A (detailed) Week in Review

I don't know if there are many that read this blog who haven't also friended me on facebook, but for the three of you out there I am here to update you on our week.

For the last week and a half, the Copelands have endured some icky, sweltering, sticky temperatures in our house. It seemed our AC was on the fritz. We ended up having an AC/Heating company visit our house 5 times before we bit the bullet and decided to replace our 21 year old unit.

BUT WAIT....

For a mere $700 more they would throw in a furnace too. I know how my husband thinks (ladies, I know some of you are with me on this one), and it has to be a tremendous deal if he's going to pay extra. Sidebar...

This is the same guy (I love him to death, but this is just funny) who went to Lowe's to buy stuff for our lawn that would kill off the insane amount of mosquitoes we have in our backyard. He came home with a bag, put it allover our grass and went on his merry way. A few days later when we were all still being eaten by those little buggers, he checked the bag he bought only to find that mosquitoes were not listed as one of the insects who would suffer in death by this pesticide.

When I asked how this possibly could have happened, he briefly mentioned something about the bag he bought being $2 cheaper than the other bag-- it just so happened that this other bag kills mosquitoes. Okay, I've made my point with my husband and deals!

Back to the deal on the furnace-- he went for it. And THANK GOD for that spur of the moment decision.

The day after our decision to go for it all, the installation guys were there at 8:45 am. By 10:15 I was told that we had a Carbon Monoxide leak in our house.

Yeah, you know what I was thinking. Something to the tune of
RUN! GET OUT! HOW ARE WE STILL ALIVE!?!

Luckily the kiddos were at Gram's house, so I was totally not afraid to let my freak-out happen--well, I was a little embarrassed freaking out in front of the two guys. Anyway, I started asking questions-- mainly how long has it been going and should I get out now.

The nice guy said he would check the numbers for me with his handy-dandy detector. Then I was told it had probably been leaking somewhere between 2 and 2 1/2 years. We bought this house in February of 2008 and moved in two months later-- you do the math.

So, I went from a super awesome high when I woke up to a day full of quiet grading, coffee-sipping and some peaceful cleaning, to a day full of fear, questions, and nerves.

The guy (really, he has a name but I don't know it) came to me and said that my reading was at 80 ppm. This, my friends, was in the summer when no furnace was being run and my AC had been turned off for two hours. To think of how high the numbers may have been last winter (or two) still raises my blood pressure.

I call my husband and we agree immediately to purchase the most sensitive detector (we can agree on some deals--like life-saving deals, just not cute shoe deals) out there.

I then call my doctor, well actually my nurse, and give her the We've been poisoned story. It ends up I was telling her the dangers and treatments, so she hung up so she could go speak with the doctor. In the meantime, I'm conducting my own research (and I know doctors HATE this with a passion, but what the H-E- Double Hockey sticks do you think I'm going to do? Just sit there and wait for you to tell me something? No! I have an education. I know how to conduct research. In fact, I teach people how to properly research; therefore, I deem it to be the responsible patient thing to do) and discover a) all of the symptoms, and b) who is considered to be high-risk.

Well, of course 5 of the 6 people living in my house are risky because they are either young children/babies or a pregnant mother. I come upon the symptoms which range from flu-like symptoms, to neurological symptoms, to heart problems. Of course, other minor things include headaches, nausea, and fatigue. The latter of those symptoms are not only hard to distinguish from colds and such but also pregnancy. But the other symptoms were suddenly beginning to make sense.

The week or so before our AC guys were replacing our unit, our family had been spending much of our time cooling off in our basement---right next to our leaking furnace. Two days prior to our leak discovery, 1/2 of the girls suddenly came down with the "flu." One had a high fever, chills, and severe fatigue, while the other was cranky, tired and had a fever--- in August mind you! Not only did I think it rare to have the flu in the 112 degree heat, but because of said heat, we have pretty much been hermits. Needless to say, I was dumbfounded when the doc told us it was probably the flu. Of course, two days later, this all made sense.

I also thought back to last year when I delivered our baby Boushka, and I was feeling abnormally tired (this was my fourth child and I knew I was too tired to just be feeling the effects of having a baby and experiencing sleepless nights), very weak, and every time I rested in a reclined position it felt as if I was going to die in my sleep. I struggled for each breath I took, and most nights I would end up sitting in the nursing position just so I could rest. I ended up being re-admitted to the hospital a week after her birth due to bradycardia (slow heart beat, mine was 38-42 bpm) and dyspnea (shortness of breath). The ER doctor immediatley thought of a pulmonary embolism, but all the tests came back fine. I had an EKG and echocardiogram, a Pulmonary Ventilation/Perfusion Scan or (VQ scan), an MRI, a sonogram on my stomach, gallbladder and kidneys... I think that's it. Nonetheless, every test I had came back perfect, except for the echo which came back near-perfect minus a little fluid and enlargement. The cardiologist explained this away with having recently been pregnant (and having an epidural) and sent me on my way. Baffled and frustrated, I went home and tried to be okay with it all.


Later that summer (2009), I was misdiagnosed with a dangerous condition called postpartum cardiomyopathy, which is basically a weakening of the heart muscle due to something related to the pregnancy. I was then cleared of this problem a month later, but still left without an explanation of my heart/breathing problems. As the year wore on, I began to try and get back into shape, and by April/May I had actually lost 15 pounds more than the regular baby-weight shedding. But my breathing would sometimes still cause me discomfort. I figured it was allergy related.

Fast-forward to my "symptom checking" this past week, and all of a sudden all of this makes sense, too. I disovered that the nasty little CO guys bind with your hemoglobin (which is your big Oxygen provider being pumped to all of your organs) and takes over much of the oxygen. So, when the doctors all said that my heart wasn't getting enough oxygen they were right. I just wish they could've figured out the cause. The mere mention and explanation of chronic CO poisoning would've spurred me to check out a detector and saved me tons of worry and pain.

I've really digressed...

By now the doctor has called me back and said not to worry about this poisoning business. Since we were coming in for our first OB check on Tuesday and also replacing our old unit, we should be fine. I was a little dissatisfied with this news. I thought we should at least have our blood checked--- but I think this was my curiosity getting the best of me. So being the good patient that I am, I agreed and figured they'd been trained for this, not me.

But the best news so far is that within hours of our ppm dropping below 30, my nagging, dull frontal headache was a thing of the past. And that night when I went to bed, I didn't struggle the slightest for breath. I was simply amazed (and convinced that we had been poisoned, no blood-test needed thank you very much) at the instant difference. I am hoping and waiting that some other mysterious symptoms will also be disappearing soon.

And to my husband, thank you for taking the deal. By replacing our furnace, I believe we may have saved our lives--at the least, I know we saved several unexplained illnesses and problems.

Here's to hoping that some more things will be explained. I will keep you updated.