The Flog – The Fabry Log

It happened on Saturday when a friend "just happened" to be in the area. He asked what I was doing and I said, "Packing."

"Okay, I'll come help."

He drove down from Denver and we mostly talked and ate lunch. He was about to leave when he said, "Let me pray for you."

He put his hand on my shoulder and prayed something from the heart and I was overwhelmed with gratitude, not only to him but also to God for such a wonderful person.

It happened again tonight. My son suggested we give some of the furniture we'd been given to a friend's family. Wonderful people. It's too long of a story to tell, but suffice it to say, we loaded up the truck and moved it on over to their new house.

Before we left, the dad put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Let us pray for you before you leave."

I can't tell you what that meant. It almost felt like a hand reaching down from heaven, not just touching us but holding us up.

This has been a really terrible, awful, horrible, wonderful experience. And it just keeps getting better the more I relax and let God work out the details.

I know this move to Arizona is really happening because I just changed my address. Actually, we'll have our mail forwarded to Arizona for a while, until we can return. My credit card was charged $1, so I know this is happening.

If you haven't read Andrea's post about the symptoms she has had over the past few months, go to her blog. The link is to the right. It's scary to see such a young person have these symptoms. She is sure that I have them too. Memory loss. A brain "fog." Repeating things you've told friends and family. Just sounds like a normal day to me in the camper. I don't think I have those symptoms, but she's usually right.

It snowed here last night and the temperatures are frigid. Ryan and I sat on our one piece of furniture remaining, a couch, and draped electric blankets over us as we watched a movie. I took a bunch of food cans and unopened packages to our local food pantry but they had closed because of the weather. Where is global warming when you need it?

Oh, I almost forgot. If you haven't read Andrea's post about the symptoms she has had over the past few months, go to her blog. The link is to the right.

I guess this is really happening.

Here is an update on the post about Thunder, the service dog. On Friday, 1-16, I read some stories about little things people do that mean so much. There's something about Thunder's story that gets me, and I'm hoping it gets you, too. This is a puppy picture of Thunder. Read the email from a listener who has done a lot for someone she doesn't even know. And then enjoy the pictures of this beautiful dog.


Hi Chris,
I caught the last 10 minutes of your program today and it caught my attention. I just re-listened to it.

My little puppy story began last April (2008). I became a puppy raiser for an organization called Dogs for Disabilities who provides service dogs for people with disabilities. I received a 9 week old puppy named Thunder. I did all of the puppy raising; house-breaking, obedience training, etc. After he graduated from obedience training he received his "service dog in training" vest and we went out into community to get him exposed to different environments. We went to grocery stores, the mall, a restuarant and on a train and bus.

This past Sunday, January 11, 2009 I had to say goodbye; it was time to return him so he could begin his 8 months of formal training; learning how to turn on lights, open doors, retrieve items, etc. When he completes this training he will be given to a person that has a disability. I will be able to meet this person that I helped raise this dog for.

Thunder's job will be to assist this disabled person with daily tasks; giving them their independence back. He will also provide companionship and unconditional love and make them more "approachable" by people in the community.

It is difficult to say goodbye to Thunder. However, I know that I have given someone a very special gift; the gift of independence and uncondtional love and that makes it all worthwhile.

Jodi

Here is the family I talked about on the program today. What a story!





As you can tell, they are fans of the Indianapolis Colts!
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We finally took the plunge yesterday and hired an enviro company to test the entire "old" house. We believe this information will help us determine what will need to be done to make the home habitable again, or if we will need to simply destroy it.

I've kept the electricity off for most of the home, still running the fridge, but cutting off the gas and water. It's been this dark behemoth on a hill. The lights in the garage burned out a month or two ago. So it was eerie watching two people in Tyvek suits and masks wander through the kids' rooms taking samples of the carpet and doing air tests. This company believes the other two remediators did not find the true source of the problem so their testing is more extensive and more expensive. Funny how much a "t" and a "p" can change a word (extensive, expensive). But, as Andrea told me, this is information we really need in order to move on with our lives. Even if we lose that money by being told, "Destroy it," I won't regret it. At least we'll know.

