthday is coming up and I need to look halfway decent.
Just sayin’!
As you know a few weeks ago I shared my trip to the ER.
I go into a lot more detail about it in this video. But basically I got a severe allergic reaction after we removed the carpet on the upstairs floors. It was bad and it took a serious toll on my entire health.
Since then a lot my subscribers asked whether or not I was tested for allergies.
Well I did, and I got the results to share…
As always, you can hit play to listen to the updates in the corresponding video below or keep reading below.
Literally and figuratively! 🤦🏻♀️
They tested me for errrrrthang!
And, I will admit I was a little anxious while in the room waiting for the tests to commence. It was so weird sitting there not-knowing what was going to come of all this, especially when I look over the kit with all the “allergens” just sitting on the counter near me (next to the Parents magazine).
I didn’t know how it would feel.
Would it hurt?
Would I break out in hives?
Would I get sick again?
And then the nurse came in….
Dun, dun, duuuuuuuun!
It was time.
So they lay you face down on the table/bed and start to number your back. Once they are done, they begin to “scratch” your back with those little allergens.
And here is what it looked like.
Yep! Real sexy.
Each line represented a different class and each number was a different allergen.
As you can see the 3rd from the left was all positive from top to bottom.
I wanted to scratch the skin off my back soooo bad!!!! 😩
Luckily once the doctor came back in to evaluate, I was able to get some topical relief.
It immediately started feeling better once they applied the creme, but my back looked bad for the rest of the day and a lot of those little bumps stayed on my back for at least a week.
The results…..
I am allergic to ALL THE GRASSES! YAY!
Which is why I am so miserable in the Spring.. looking forward to it. 🙄
But absolutely nothing else came up positive.
Nothing on pet dander, both cats and dogs, dust mites, mold, latex, even something called a “Cockroach mix” EW! Whatever that is! 🤢
Nada.
The best thing the doctor could conclude was that it was a viral reaction to whatever was underneath the carpets. Apparently when we removed the carpet, the viral “stuff” was released and came into contact with me and my body did not like it at all.
Of course, there is always the option of if being an idiopathic allergic response which is a more intellectual way of saying ” We don’t know what the heck happened!”
But, most likely it was the pet urine/feces left behind by the previous owner’s pets.
Of course back when all this was happening a lot of my viewers were concerned that there was mold in the house. There was an inspection on the house prior to buying it, but nothing was detected/reported.
BUT….
(there always a but)
There’s more to this saga.
After all this happened, the rest of the carpet on the main floor had to go. So my hubby and my dad removed the rest of the carpets in the house including the basement carpet and ceiling tiles.
You can watch the entire process here.
It was the first time my husband took over my channel and filmed the entire video as I was not able to be present due to my allergic reaction. And of course I had to take the kids away with me so we stayed at my mom’s during this entire ordeal.
After all of that was removed from the home, we figured it was a good time to have the HVAC system ductwork cleaned out.
Dun, dun, duuuuuuuun!
So we hired a company. They came out and did a full inspection of all ducts and removed the exterior panels of the HVAC units to look inside before they did anything, and what do you guess they found?
Our ducts were squeaky clean!
But wait, there’s bad news too!
They found M-O-L-D 😱
YEP! There happened to have been mold growing inside the HVAC units on the coils! Now before you ask, it was not “black mold” but mold nonetheless.
We had to get it remediated ASAP!
So we went ahead and had them start the sterilization process which consisted of them spraying a “safe” but strong cleansing foam all over the existing mold.
Once that process was done, we went even further and had them install the PCO Air Purifier in each of the HVAC units as well.
Basically UV Rays that KILL EVERYTHING.
You can see a video of how this specific system actually works and what it gets rid of that might be in your air at home HERE.
This hurt us…. well our wallets actually because it was expensive for just one unit – and we have 3…
THREE….
TRES!
🤦🏻♀️
Well, there goes our flooring budget right out the window.
However, I will say it had to be done.
No questions.
I didn’t want to continue breathing that stuff and I sure as heck didn’t want my kids breathing it in either!
And let me tell you, that first night that we slept in the house with those purifiers installed, we noticed a change right away! And now my littlest who seemed to have a runny nose that we couldn’t get rid of since moving into this house, now does not have one!
We had no idea and felt terrible, but we are so happy she is better now.
Well, that’s all of the things I was dealing with over the holidays last year.
And why there hasn’t been much done in our Fixer Upper yet.
Good news is I am doing better (everyone is) and hopefully we can get some projects rolling soon.
That’s it for now and I will see you next time, until then… adios!
