Moms dealing with elevated lead levels - Page 13

[richella]

ernestholmes -- when I was a door canvasser for Greenpeace, I once had a really bad day. House after house I found families that had been devastated by catastrophic illness. Cancer, leukemia, others I had never heard of. (Needless to say, these people did not have much money to give to non-profits!). I went back to the office and when I told my co-workers what I had found, they said, "Oh yeah, you must have had power line turf." That is, there were big main cables running through the neighborhood. It was common knowlege among canvassers that where you have power lines, everyone is sick. Your house sounds like that.

Wishing you all improved health.

[richella]

Anybody else had this yet:

Me: Oh! DD is eating, and I haven't washed her hands since she was out playing in the yard!

Other person: That's okay, it's good for her immune system.

Me: (a week later, when I thought of it) Yeah, that lead is good for her immune system . . . .

[jrayn]

yes my mom is always telling me that dirt is good for the immune system too!

[provocativa]

I really do think soil organisms are good for the system, and it is one of my guilt points from before when we didn't know about the lead. Now, she can play in the dirt at mom's farm, but I try to be careful in the city. We've had this scenario (eating with dirty hands) twice already, and it's not even summer yet. Sigh.

[richella]

I know the germs are good, I just think dd gets plenty from kissing the cats and eating cracker crumbs off the floor. Maybe if we kept the house cleaner, it would be an issue. I just got a little irked because I felt the person was trying to tell me not to be a germophobe, which I most certainly am not. Sure germs are good for the immune system, but since when is it wrong to wash hands before eating?

[AnoriensMom]

I've got good news to post. My dd's latest test results came in at 12 !!!
To recap, over the past year and a half it has been 31, 30, 25, 21, 19, 16, 17, and now finally 12. When it jumped back up to 17 we learned that she was still getting exposed even in our newly lead abated house. I am happy to report that we have sold that house and have moved back to Virginia. It will be interesting to see low it will be the next time.
I go back and forth (only silently to myself) about whether she is showing signs of damage from living with such a high lead level for so long. I guess only time will tell. My mom thinks this will just be a note in her babybook!
Hope everyone else has good news too.

[richella]

That's really good news. I'm sorry it took so long to get to this point, that must have been hard to deal with! I hope things go well for you in VA.

[~member~]

[AnoriensMom]

thanks for bumping this up. it reminded me to take dd for her next lead test.
will post results once we know.
hope everyone else is doing well.

[CountryMom2e]

Coming to this thread late but we too have been dealing with lead exposure. Our son tested 17 at his 1 yr blood test (venous draw, not a finger stick). We moved out of the house three days later and started on a massive paint removal/abatement project. We've sunk our life savings into this project - the numbers are staggering - and now we are weeks away from being done. Meanwhile, DS's level is down to 6 at the last test, about 4 mo ago, and when I was pg I never got over 2.

I am terrified that we will move back in and it won't be enough. Or that our youngest will test positive. We are getting a HEPA vac (God, they are expensive!), have a HEPA shop vac as well, and plan on wasting a lot of paper towels and swiffer wets to keep our house clean. Minimizing curtains, throw rugs, and fabrics too. Anything to keep down the lead dust.

Right before we move in, DS is getting retested. Thank goodness his levels never went over 20 (which is when our health dept. gets involved) so we did this project voluntarily, without oversight. Would not have been able to afford the project with oversight!

So far, no developmental changes at all - in fact he is above all of the charts in terms of growth, vocabulary, physical development and coordination, etc. Just a bright, fun, healthy nice kid

GL to all of you also dealing with this - so scary!

[emma_goldman]

I'm sending my best to you Mommies, too.

[AMum]

Lila's lead level went up She was initially a 26 (11/05) then a 24 (3/06) and now a 28 (8/06). I am so bummed out. Especially since in my mind I thought all of those numbers were in the teens, 16, 14, rather than 26/24. How did my brain do that? Wishful thinking I suppose.

From what the lead inspector who came out in Dec said, all of our lead issues are on the outside of the house. He didn't want to file a report or take dust samples, b/c it was nearly Christmas and if he did we would've only had 6 weeks to comply. It was very nice of him.

This past summer we removed the entire back porch and an overhang that went most of the way across the back of the house. All covered in lead paint. Dh used his infra-red paint removal tool to strip the door frames (basement and back door, both go out to back yard) and the main floor brick molding on the windows. (he taped plastic across the whole back side of the house from the inside) After that we marked off a patio that covers an area that runs almost the width of the house and 14' out into the yard. We covered that area with crushed limestone, about a foot thick. My bil gave us a load of nearly dead sod (he was clearing space for a garden and we didn't pick it up quickly enough), which I used a garden fork to chunk up, and smooth over a large section of our yard. That gave us some good coverage and amazingly enough grass is growing in that area.