I stood by Kristen's room and saw her favorite cover on her bed, and all the books on her bookshelf. I saw DVDs in the downstairs family room, near a TV. The couch down there was leather and was a favorite of Pippen and Frodo. They would climb up on the back of the couch and sleep in the sun until someone came to the door and then they'd be off, running and barking through the house. Even after Pippen went blind he loved to climb up there. That was the first piece of furniture we bought for the house, as I recall, eight years ago. It had been moved downstairs because of a newer, better colored couch we'd purchased in the past couple of years, but my heart longed to just sit on that couch and drink in the memories. The friends who had been with us there, the movies we'd watched together, the "discussions" we'd had there. The tears, laughter, blood, soil, sweat... Maybe that was Winston Churchill's couch before we bought it.

I went around back to look into the kitchen. It was just like we left it in October. The phone lying on the kitchen table. Homework there. A vase of fake flowers. The oven and the refrigerator were almost new, and it pained me to think of all the work we'd done. All the new carpet. The decorating and painting. It's really a gorgeous home with one problem. It was killing us. Slowly, yes, but it was killing us.

I talked with Andrea yesterday and thanked her for being the one to choose truth over illusion. Sometimes the truth is harder to believe than the illusion that everything is okay. She knew in her gut that something was wrong and wouldn't stop until she found answers.

Now we're in for a battle with the health insurance company over coverage. They've denied us coverage for the testing and the doctor we're seeing. We'll appeal, of course, but it's one more hurdle in a long line of hurdles to discover the truth and act on it.

Andrea called from the doctor's office in Arizona to give me an update and to let me hear the consult. I've never heard so many words I didn't understand. She and the kids are going through a detox process from the exposure to our toxic mold.

All 11 of us have now been tested for the presence of certain toxins. We are all positive for aflatoxins. I looked it up. "Aflatoxins are potent toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, immunosuppressive agents, produced as secondary metabolites..." See what I mean? The word I landed on in there was carcinogenic. Yuck. Double yuck and ewww.

Again, this is why Andrea's "gut" told her she needed to get the kids seen even if the insurance company doesn't cover our treatment (which, so far has not come through).

So we all have basically been sickened by the environment we were in. There is emotional distress not only because of the losses we've seen, the house, the pets, possessions, but also as part of the exposure. These toxins work on the brain and other internal organs, including potential pulmonary problems. I couldn't resist the alliteration.

We were exposed at high levels, higher than any doctors we've talked to have seen. In studies conducted around the world, York England was a site where they found women were at 26 and men 29 parts per trillion. When they detect more than 1 part per billion, it's significant, and we were in the significant range.

Aflatoxins are able to alter the code or structure of the DNA, inserting themselves into the DNA code or causing breaks in the code. That means potential problems of birth defects, cancers, and metabolic abnormalities. It is listed as a confirmed human carcinogen by the WHO, not the band, the World Health Organization.

All of that went by in a blur, especially the part about aflatoxins and it's relation to autism. Samples on autistic children have shown them to be positive for aflatoxin at significant levels. That causes me to wonder about friends who have autistic children.

Here's what Andrea wrote on her blog last night. You can click on her link to the right.

"All 11 of us have now tested positive for aflatoxins. When you understand the nature of these mycotoxins and their capacity to do harm this could be alarming news. But, as one who has searched for answers for months on end, this news comes as a relief.No more wondering which child to treat. No more wondering about Chris or myself. I recommend this test (which is a urine test) wholeheartedly to someone wondering about mold exposure and their family. Aflatoxin is the mycotoxin that comes from aspergillus. Ochratoxin comes from penicillium and tricothecene comes from stachybotrys. The aflatoxin test is the only one we have had for all members of our family. The tests are available through Real Time Labs and require a doctor's order. They are costly but often reimbursed by insurance."

All of this causes me to wonder how our story will end. There is someone who knows and he hasn't let us in on any of it. Yet. Part of faith is taking one day at a time and letting God work. I think that's the only thing we can do now--do all we can to get better and let God take care of the rest.