After our nightmare ended with the house on McDonald St in Culver City, CA (SEE THIS BLOG POST FOR DETAILS), we moved to a condo in Santa Monica on August 19, 2007. We were so excited to begin a new chapter in our lives and be healthy again.
A day after we moved into our new condo, our toddler came down with a severe attack. He didn't have to be hospitalized but he needed immediate medical intervention that we could not give him. He was once again put on heavy dosages of steroids in addition to inhaled steroids to fend off a full blown lung infection that we had seen two times previously (once in March 2007 and then again in May 2007). We thought we had beat the mold this time. We got him under control before he took a downward spiral.
I was concerned that he reacted that way because of his new environment. My intuition told me that there was mold somewhere and he reacted to it immediately. However, there was no physical indication to validate my suspicions.
Caeden (our toddler) seemed fine after that until January 2008. It had rained and rained heavily for abour 4 or 5 days. He started to be sick almost immediately. His room was carpeted. On January 4th, I noticed that there were SO many ants in the outer corner of his room on his carpet. I don't allow the kids to bring food up to the second floor so this was very strange. I decided to vacuum them all up because they were evading me. I did so. More kept coming. I was horrified so I knelt down to move his "Little People" barn to see if there were more underneath. I found a WET, SOGGY Carpet underneath his little barn that went all the way to the baseboard and the wall!!!
We moved his bed into our room that night. He stayed sick off and on until January 21st, 2008 when he was admitted to the hospital a third time for a lung infection.
Coincidently, during this time, our landlords (who responded quickly and compassionately) sent workers over to tear into his wall. Guess what they found behind his bedroom wall???
MOLD! ALL BEHIND HIS WALL! THE SAME WALL HIS BED IS UP AGAINST!!! (just so you know-our landlords immediately took care of the problem...we love them!!)
They say that lightning never strikes the same place twice...but mold can affect the same family twice, maybe three times...maybe more! We are living (but unhealthy) proof of that!
I really feel that this is an epidemic. I would never have imagined in my wildest dreams that we would have to go through this again in our lives...but we did. I hope this is over for us now.
Be aware of your surroundings and how they make you and your family feel. Follow up on any and all intuitions or gut feelings. Please steer clear of carpeting. It masks so many leaks and breeds mold once it is wet.
