Halloween 2014

 Very fun night with these super heroes!

Larry & Enoch Hospital

Anxiety has gotten the best of me again tonight. Unfortunately, I have spent many nights in sleepless anxiety as I struggle to find solutions to our overwhelming financial and health problems. The exceptional level of anxiety that I am feeling is a combination of our situation in general and the events of the past two weeks.

Two weeks from tomorrow I found myself at the ER with two of my family members. I had spent a very peaceful week at my dad's working on my book, Jill's Hope. I got home late Friday night to find a very clean and orderly house (which always makes me so happy). Larry and I had a disagreement on Fri. night and were up late hashing things out. He then woke up early to go get straw for the store. After a 30 min. drive to go pick it up, he was very discouraged to learn that it was moldy. He came back to Malad and hustled to make it to Enoch's football game that he was coaching in Pocatello. He was tense the whole way there because he was worried about being late.

When we pulled into the parking lot a few minutes late he started having stomach pains. As he lay there on the grass moaning while warm-ups were going on, he insisted that it must be the flu (I knew better, however, because I saw the color in his face change and I have learned the signs of a pancreatic attack). He received a priesthood blessing. Between the blessing and his adrenalin he was able to coach the entire game.

In the 4th quarter, Enoch took a really hard hit and suffered a severe concussion. He was mostly unconscious for the rest of the game that we ended up losing in the last 9 seconds of the game. At first the sports medicine doctor recommended that we just keep an eye on him for 3 hrs. and take him to the hospital if symptoms got worse. When the game ended and he was still unconscious, he recommended that we take him to the hospital for a CT.

Larry carried Enoch to the car and gave him a blessing. I drove him to the hospital and Larry got Enoch settled at the hospital after which he collapsed in pain and went into a full-blown pancreatic attack. I had both of them in the ER across the hall from each other. One of the nurses passing by ask me, "what the hell happened to my family". I told him that it was complicated.

Luckily, Enoch's CT checked out to be ok. and he was able to leave the hospital that night. It took him about 3 hours to regain consciousness and he slowly started talking and walking again. We then went to my friend, Jen's house, that is a 5 minute drive from the hospital. After getting Enoch settled, I spent until 10:00 at night running around getting us some clothes for the night (Enoch was still in sweaty gross football clothes) and finally finding a pharmacy that was open so that I could pick up his meds. Even though I was exhausted, sleep did not come easy as stress was once again getting the best of me.

Larry stayed the night in the hospital. They were finally able to get his pain under at about 2 in the morning. As always, he was very anxious to get home, but later regretted not staying another night or two in the hospital as he had a pretty rough recovery.

When we got home, I spent a good 4 days in a major depression. I could not believe that I was dealing with pancreatitis, AGAIN (we had made it almost four months without an attack)! In addition to the worry I felt about Larry being sick, I was just sick about Enoch's head injury.

It has been almost two weeks and he still has some dizziness and nausea. The Monday after the accident, he rode his bike to work and crashed on the gravel. Grrrrr! After experiencing and learning more about concussions I realized that he probably shouldn't have been working, riding a bike and should have taken a break from school. He has learned to take more time off and seems to be on the mend.

We played the same team last Saturday for the play-off game to determine who was going to play at the mini-dome. They kicked our trash (30-0). Our boys did not show up to play. I suspect that part of it was from the events of the prior week--3 of their teammates, including Enoch ended up at the ER for various reasons. The other 2 boys were cleared to play for the game, but Enoch was still recovering from his concussion. This was the first year that this team has ever beaten us in this league in the 3 years that we have been playing. I had such mixed feelings about the loss.

Larry and the other coaches have worked so hard to build a winning team and it was sad to see them end the season on such a downer. It was very hard to watch Enoch pace the sidelines knowing there was little he could do to help his team. He has been the highest scorer for the team this season and it really hurt our team to have him out for the game. I was relieved, however, that Enoch was not going to push himself to try and be ready for the play-off game if they would have won. I don't think he would have been ready to play and it would have been very depressing for him to have to pace the sidelines again.

After I brought the boys home from the hospital, my dear friend Madelin brought our family dinner for a few nights so that I could focus on taking care of my injured family. Unfortunately, depression got the best of me. My brain literally froze and refused to know what to do to help them. I was not able to cope as a nurse for my family again. I was burnt out!

I felt so guilty not being able to help Larry as he suffered. He slept in his office downstairs and just endured 4 days of trying to recover. On about the 3rd day Larry's Aunt called to see how we were doing. I poured my heart out to her about how hard things were. As I shared how difficult this was on our marriage, it was very comforting to me when she shared some stories from their own family and the statistics that a lot of couples end up divorced during crises because it is so hard. It made me feel so much better to just realize that this was normal.

The couple of things that we learned from this experience were that Larry needs to carry his anit-inflammatories, digestive enzymes and pain meds with him everywhere! I learned that I need to create a Stage 1 diet, Stage 2 diet etc. as a quick reference sheet for after he has had an attack. That way, if my brain does freeze, or I have to call someone for help they will know how to help. 

I have learned that my sister, Janice, had sent out letters to mine and Larry's families sharing our story and asking for help. I know that we really do need the help, and I appreciate her love and concern for our family so much, but now I am really anxious for people to contact me because I am sitting here trying to formulate exact ways that they can help.

It is now 2:30 in the morning and sleep still alludes me. I will spend my time writing down ideas on how people can help.

Spencer's Yearly Diabetic Check-Up

Yesterday was a good day. We had our yearly checkup with the Endocrinologist (we see his assistant at our 3 mo. check-ups). I was somewhat nervous to go, as I have not been monitoring Spencer very closely with everything else going on in our lives (11 pancreatic attacks with my husband, a newborn baby and trying to recover from toxic mold poisoning with a family of 9). Our diet has been decent (fresh eggs from our backyard, fresh ground and homemade bread products, good quality meat, fresh fruits and vegetables and limited sugars) and protandim when he remembers to take it. His A1c was an 8.2, which is not excellent by any means, but he has only been taking 1:15 carb ratio and he has not had any lantus (the long lasting insulin) in 3 months--for some reason he is refusing to take it). This tells me that after 1 1/2 yrs. he still has pancreatic function! The doctor was totally amazed by this. He was also very open minded and excited to see where we can go with the treatments for the mold poisoning (what we believe was the original cause) and the gymnema and pancreatrophin that we have just started on at the recommendation of a chiropractor that we have been seeing. The endocrinologist requested to personally see Spencer back in 3 mos. and has ordered the measure of his insulin producing cells to be retested at that time. Spencer was very excited by the doctors encouragement and now has a lot of motivation to get serious about healing his pancreas because there appears to be a lot of hope. I am just thrilled to be working with an amazing environmental dr. and chiropractor and now have an endo who is rooting us on in our efforts to heal!