We still have a long way to go though b/c our carriage house is covered in lead paint. Dh is reroofing it (a summer project that should've been finished before he started teaching again, but a few paying projects came up and its not yet complete) and will then start on stripping it, again with the infrared paint removing tool and lots & lots of plastic coverage.

I am ordering the nilfisk family vac today. It can't get here soon enough imo.

And I'm stepping back up the wet moping and cleaning. Damn, I really slacked off on that this summer. It is so hard to get stuff like that done with three kids, homeschool and all the other stuff that goes on in life. I could kick myself for not doing a better job. :

We'll be getting a call from the city to schedule another lead inspection, and the lead health nurse is going to come along. Ugh. I don't think she likes us much, we're too far out of the box (re vaccines and our approach to healthcare in general), I think.

[naturegirl7]

This is my concern as a mom of a 14 mo - DH didn't push for DS to be tested at his 1 yr exam, so I have to go next time and push for it.

I only got thru the first page of posts - but I wanted to pass along something I just learned recently in nursing school

Lead dust from windows accumulates onteh sills, and is blown right off the sills and onto the floors where kids play. Try to NOT open the windows, or get ones that open from the top.

And this is the most important thing - cleaning often is a must - BUT you are supposed to use a specific chemical to remove the lead. I *think* it was some sort of phosphate, but I am not positive. I do remember my prof telling us that most cleaners had this ingredient, but that it has been removed cuz it is so bad for the environment. Now, PINESOL is the ONLY cleaner on the market that binds to the lead and removes it from your windows, floors, etc. Also vacuuming - it can help, but removing the carpets is the only way to get the lead out of the carpets (unless you wash them with Pinesol I guess).

I just wanted to pass that Pinesol info on. And wish all of you the best in this difficult journey you are on.

[richella]

AMum, I hear you about the mopping. I've slacked off a lot too. One week I tried every day to get the toys picked up enough to do a thorough sweep. Every day we'd get some done and dd would start playing with one or someone would come to the door or whatever, and I swear I couldn't get the toys picked up all week. I finally gave up and swept around them. It would be funny if it weren't so serious!

I think you're doing the right thing not vaxing, though. Lila has enough toxicity to deal with, she doesn't need all that formaldehyde and stuff.

[AMum]

thanks Richella. Yep, I'm firm on the non-vax, I just hate to have it come up. And why the hell wouldn't they see that this is not the time to inject her with more heavy metals, kwim? The last time the lead inspector came, he did a random drop in which I wasn't too happy about. Since the health nurse is going to come along I think we'll get an actual appt. Dh really wants to be here when they come and I'm so glad to have his support.

It is just so depressing that it went up 4 points and I feel so negligent. I should've had her levels tested in April. I am so horrid about making appts, keeping track of paper, paying bills, all the family secretarial jobs that fall in my lap. Then the results are bad and I feel panicked and guilty and like our house is so disgusting. Bleah.

[staceychev]

Sadly joining this tribe unless our confirmation bloodtest shows the first was a mistake. The county health people are stumped. My 13 month old has lead levels of 47.

[AMum]

I'm sorry you have to join the group Stacey!

Since they're stumped I'm guessing you don't live in an older home or apt? Could it be the soil in your yard or something?

I hope you figure it out and are able to eliminate the source. Hang in there.

[staceychev]

Well, we do live in a house from the 1950's (my Mom's house), but it was totally renovated by the previous owner about 10 years ago. New vinyl windows and such. My husband and I are renovating parts of a 125 year old Victorian, but had thought we were being very cautious, changing clothes and shoes before we came home, etc. It's our first house and we thought it was our dream house. Now, even though Luce doesn't go there, I'm totally afraid of it. I'm ready to sell it and buy a 10-year old house--new enough for no lead, but old enough to have off-gassed the formaldehyde. Sad, we live in such a toxic world.

[richella]

I'm so sorry Stacey. I hope it was a mistake! Wish I had some advice to offer, but I don't.

[staceychev]

I hope it's a mistake too. She's a very bright, very developmentally-on-target kid, with no symptoms of lead toxicity that I can see. The county people who came to interview me today were a little stumped, between my mom's house and their quick assessment of Lucy. The visiting nurse is coming back Thursday to "play" with her to measure her against the developmental norms. But she walks forwards and backwards, sings, spins, climbs stairs, communicate needs and desires and has some words. I don't know. Maybe I'm just in denial.