Mold Case Part 3

Previously on Mold Case : Part 1 and Part 2 we had fired the environmental doctor that we were seeing and had gone back to see our HBOT doctor who had ordered some tests to see if the mycotoxins from the mold were in Annabelle's body.......

Well the results are back.... read on to find out what they are.


I grew up in South Africa and lived there until I met my husband who was working in South Africa from England on a 2 year contract, well needless to say we met, fell in love, got married and we decided that we would move to England because of better job prospects for my husband and I. So we had all our worldly possessions packed up, and shipped in a container to England. The container took 8 weeks to get there, living out of a suitcase for 8 weeks is pretty hard but we managed and we were really grateful to see "our stuff" again. Being in a new country is really challenging but being around furniture and stuff that I recognized helped me through, it comforted me when I was so far away from my home country and my family.


We settled down and decided to start a family and  after 41 weeks of being pregnant and 13 hours of labor, Matthew was born. Things were going well and then my husband comes home and says " How would you like to move to America?" He had been offered a job to head up a new business in the USA and the head office was in California, he went on a 2 week trip to see what it was all about and left me at home with a child who had just contracted chicken pox so I was confined to our home for 2 weeks! What fun.


Well our possessions were packed up once again (I'd hate to know what our carbon footprint looks like!) and shipped to California where we moved to our previous house that we moved from because of the mold issues. We decided to have a second child, I fell pregnant and 9 weeks later I lost the baby to a miscarriage, we decide that we were going to try again and 42 weeks later and only 6 hours of labor Annabelle was born.


Well what I am trying to get to really is that no matter where we moved to I always felt I could cope with the stress of living in a new country because I always had "our stuff" with us.


The test results are back and here they are :
Aflatoxin 0 ppb (NP)
Ochratoxin 4,9 ppb (P)
Tricothecene 0,47 ppb (P)

NP - Not present
P - Present
So to explain this result Ochratoxin is the mycotoxins that are produced by Aspergillus/ Penicillium and Chaetomium, that figure is quite high amount in her system.
The Tricothecene is the mycotoxin that is produced by Stachybotrys, that figure is low.
These were the 4 prevalent Molds found in the house by the air quality tests that were done so she has been exposed to the mycotoxins and they are still in her system.


So when we left the house just as a precaution we decided that it would be prudent to start some sort of detoxing, so we decided on Modifilan Brown Seaweed and is known to "Detoxifies the body from heavy metals, radioactive elements, free radicals and toxins."We felt great better than we had in months but then after a month the detoxing kicked in headaches, mood swings and dizziness. Eventually things smoothed out and we started to feel better again.

We got the test results so now what? I emailed Andrea over at Our mold Journey and asked her that question? She recommended we see a mold specialist and recommended a good one who is in Santa Barbara, I have already had 2 phone calls with her and we are heading up there on Thursday. The other part of Andrea's email was "You have done the most important treatment possible and that is leave the environment. (Do you have anything from the house with you? It might be good to store those items)…" She added her post that she had written on the subject which was a real eyeopener. Well as you know we had packed up all "our stuff" after wiping it down with Lysol wipes and moved it to our new house with exception of soft furnishings, rugs, soft toys which we threw out. Supposedly this is not good enough mycotoxins are so small that 20 million 5 micron spores would fit on a postage stamp, scary stuff!

Well when I really started to think about it did we get everything? Eveything was such a rush to move, then I thought Oh no! our broom was something we brought with us that was used in the other house and we've been sweeping the floor in the new house did we bring the mold with us? Do we have to get rid of all "OUR STUFF" for the sake of our health? That comfort of knowing that even being in a foreign country I have "my stuff" with me gone, how would I explain to my six year old he has to throw away his lego's because its making him sick? Even worse how do I explain to Annabelle, she loves brother's lego's?

Great recipe to boost your childs health

So I have recently been trying to feed Annabelle better food, we have already changed most of her food to being organic, but I really wanted to add more raw fruits and vegetables in her diet. I was not sure of this because of all her swallowing, chewing difficulties, how would she be able to crunch into a raw carrot or chew on some lettuce? Well a doctor (DO) that we see regularly suggested this recipe but I have tweaked it a bit and I think it is delicious.
I call it "Rootslaw" because its like coleslaw with out the cabbage and with out the mayo well may be its not like coleslaw at all! oh well here it goes:

These are the raw fruit/vegetables you want to peel and grate - turnip, carrot, beetroot, and apple - I grate mine fine because then Annabelle can swallow it easier. You can add other root veg that you think might go well I think I am going to try some radish in my next batch to give it a bit of a kick.