Thank You Health Well Foundation

Below is a testimonial that I wrote for the Health Well Foundation. A foundation that I will be forever grateful to.

"The Health Well Foundation has been such a HUGE BLESSING to our family of nine. In Dec. 2012 our family moved to a new home on five acres to start living a more "healthy" lifestyle. Within a few short months, our once healthy family developed Type 1 diabetes, asthma, chronic lung problems, chronic coughs, headaches, Bell's Palsy and recurring pancreatitis. After investigating, we discovered that the house we had moved to had toxic mold in it and we found ourselves running for our lives. We were lucky enough to get out of the environment within only 7 months and had high hopes that our "hellish nightmare" would end. 

Unfortunately, we have continued to suffer the devastating effects of these poisons. Having the heart of a mother, I agonized over how to pay to get my family the medical help that we so desperately needed. The testing we needed to have run to check for the presence of these toxins is $700 out-of-pocket per person, the initial visit with the environmental doctor is about $500 per person out-of-pocket, and the monthly treatments run between $400-$700 per person out-of-pocket for 3-12 months. The ability for our family to afford the medical help that we so desperately needed was IMPOSSIBLE, especially with my husband, our main breadwinner, off of work for more than half the year either in the hospital or recovering from 11 pancreatic attacks.

After exploring several different avenues, I found myself banging my head against the wall. I was finally referred to the Health Well Foundation. I e-mailed them our story not really knowing what response to expect. I was elated when a week later I received an e-mail empathizing with our story and informing me that they were going to try to get us the help that we needed. To say I was elated and felt great hope is an understatement.

Within a few weeks we were all approved for a grant and we have been able to move forward in healing our family. Unfortunately, we have learned that all 8 of us have these poisons present in our body, but we have great hope as we have the funding that we need to pay for necessary medical visits and treatments. These treatments are making a tremendous difference in the health of our family, especially in my husband, who is having fewer pancreatic attacks now and recovering A LOT quicker. The traditional doctors had done all that they knew how and had given up on him, but thanks to the funding from the Health Well Foundation we were able to afford to see the right kind of doctor, have the necessary tests run and afford the medication. We still have a long road ahead of us, but we feel so much hope. God bless this wonderful foundation and the donors that have made it possible for people like us to receive the help that we need!"

6 Week Celebration!

Today we celebrate 6 weeks (42 days) since Larry last had a pancreatic attack! This has been such a physical, emotional and financial ride for our family.


1st attack  4/22/13-4/25/13; Lasted 3 days--did not go to doctor
2nd attack 5/07/13-5/10/13; 3 day hospital stay in Malad; 15 days from last attack
3rd attack  6/06/13-6/08/13; 2 day hospital stay in Malad; 30 days from last attack
4th attack  6/18/13-6/20/13; 2 day hospital stay at Portneuf; 12 days from last attack
We get moved out of house where our family has been so sick
5th attack  8/11/13-8/15/13; 4 day hospital stay in Ogden; 30 days from last attack
6th attack  12/28/13-1/4/14; 7 day hospital stay at Portneuf; 142 days from last attack
Gallbladder is removed
7th attack   3/03/14-3/07/14; 4 day hospital stay in Malad; 65 days from last attack
End of April we see environmental doctor, Dr. Hope, who prescribes us Glutathione, binders, and several other supplements and lifestyle changes
8th attack   5/16/14-5/17/14; overnight hospital stay in Malad; 74 days from last attack
9th attack   6/05/14-6/05/14; day stay in Malad hospital; 20 days from last attack
10th attack--6/25/14

Spirits Will Emerge

President Joseph Fielding Smith explained that “all spirits while in the pre-existence were perfect in form, having all their faculties and mental powers unimpaired. … Deformities in body and mind are … physical.” (Answers to Gospel Questions, comp. Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr., 5 vols., Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979, 3:19.) Physical means “temporal”;temporal means “temporary.” Spirits which are beautiful and innocent may be temporally restrained by physical impediments.

If healing does not come in mortal life, it will come thereafter. Just as the gorgeous monarch butterfly emerges from a chrysalis, so will spirits emerge.

 

Update On Larry's Health

After Larry's recent pancreatic attack about two weeks ago, I was sure that we were headed downhill and I was emotionally geared up for the worst.

Miraculously, I went to see him the morning after the attack and he had made an amazing turnaround. Out of all 8 attacks this was the quickest he has ever recovered. It usually takes him 3-5 days to even be able to tolerate food and then he would be down for 2-4 weeks regaining his strength. He also lost 20-30 lbs. after several of his attacks and lost nothing with this last one. His recovery only lasted about a week and he was back to eating almost normal and had regained most of his energy. What a miracle!

I am really trying not to get my hopes up too much because this has been such a roller-coaster ride, but things are looking hopeful. We know that our prayers are being answered and also believe that the treatment plan that Dr. Hope has us on for toxic mold poisoning is making a significant difference. We are so grateful for miracles.

Larry's Treatment Plan

On April 25th we had a 4 hr. doctors appointment with Dr. Janette Hope M.D., President of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine and toxic mold survivor. All aspects of Larry's life (childhood, work environment, home environment etc.) and symptoms were taken into account.

We have now been on the treatment plan for almost a month. When we first walked away from Dr. Hope's office our heads were just swimming with an enormous amount of information including a 6 page treatment plan. Even though this treatment plan sounded overwhelming at first, we are starting to wrap our heads around it and believe we are having great success with the aspects of it that we have been able to apply thus far.

Following is a brief summary of his treatment plan and a few other inclusions that we have learned along the way. It is important to understand that most people that experience mold poisoning also develop chemical sensitivity. Larry has already had 3 severe bouts of this where he was like the "bionical" man of smells and was very sensitive to smells that could not be sensed by the normal person. These bouts of his when on for as long as a week and can become permanent.

1. ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROLS
     A. Avoidance of exposure to water-damaged environments and/or moldy environments, including home, work place, school, car and other settings and items that have been exposed to these settings.
Note: We were fortunate to get out of our water-damaged environment in only seven months. Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to completely rid ourselves of all of the items that were in the water damaged environment. It is very interesting that a large majority of the "experts" in our society do not believe in "toxic mold poisoning", but the insurance companies all have exclusions for it. We were renters at the time of damage and we paid to have our things protected by renters insurance, but we have no coverage because of this exclusion. Larry has been camping out since his last release from the hospital and I have been working hard to get our house cleaned out (mostly the bedrooms at this point) of most of our belongings except for the essentials so that he can come home to a clean environment.
     B. Avoidance of exposures to: pesticides of any sort, solvents/VOCs, smoke of any kind, plastics including eating or drinking from plastic, heavy metals, dry cleaning or locations near dry cleaners and most importantly any environment that makes you feel ill or unwell!
Note: The pesticides one is a tricky one for us with us owning a feed store.
     C. Use non-toxic items like baking soda, vinegar, Bon Ami non-chemical abrasive cleaner and 20 Mule Team borax for cleaning and laundry.
Note: We were already in the process of switching over to non-toxic cleaning items. One product that I also use for cleaning is colloidal silver (a natural antibacterial). If you go to norwex.biz they make cleaning rags, wash cloths and towels with the silver already in them. They also have a really neat window cleaning and mopping system.
     D. Organic diet to minimize exposure to pesticides and other contaminants.
Note: I buy as much as I can organic and I also do a lot of my cooking out of Sally Fallon's book "Nourishing Traditions". I HIGHLY recommend this book to everyone. It is full of so much valuable information.
     E. Evaluation and control of any documented excess EMF exposures.
Note: A book could be written about this whole subject. An excellent book that Dr. Hope recommended that I have ordered is called "Prescriptions for a Healthy House" and they have a lot of good info. on EMF exposures.
     F. Glass (corning visionware) or ceramic-lined cast iron cookware. Avoid non-stick/Teflon coating and aluminum. Stainless steel may leach nickel which can be problematic for some with allergies and autoimmune conditions.
Note: These are very similar recommendations to Sally Fallon's cookware recommendations. I also bake with stoneware.
     G. Triple element air filter including HEPA, carbon and zeolite to minimize expsure to particulates and VOCs, especially in the bedroom (NO ozone).
Note: A great place to order a good one of these is on Dr. Ray's website toxic-black-mold-syndrome.com. They are about $650 each and I need two for my house so I am trying to get some money together to pay for them. We have ordered one for our feed store to help reduce the toxic load at work.
     H. Create a "bedroom sanctuary". Uncarpeted room with healthy, non-contaminated bedding and knick-knacks, or keep these items primarily in solid wood or glass cabinets.
     I. Filter drinking, bathing and washing water.Whole house water filter with additional drinking water filter is best. Alternatively, drinking water filter and chlorine water filter for shower.
     J. If outdoor air quality is good, spend as much time possible outdoors.
     K. Spend time daily in the sun without sunblock. If a sunblock is needed, use a barrier non-nano particle sunblock such as zinc, rather than a chemical sunblock.
Note: I ordered some of this off of badgersport.com

2. SEQUESTERING AGENTS
     A. Cholestyramine (by prescription--this is also available with no additives, but it is very expensive and most insurances will not cover it)
     B. Charcoal

3. GLUTATHIONE (glutathione protects cells against free radicals that cause oxidation damage, neutralizes/removes toxins and enhances immune function)
     A. Readisorb Glutathione in glass bottle. This is liquid medication and can be ordered directly by going to readisorb.com
     B. Nasal glutathione
     C. Nebulized glutathione
     D. Transdermal glutathione
Note: The last 3 forms of glutathione are by prescription only and have to be made in a sterile compounding pharmacy. Unfortunately, our insurance only covered $13 of our $500 bill (Grrrrrr!)
Also, our family has had great success with "protandim" an all natural herbal supplement that upregulates glutathione in the body (visit abcliveit.com to view a dateline that aired about this product). If interested in ordering please visit my website at lifevantage.com/jillward.

4. UPPER RESPIRATORY CARE
     A. Saline nasal rinse with Neti Pot 2-4 times per day.
     B. Nasal Itraconazole (this is another prescription only med that is made at the sterile compounding pharmacy).

5. SKIN CARE
    A. Collective wellbeing Charcoal body wash
Note: We really like this soap, it just takes some getting used to washing in black soap.

6. SAUNA/EXERCISE
     A. Exercise as tolerated. Exercise to sweat if able to tolerate.
     B. Sauna therapy (I believe that this type of therapy will be beneficial to our family for many reasons. When I have the money, I plan to order one off of the heanenlyheat saunas website).
     C. Warm epsom salt baths with filtered water.

7. DIET
     A. Trial of gluten-free diet
     B.  Trial of dairy-free diet
     C. Fermented foods (homemade yogurts or kefir, sauerkraut, kimchee)
     D. Increase consumption of foods with natural anti-fungal properties such as garlic and coconut.
     E. Increase consumption of cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage)

8. SUPPLEMENTS
Dr. Hope has him on 15 different supplements:
1. Vitamin C
2. Fish oil (Carlson's brand oil or Nordic Nturals Capsules)
3. Magnesium
4. Vitamin D3
5. Coenzyme B Complex (Country Life)
6. CoQ10
7. Zinc
8. Acetyl L Carnitine
9. Phosphatidyl serine
10.KPAX
11.Hydrolyzed Whey Protein
12.Probiotics
13.Sacchromyces boulardii
14. Methyl B12
15. Freeze dried Acai powder

At first all of this information seemed so overwhelming. It has taken reading the treatment plan over and over and doing some of my own research to make sense of everything.

One of the most helpful things that I did was go and get a pill sorter so that I could organize his medicines. This treatment plan has taken a lot of dedication and work on both of our parts, but we are seeing some amazing results that I will write about in my next post so it is very worth the time and effort!

Letter To Our Family

Update: This letter was written yesterday with the intent of sending it out last night. Larry went back into the hospital with another pancreatic attack earlier this morning. Looks like we will be making some drastic changes sooner rather than later.

Dear Friends & Family:

My purpose in writing this letter is to give you an update on Larry's health, to share our story with those who have heard bits and pieces about what we have been going through and to most importantly ask for your continued loved and support as we make very difficult decisions that not everyone may understand or agree with. Some of you may think we are crazy and we have wondered that ourselves as we have went through these very trying experiences.

About 18 mos. ago our family moved out to a house on 5 acres. We made this move with the vision of having a more healthy, carefree lifestyle. Our kids would have plenty of land to run on, we could raise and grow our own food and we would have good, clean well water. Little did we know that this was just the beginning of a “hellish nightmare” for our family.