Then squeeze some lemon juice, and some extra virgin olive oil into your grated veg/fruit then mix, your mixture will become bright pink from the beetroot like this.

Add sea salt to taste. Note I have not included quantities but most salads shouldn't have quantities.
Serve as a side to your lunch. 
Note I have added pictures of the fruit/veg just in case you have never heard of them before and it will be easier to pick them out in the grocery store lol.

God does perform miracles!

Recently my husband and I stood crying watching our baby girl do something we once thought was impossible for her to do.. she was sitting... yes sitting in the middle of our lounge she had pulled herself up with the toy box and she would usually just use it for support but on this day the toy box slid away and she stayed sitting. You say well what is so hard about sitting? To Annabelle because she has so many involuntary movements any stationary position is really difficult for her because she is constantly moving but not always by her own choice.

Here is a video we took after we stopped crying and realized we need to capture the miracle.

Thank you God for your wondrous miracles you perform every day, if we just believe, they will happen.

"Oh poor thing!"

No thanks! We don't need your sympathy, we are doing just fine without it!

People just don't know how to react when I tell them about Annabelle this is the reaction I got today "Oh poor thing"  do they feel sorry for us or is it just a knee jerk reaction because they are lost for words?

We are sort of stuck in the "inbetween" most people don't realize there is something different about Annabelle because she looks quite typical in her stroller, most children at 2,5 could still be in a stroller but Annabelle is fast approaching 3 and soon it will be obvious that she doesn't walk, talk, and sit and I will be confronted with having to explain to people "No she is not sleepy she just can't hold her head up" "No she's not shy she just doesn't talk" "No she's not been sick she just doesn't swallow very well and some of it comes out of her mouth sometimes" Then I'll have to face the uncomfortable silence or the stares because they have been shocked unexpectedly or have to deal with comments like the above yuck....

The other day another Mom at school came up to me very excitedly introduced herself was really friendly was really keen on our sons having play dates, then when I told her about Annabelle she seemed to brushed it off, well I haven't seen her since, is she avoiding us?

Please don't stare at us it makes us uncomfortable please rather come over and talk to us, Annabelle does understand more than you think!

Please don't make rude comments like the above, Annabelle does understand more than you think!

Please don't ignore us we have feelings too, Annabelle does understand more than you think!

Moms inspiring Moms

The internet is a fantastic thing! What I think is that there is 2D, 3D, 4D and even now also ID, a dimension where you connect with others on the internet. Especially if you are a mom with a special needs child. I really don't know what I did before we had the internet.

If it wasn't for other Moms blogging, inspiring, sharing, confiding, guiding, advising and teaching I am not sure I would be as sane (well only sort of) as I am today. So today I am going to recognize all those moms out there that I have not even met in person but have inspired me to be a better mom, wife and person all through their blogs, I thank you with all my heart I am truly grateful you are all awesome please carry on blogging you are doing a great job!

Firstly Katy at Bird on the street and her very cute son Charlie inspired us to go to Montreal to do this crazy, wacky therapy called ABR. Boy am I glad we did! She is still inspiring us all the time, she posts Thematic units she does with Charlie, their last theme was on school, and she also inspired me to do this craft a DIY light box that she guest posted (not sure if that's the correct term) on "No time for flash cards", with my son Matthew, he wanted to do a solar system version of the light box.

 Secondly to Marcela over at A little piece if heaven, inspires me with her wonderful writing, her beautiful words helped me through some down times, Thank you for all that you do for Nathan and for never giving up, you are a true inspiration I love this post Worry Less, Love more. Your detail you put into all your research for therapies for Nathan, never stopping, always searching for the best person to help him, you are awesome, and may be some day between your busy schedule and mine we can slip some time in to meet for coffee, What do you say?

Thirdly to Holly over at Caleigh's Corner you have inspired us with Caleigh's use of her iPad to communicate.  Your tireless devotion to your daughter is awe inspiring, helping her do things "they" said that she would never be able to. You have inspired us to use the iPad more and to trust my instincts when its comes to the education of my children. Thank you for sharing your journey of homeschooling Caleigh you are showing us what is possible.

Lastly a new blog that I found over at Our Mold Journey and already have emailed Andrea several times. Wow her site just blew me away I really wish I had found it a year ago, it has guided me and taught me more about mold and what to do when you find mold in your home. She has also got recommendations about treatments, testing, change of diet, supplements and natural ways of detoxing from mold exposure, Thank you so much for your wonderful site and my prayers are with you and your family in your current situation.

Well these are just a few that I love and wanted to share with you all and I seem to be addicted to blogging especially when you guys are writing, thank you.