Shortly after moving into this home our family started getting very sick. Spencer was rushed to Primary Children's hospital and diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, Larry started having potentially deadly and excruciatingly painful pancreatic attacks and to date has had seven, Enoch developed asthma, had stomach aches and often complained of headaches, Ben, Bekah & Rachel developed chronic coughs and when they were seen by John's Hopkins Hospital was very alarmed by these coughs when we visiting them for their 3 year check-up for A-T. Rachel would cough so hard that she would start throwing up mucous and stop breathing. I finally took her to Primary Children's hospital because we weren't finding any answers. She was diagnosed with chronic rhinosinusitis (which I now know is a common symptom of mold poisoning). During this time I also came down with Bell's Palsy and suffered from severe brain fog and depression. In one year we had 9 hospital visits and 11 drs. visits for illness. This was very unusual for our family.

The one other major trial that was thrown into the mix at the time was the very unexpected news that we were expecting another baby. I was already feeling so overwhelmed because we already had six children, three of whom had been diagnosed with the rare degenerative disease A-T. We also had no maternity insurance and I was told after my last pregnancy that having another baby would be potentially life threatening for me because of my previous 3 c-sections.

After much research, ruling out other causes and some inspiration we tested the house for toxic mold. There were several toxic molds present in the house and we were advised by one of the worlds' top toxicologists to vacate the house. Thanks to divine intervention and many kind family members and friends, we were able to get back into our old house two weeks before our baby was born. In retrospect, this house was the perfect breeding ground for toxic mold growth. It had a leaky roof and had sat empty for two years.

After moving back to our old house a lot of our symptoms disappeared, but Larry has continued to have pancreatic attacks which will eventually lead to diabetes or pancreatic cancer. He went from being such a strong man and in overall excellent health to becoming so weak and unhealthy. He even fainted in my arms at one of our hospital stays and to this day continues to suffer a variety of bizarre symptoms, including the constant fear of another pancreatic attack. Last August he tested positive for having mycotoxins (bi-product of exposure to toxic molds and some of the most toxic substances known to man). His recent test still tested positive for mycotoxins. Some people are very sensitive to these poisons and have to take extreme measure to regain their health.

The events of last Sunday were very alarming to me. Friday and Saturday Larry was not feeling well. He was kind enough to take me out for a Mother's Day dinner even though he was feeling miserable. By Sunday afternoon he was still not feeling well and broke down and ask me what I was going to do if he didn't make it. Even though I have thought about this a million times over the past year, this is the first time he has ever ask me that and we have openly discussed it. I knew that it was time to reexamine the things we needed to do to get him healthy.

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to go to Santa Barbara, CA and visit with Dr. Janette Hope MD, President of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine and mold survivor. We came home with 6 pages of protocol for his treatment plan. The very first item on this treatment plan is “avoidance of exposure to water-damaged environments and/or moldy environments, including home, work place, school, car and other settings and items that have been exposed to these settings.” We were also given some pharmaceutical treatments that have seemed to be helping, but I am afraid that they are not going to be enough to get him well.

This first request on her treatment plan is so devastating and seems like such an overwhelming task, but I have known for quite some time that this day might be coming. I have often reflected on the lives of our pioneer ancestors who gave up all of their worldly possessions and often not just once. I have often ask myself why I am any different?

At this point in my life, I would give up all of my earthly possessions to get my family well. There are people who have lived in tents to get their health back after being poisoned by this stuff. If that is what is required of me then so be it. We can replace all of our earthly possessions, but we cannot replace our health or a family member. At the end of the day I have to be able to look my children in the eyes and tell them that I did EVERYTHING I could to help their father get well.

I have been through A LOT of trials in my life, but the events of the last year and a half have absolutely broken me. We are faced with devastation on so many levels. We are faced with an illness that is not well known about or accepted in society and the treatments and testing we need are only partly or not at all covered by our insurance. We are also looking at having to give up everything we own, including his ability to work around the grains at the feed store that he has worked so hard to build over the past 7 years. Unfortunately, Larry is not the only one that needs this medical help as there are many of us who still struggle with different ailments very possibly related to toxic mold poisoning. I am not sure how things will work out for us, but I have learned in my life that the Lord always provides a way even if it is at the last minute.

I don't know how we will need to go forward from here, but I am writing to ask for your continued support, love and prayers. If we make choices that do not make sense to you please do not judge us and criticize us because you don't understand what we are having to go through. Toxic mold poisoning is like the “leprosy” of our day and it is often very difficult for people on the outside to understand what people suffering from toxic mold poisoning are being forced to go through. After much research and visiting with people that have been through this, the advice that sticks in my head the most is that “most people do not do what they need to do soon enough” Unfortunately, they either die an untimely death or are forced to live a very secluded life and struggle with chemical sensitivity because they become allergic to everything around them.

I do not know the Lord's full purpose behind this incredible trial that we are going through, but if it serves as a tool to bring us closer to Christ and to each other then it will be worth it. I also hope that we can be pioneers for others around us to bring awareness to the prevention of this horrible sickness and help others who may be suffering from it as others have done for us.

Thank for your continued love and support.

Love,

Jill

Our Toxic Mold Experience

The last goal I set on this blog was to move towards starting my family on the GAPS diet. My focus has temporarily changed, however, as getting to the root of our health problems that started with our exposure to toxic mold has become a matter of life or death for our family. If you want to make God laugh tell him you have a plan!

Following is a timeline of events that we have been through and continue to go through in relation to our exposure to toxic mold. We have experienced and learned a lot and we have a lot of work ahead of us to regain our families health. The best advice I have been given through all of this is to FOCUS ON HEALING! I have to remind myself of this daily.

November 1, 2012

We are sooooo excited to finally be moving into a nice family home back out in the country where we will be able to have more freedom, fresh air, and more animals!!!!! Before making this move we were a relatively healthy family and only visited the doctor a few times a year for minor issues and hadn't had a hospital stays for six years with the exception of the birth of a baby.

December 1, 2012

We receive the very unexpected and unwanted news that we are expecting another baby. I go into a 3+ month depression trying to accept this news and be happy about it. I had just taken off 30 lbs., we have no maternity insurance, we will have to buy a new vehicle to accommodate a family of 9, we already have three disabled children, and this will be my 4^th c-section which will put me into a very high risk delivery as my uterine lining was already very thin with my last c-section. 

I had a copper IUD in place at the time of conception. I don't know if there is any connection with our exposure to toxic mold and the IUD becoming ineffective or not. It is not something that I will spend time investigating, but I am throwing that information out there in case anyone else had the same experience.

February 6, 2013

Rachel sees the doctor for cough, congestion, fever, and vomiting after cough. She is diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection.

February 18, 2013

Spencer goes to doctor with complaints of fatigue, 20 lb. weight loss in a month, increased urination, increased thirst, decreased appetite, and abdominal pain. He is diagnosed with Type I diabetes and is taken by ambulance to Primary Children’s Hospital for a 4 day hospital stay.

February 20, 2013

Larry is called at work to come pick Ben up from school because he is not feeling well.

February 25, 2013

Enoch is seen by the clinic for a concussion in a skiing accident. He also reports having had a deep cough since having the flu a month ago. He is diagnosed as having allergies which is believed to be causing the cough.

March 7, 2013

Rachel sees the doctor for cough, head congestion, ear pain, and chest congestion. Her respiratory and cardiovascular seem to be ok and she is put on an antibiotic for an ear infection. 

March 12, 2013

We take our three youngest children (Ben, Bekah, & Rachel) to their three year visit to John’s Hopkins hospital in Baltimore Maryland for an evaluation with the rare disease that they have, ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T). We are so relieved to learn that overall the twins are doing incredibly well (in fact, they labeled them as being in the top 5% of A-T children that they have seen from all over the world) for their age and diagnosis. It is confirmed that Rachel too has A-T at this appointment.

While at this appointment they are very concerned about our children’s coughs that they have recently come down with, especially Rebekah and Rachel’s coughs and we are given studies and an education on lung disease and how children with A-T die from this condition. They send us home with a prescription for a very strong antibiotic for Rebekah & Rachel and ask us to please follow up with our local doctor as this is a potential life threatening situation for our children.

March 28, 2013

We e-mail the people that we have a rent-to-own contract with and let them know that our intent is to still close by the end of May. Our income looks good and we are just waiting to receive an offer on an investment property that we own. We are told by our landlords that if we do not close by the end of May they will be raising the price on the property.  

April 4, 2013

We are devastated to come to the realization that we will probably not meet the May 31, 2013 deadline to purchase the property because the offer that we thought we were going to get on our investment property falls through. As we are unable to pay more for the property, we notify them in writing to opt out of our purchase option.

April 9, 2013

Rachel goes to the doctor for coughing and congestion that has been going on for 6+ weeks. She is having coughing episodes 3-4 times per day that sometimes lead her to vomit and the other night she was coughing so extensively that her face was starting to turn blue. She is diagnosed and treated for seasonal rhinitis and cough. John’s Hopkins Hospital is contacted to see if they have any further recommendations. If breathing problems return we are instructed to return to the clinic/ER asap.

April 22, 2013

Larry has his first pancreatic attack. He toughs it out for 3 days thinking it is gas pain.

May 7, 2013

Larry woke up at 2 a.m. because of excruciating abdominal pain. Finally went to the clinic in the afternoon for an appointment. Larry is nauseous and the pain is causing shallow breathing. Larry is hospitalized for three days and diagnosed with acute pancreatitis.

Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas and requires immediate medical attention. 80% of pancreatic attacks are caused by alcoholism or gall stones, neither of which applies in our situation. Recurring pancreatic attacks can lead to death (because of damage done to the pancreas and the need to remove portions of it), diabetes, or cancer. It is at this time that we learn that Larry’s grandmother died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 49. Larry is 46. Cancer is ruled out at this time, but could be in the future if these attacks continue to reoccur.

We start to question if there is something in the house that is making us sick?????? We start to wonder if maybe there is a reason why we have not been able to purchase the property??????

May 10, 2013

We have basic water tests run (Total Coliform and Escherichia Coli) from four different sources in the house (our shower, laundry room sink, upstairs bathroom sink, and the kitchen sink). All of the tests come back normal except for the Total Coliform test taken from the kitchen sink. The sample did contain total coliform which indicates an increased probability of disease causing organisms being in the sample. The sample did not meet the specification for potable water as established by EPA. We contacted the public health department and were told that because the kitchen sink was the only water source with a problem that it was most likely the aerator in that sink causing the problems. We took the aerator off and boiled it and swabbed it with a chlorine solution. After talking to our landlords we learned that the water testing they had done in the past had come back very good and their well was 200+ feet deep so we turned away from water contamination possibilities even though there are several other tests that could still be run.

May 15, 2013

I wake up in the middle of the night and the thought comes into my mind that it is the birds in the roof causing us problems! Birds in the roof, what do they have to do with anything???? I had never really paid much attention to them flying into the roof until I had that thought. I spent the whole night researching diseases caused by birds. I read about how “airborne spores from drying feces in air ducts and vents can settle on exposed food and transfer diseases.” Another interesting fact that I learned was that bird feces if microscopic pieces break off and become airborne they can contain dormant fungi and/or bacteria. When breathed into the lungs, the warm, moist environment of the lung lining provides a breeding ground for the infectious agents. These type of infections can also cause coughing, restricted breathing, and general body fatigue.

I also read that in rare cases infectious agents, such as candida, can cause pancreatitis through bird droppings.

May 16, 2013

I call our landlord and express my concerns about the birds flying into the roof and causing possible problems. I briefly share with her the severe health problems that our family has been through since moving into their house. She dismisses our health problems as just a trial that our family is going through and is very adamant that it has nothing to do with their house. There is not even a commitment or offer to come and look at and/or fix the problems with the holes in the roof. This is very frustrating to us as we have tried to be good tenants always paying our rent early and taking care of the property. This is the first time we have contacted them about any concerns with the house and we are quickly shot down even though having a holy/leaking roof is a huge problem that should not be ignored by any landlord.

May 17, 2013

I spend most of my day on the phone with pesticide companies trying to find out how to have our roof inspected. In the end I learn that they will do nothing without the Landlords permission.

May 18, 2013

I receive a phone call from the landlords that they are on there way to Malad to inspect the roof. She is still very adamant that there are no birds flying into the roof. After a brief inspection from the master bedroom window, they witness the birds flying into the roof and commit to come back the next weekend and repair the holes.

While at our house they experience a couple of Rachel’s coughing/breathing attacks and the landlord comments how she probably needs to be checked out as it almost sounds like pneumonia. Her sickness is something that I have been dealing with and trying to get help with for several months now!!!

I also express my concerns again that there is something in the house that is making us have constant health problems. Once again our landlord is very adamant that there is nothing in the house causing these problems.

May 20, 2013

Rachel is seen at Primary Children’s hospital for her continued cough and throwing up mucus. Whooping cough, RSV, and fluid in the lungs are ruled out. She is diagnosed with a viral infection and sinusitis. We are given a strong antibiotic and told to contact an ENT doctor if symptoms do not clear up in a week or so.

I start to research other possible causes of chronic and even life threatening sickness that we have experienced as a family since moving to our new home. I research everything from formaldehyde, to radon, and finally molds. The one that seems to be the most fitting for what we are going through is toxic mold. Even though we have not visibly found the mold (we also have not looked very hard) we have several of the highest risks factors in our house for mold—leaking roof, wallpaper, a basement, and an unvented bathroom. We order an ERMI mold kit to test for what mold species are present in the home. 

May 22, 2013

Jill sees doctor for sore throat and nasal congestion. Strep test comes back negative. Diagnosed with allergies.

May 23, 2013

Thanks to some very generous family members who were willing to watch our children, we are finally able to get away for a few days for our anniversary. We have a wonderful time. One of the things that we discussed while away was our concerns with all of the sickness that our family had experienced while living at our new house, especially with a newborn on the way.

After reading about how infants can experience pulmonary homorraging and die from repeated exposure to mold we decide that this is not something that we can even take a chance with. This information coupled with the high risks for all of our A-T children and our whole family for that matter, we make the decision to move before our baby is born in mid July.

May 25, 2013

Our landlord returns to patch the holes in the roof. While there he comments that the roof really needs to be replaced.

Jill wakes up with half of her face numb. By the afternoon her eye is going blurry. As we are on vacation, we go to an instacare clinic in Utah County on our way back to pick up our children. Stroke is ruled out and I am diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy and put on an anti-viral medication and a steroid. The next couple of weeks are very challenging as I have to now take medication that is always a risk when you are pregnant, I have a hard time eating and seeing out of the one side of my face, and I have to wear sunglasses and constantly put eye drops in my eye because I am not making tears and my eye is severely dilated.

We miss being able to visit with our family and get home late to see our children because once again we are at the doctor.

May 27, 2013

I talk to our tenant who is in the house that we had moved from, who is now on a month to month contract,  and ask her if they can please be out by the end of June.

I call our landlord and inform them of our intent to move out by July 15^th because of our continued health problems.

May 30, 2013

Larry goes to the ER because of an accident at work. He ends up with 20 stitches in his finger and is very lucky that he missed his tendons or he would have had to have had surgery.

Right before the accident happened, he reported that he had a sudden crushing pain in his lungs on the left side. He was hooked up to the EKG machine and several other heart tests were performed. Luckily, everything checked out to be ok.

May 31, 2013

Enoch sees the doctor for breathing problems that have been going on for 4+ months. He has been having a hard time since his last cold in Jan./Feb. He gets really short of breath, wheezes, gets nauseated, lightheaded and feels a burning in his chest every time he exercises. He denies problems with breathing during rest and is short of breath only when he exercises. The problems of allergic rhinitis and exercise-induced bronchospasm are addressed.

June 4, 2013

My friend, Jen, from Pocatello (a town 45 min. away from where we live) learns of our situation and offers her furnished, unused  basement to us to live in if we need it. I tell her thank you, but we only have to make it to the end of the month so we should be ok. I am praying that we make it to the end of the month before we experience anymore health problems, but I am relieved that we have somewhere to go if we need to. It is very difficult to find a place to temporarily relocate with a family of eight.

June 5, 2013

I have known for about a week now, after visiting with other moms who have been through similar situations as ours, and doing research on the internet, that if stachybotrus (black mold) spores are found in our house that the only way to get better is to literally leave everything behind and start a new life. The spores get into everything and they are so dangerous. The only way to get rid of them is with 500 degree+ heat. If we were to move out and take our possessions with us we would cross contaminate our new home and bring the problem with us.

I call the insurance company that we have our renter’s insurance through and am devastated to learn that we are only covered for water damage or fire and they have completely washed their hands of any mold issues, even though they know that black mold is just as destructive to possessions as fire. We are very upset by this news because of the unknown to our future and the financial debt that we are already drowning in because of all of our medical bills, time off work, gas bills and specialty items that we are having to buy because of our situation are starting to pile up.

June 6, 2013

Larry has another pancreatic attack and is admitted to the hospital for a 3 day stay. We are thinking that we might be taking Jen up on her offer as we are really starting to believe that there really is something in our environment triggering these episodes.

The trip that I had planned to Nevada for my niece and nephews graduation and to visit with my family has to be cancelled. I was really looking forward to getting away for a few days, but once again I have to take care of my SICK family.

We also realize at this point that Larry will not be going on Trek with our older boys scheduled for June 18^th as the risks with his attacks are too high. He and the boys are very disappointed about this.

I call EMSL lab to check when the mold results will be back. They tell me Tuesday and I beg them to please get them to us ASAP.

June 7, 2013

We receive the mold test results back from EMSL Analytical. The ERMI Interpretation of mold comes back at a level 3 for moderate to relative moldiness. Further investigation is needed to determine if sources of mold exist. Although we are EXTREMELY RELIEVED to learn that the stachybotrus (black mold) spores are not showing up in the testing, all of the detected molds in the sample are considered dangerous and toxic, particularly aspergillus flavus which produces aflatoxins.

Aflatoxin is a type of mycotoxin produced by aspergillus molds. Aflatoxins are very toxic and highly carcinogenic. When a person takes in a high amount of aflatoxins in a very short time it can cause a variety of health problems including disruption of food digestion, hemorrhaging, coma, or death.

June 8, 2013

Larry is released from the hospital and spends the day with the children at Enoch’s ball games. I frantically work hard gathering up our belongings so that we can move to Pocatello and be in a different environment. I am so exhausted by the end of the day (I am now about 8 mos. pregnant) from washing and packing that I am literally crawling up the stairs and wincing in pain to get everything we need and get our family to a “safe” place.

June 9, 2013

We all stay home from church and have a much needed day of REST!

June 12, 2013

Enoch sees doctor for throat pain and runny nose. He is diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection that appears to be viral.

June 18, 2013

Larry has another pancreatic attack. He takes his pain meds and we take him to the Portneuf Emergency room where he is once again admitted to the hospital. By the time we get to the hospital, he is very weak and passes out while having an IV put in. This really freaked me out as my husband has always been very strong and I have never seen him so weak before.

The much needed shopping trip that I had planned was put on the back burner because once again I was taking care of my SICK family.

June 19, 2013

I spent a large portion of the day over at the hospital with Larry. They are having a hard time finding the cause of his pancreatitis and are seriously considering taking out his gall bladder. We both highly suspect that it is possibly mold related. 70% of all pancreatitis is caused by alcohol which is a toxin. The aflatoxins that are produced by some of the molds detected in our rental home are also toxins that can build up in your body and cause all kinds of health problems, including inflammation which is what pancreatitis is--inflammation of the pancreas. Larry is getting headaches from all of the medicine and is not feeling well and I spend much of the day researching diets for him to cleanse his body and help him get better.

I had planned on being in Malad today packing up the house, but once again I am taking care of a family member who is SICK.

End of June 2013

Ben is at his cousins house playing while we are madly trying to get our things moved. I receive a phone call that he has fallen off of his bike and they think he has broken his arm. I meet them at the Emergency room and it is confirmed that his arm is broken. This is the first broken bone that we have ever had with any of our six children. 

July 2013

We get moved back into our old house two weeks before our baby is born. Nathanael Joseph joins our family on July 19th and he appears to be healthy (phewww!)

Everyone seems to be doing better--coughs have went away and no more asthma complaints.

August 2013

Larry has his 5th pancreatic attack when Nathan is just 3 weeks old. While in the hospital my very manly husband calls me crying because he has tried talking to the doctor on call about the possibility of his recurring pancreatitis being related to toxic mold and she has essentially called us "idiots"! She is very adamant that he just needs to get his gall bladder out and that will take care of the problem even though the testing that they have done shows no signs of gall bladder blockage. I am not very surprised by her reaction as I have tried to tell EVERY doctor that we have encountered about our "families" experience and our suspicion that this is related to toxic mold that we moved into. Not ONE took the time to look at all of my documentation, records and information from doctors in their own field. We did have one doctor in Pocatello who ran a mold test that came back negative. I don't believe it was the right kind of test and I sense that he ran it just to get me to shut-up! 

Larry is transported by ambulance to the Ogden Regional Hospital where he stays for 4 days. While there they determine that it is most likely not his gall bladder causing the problem and they fail to give him adequate fluids with the amount of pain killers that they were pumping through him. For reasons unbeknown to us, they send him home still SICK and he ends up back in our local hospital that night on an IV to get all of the junk flushed out of his system.

August 27, 2013

Because the medical community was not finding any answers as to the cause of his pancreatites (which is usually caused by alcohol or gall stones), we felt it was important to do further investigation as to the root of this problem and we paid $700 out-of-pocket to send in a urine sample to real time labs and have his body tested for mycotoxins which are caused by certain types of molds. Mycotoxins are some of the most toxic substances in existence and can wreak havoc on your health.
Larry tested positive  for tricothecenes, the most toxic mycotoxin there is. Tricothecenes are produced by common species of mold such as aspergillus, penicillium or stachybotrys (black mold) and they can be inhaled or ingested. Our rental home had tested positive for aspergillus and pencillium.

After receiving these test results, I spoke with one of the leading toxocologists in the United States, Dr. Thrasher, whose specialty is toxins and how they affect human health. After reviewing the dust sampling that was taken out of our rental home, Larry's test results, and the types and series of health problems that we experienced while living in the home he verbally confirmed that our health problems were directly related to our exposure to toxic mold while living in your home. He also indicated that he wasn't so sure that there was not stachybotrys (black mold) present at the home, but it may not have shown up in the dust test because they are very sticky spores and we may not have gotten them in the sample we took. This opens up the question of whether or not we have severe cross-contamination issues because we chose to move all of our stuff. Grrrrrr!!!

December 28, 2013
Our 4 month break from pancreatitis is short lived and Larry returns to the hospital from another attack after a family Christmas party. He is lying there in the ER in horrific pain and I keep asking the nurse when the doctor is going to be there. He replies that the doctor legally has 30 min. to respond to an ER call. I am thinking where can you go in little old Malad that you couldn't be there in 10 min. or under. The doctor comes walking in 30 min. later and says, "Are you going to listen to me this time? Have you had enough?" At that moment I realized that this was the doctor that had been emotionally abusive to him at our August visit. Larry sat up and said, "Listen lady are you going to help me or am I going to walk out of here?" As calm as I could speak from being so appalled I said, "this is not the time or place for that, please get his pain under control and we will talk about this out in the hall."
The pressures we felt to get his gall bladder out were relentless--work, church, friends and medical workers, but I KNEW that his gall bladder was not the cause of his pancreatitis and still NOONE would look at my folder full of documentation!!!
We were essentially held hostage at the hospital for a week waiting for Larry to be well enough to have his gall bladder taken out. I ask him several times if he wanted to just walk and not have the operation, but he felt SO much pressure that he felt it was something that he had to do. They say that his gall bladder had sludge in it and were certain that they had taken care of the problem. We were both somewhat optimistic that maybe, just maybe this would fix the problem.

March 2, 2014
The day after returning home from our son's state wrestling tournament Larry has another attack and spends another 4 or 5 days in the hospital. After being released, he goes back into the hospital gain because his pain flares up again. We are both VERY DISCOURAGED! 
While he is in the hospital, my sister-in-law comes over and we clean out all processed food out of our refrigerator. With each hospital stay I have cleaned up our eating more and more, but it has been a VERY difficult process with a newborn baby and still trying to get settled from our moved.

March 26, 2014
After much experience, research, testing and talking to experts I have come to the following conclusions:

1. We were poisoned by toxic mold.

2. We very likely have a cross-contamination issue that continues to affect us at some level. One of the doctors I spoke with was adamant that we needed to get rid of all of our things, but this seems like such a drastic step to take when there are still so many unanswered questions (what is the ERMI level in our home now) and we are struggling so much financially.
I really liked Dr. Mary Short-Ray's advice to hepa vacuum and wipe down all of our belongings with a mold killing solution, especially the wood, and then buy air filters (available on toxic-mold-syndrome.com website) that should help take most of the mycotoxins out of the air.

3. Larry, and possibly several of us, suffer from "Mold Illness". Many patients “don’t look that bad.” But those people are struggling with an illness that causes them to lose their quality of life. These patients don’t know that they have a genetic susceptibility to develop this illness based on their immune response genes (HLA–DR). They don’t know that the inflammation that makes them ill comes from within: it is due to an assault by their own unregulated innate immune system responses. Because of exposure to the interior environment of a water-damaged building, these patients will have a series of abnormalities in innate immune responses that will not self heal; will not abate in severity [actually increase!] and will continue to cause illness from blood- and tissue- based inflammation as well as alteration of the regulation of fundamental genomic activity. At the core of why one person becomes ill from this exposure and another doesn’t is their gene susceptibility (or predisposition) – what is built into their DNA. Every person’s innate immune system is personal and genetically coded – thus, it works differently for each of us. When the body is faced with a foreign substance, it immediately begins to process that substance – recognize it, determine if it is good or bad, a friend or a foe, and throw it into the antigen presenting machinery that will normally generate an effective antibody response. If the body determines the substance is a foe, it will develop antibodies to bind these substances, called antigens. Normally the next time a non-mold susceptible person walks into a WDB, his antibodies will target the antigen and clear it out fast. That protection from so-called acquired immune responses just doesn’t happen in mold patients.
The genetics are clear: occurrence of specific HLA types are found in about 25% of the population. It is in these people that we find the sickened ones almost always (nothing is 100% in biology). In these people, the antigens stay in the body, and our own defenses bombard our body in response to those antigens. What you now have is a person who is defenseless against new exposures and is suffering daily from inflammation.
It is a vicious cycle – the foreign antigens (substances) stay in the body, causing the immune system to constantly fight back. This causes so much inflammation in the body that it leads to chronic illness, and the occurrence of many symptoms. Our entire being suffers from friendly fire from our own innate immune system."--Dr. Shoemaker

4. The most critical thing that we need to start doing immediately is to get on binders (see toxic-mold-syndrome.com). These pull the toxins out of your body and from what I've been told things may get worse before they get better. I've been told that the average healing time is 8 mos. to a year.

5. We have got to practice clean eating continually and specifically nourish the pancreas and digestive tract. to avoid future pancreatic attacks. The most helpful cookbook I have found to cook from is called "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon. I HIGHLY recommend this book. At some point we may go on the "mold killing diet".

6. We are not going to get the help for toxic mold exposure that we need from the mainstream medical community. We will have to go to an environmental MD that specializes in mold poisoning. There are only a handful of them in the United States and they are very hard to get into. Larry has an appointment with Dr. Janette Hope MD and mold survivor in Santa Barbara CA at the end of April. 
Ideally we would all be able to visit Dr. Hope, but with our shortage of finances Larry has to be the priority.
Some of us continue to have sinus issues, vision problems, and brain fog.

7. Our whole family needs to be taking  the herbal supplement, protandim (see abcliveit.com for more info.). Protandim has been clinically proven to reduce oxidative stress by an average of 40% after only 30 days. Oxidative stress is a huge component of damage done by toxic molds (see scientific article by Dr. Janette Hope at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2013/767482). Some of the members of our family that fared the best through our mold exposure were religiously on protandim because of other medical conditions that they had. I regret not having them on it sooner. 

8. This experience may cost us our livelihood. We own the local feed store and grainery and my husband is constantly working in grain dust that is full of mycotoxins. For now he will wear a mask.

Tests We Have Had Done
1. ERMI (emsl.com) about $300 This is the test we did at our rental house to confirm the presence of toxic molds.


ERMI is the Environmental Relative Moldiness Index – the combination of EPA research, powerful PCR technology, and a new method to screen homes for mold.
The ERMI test involves the analysis of a single sample of dust from a home. The sample is analyzed using mold-specific quantitative polymerase chain reaction (MSQPCR), a highly specific DNA-based method for quantifying mold species. A simple algorithm is used to calculate a ratio of water damage-related species to common indoor molds and the resulting score is called the Environmental Relative Moldiness Index or ERMI.

2. ehaplabs.com  this lab tests for symptoms of mold exposure and mold sickness in the human body. The mycotoxin test that we had done was about $700. You can submit this testing to insurance as long as you have them include the appropriate codes.
If your doctor is willing they can sign up with Real Time Labs and order the tests for you through the doctors office. If they do this and you do a repeat tests it is only $200 instead of $700. The lab has a structure in place to train open minded doctors to treat this condition.

3. Visual Contrast Sensitivity (VCS)--available to take at survivingmold.com
Pricing:
1 Test: $15
4 Tests: $40
10 Tests: $75
50 Tests:  $250
The VCS APTitude is designed to help identify contrast vision loss from exposure to a variety of environmental sources of illnesses.
I was very skeptical about this test until some of our family had taken it and I have received the thumbs up from the doctors that I have visited with. I really expected most of our family to fail it, except for Dallin, who never seemed to have any toxic mold illness. So far our results are as follows:

1. Larry--passed one eye and failed the other
2. Jill--failed both
3. Enoch--failed both
4. Dallin--passed both!
This test is designed so that as you start to heal and get the toxins out of your body, your vision will improve! This gives us a fairly inexpensive way to track progress for our whole family.

If you have an unexplained illness, you should consider toxic mold poisoning! To learn more go to the references below:

Other Recommended Links, Websites, & Books
1. www.toxic-black-mold-syndrome.com   This is Dr. Mary Beth Short Ray M.S., D.O.'s website. She is the author of "Surviving Toxic Black Mold Syndrome" which I highly recommend. This book was specifically written for doctors. She is a doctor who has been through toxic mold poisoning.
Dr. Mary Ray also does phone consultations for $50 per half hour. I have had a couple of them with her and found them to be well worth the money. Most environmental drs. charge anywhere from $250--$500/hr.

2. momsaware.org   This is Andre Fabre's website. This is the website that I originally came to when I started learning about toxic mold. They had 9 children and left everything behind because they were so sick and had been exposed to toxic black mold for several years. She has been a good friend through this whole experience. I would encourage you to read their story and spend time looking at her website. She has some EXCELLENT info. on there.

3. Following is a link to a medical journal article written by Dr. Janette Hope, President of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine. This is an excellent well documented article that is at least worth skimming through.  http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2013/767482/

4. sponauglewellness.com
This is a detox center in Clearwater, Florida that was recommended to me by Dr. Baker, from Pocatello, who also went through toxic mold poisoning. There are some very interesting testimonials on this website, but they don't show any pricing which makes me a little nervous.

5. ehcd.com
This is the Environmental Health Center in Dallis, TX where Dr. Baker also suggested that we go after going to Dr. Sponagle in Florida. Dr. Mary Ray also recommended that we go here and visit Dr. William Rea. There protocol looks very promising. Again, just wondering how much they charge???

6. survivingmold.com. This is Dr. Richie Shoemaker's website. He is one of the leading doctors in treating toxic mold illness. This website contains a wealth of information.

7. Jack D. Thrasher, PhD (thrasher.org) is an immunotoxicologist who has assisted hundreds of individuals injured by toxic chemicals and molds. Dr. Thrasher has been a consultant and expert witness for cases involving environmental toxicology and immunotoxicology. He has been very helpful to us in putting togetther all of the puzzle pieces.

8. Mold: The War Within by Kurt & Lee Ann Billings--Lessons Learned from Katrina

This is just the tip of the iceberg of everything that I have learned over the past 10 months. I would love to hear your experiences and feedback after reading this. In the meantime, I am going to keep putting one foot in front of the other and FOCUS ON HEALING!