Day 108 | Bringing Ramona “Home”

My family brought Ramona over this morning so that we could experiment with spending the day with her. I was cautiously hopeful. I was a bit anxious that I would react to her again but I had reason to believe things could be different this time.

For one, my family kindly took her to the groomer for us and got her hair shaved really short. They also washed her with charcoal soap which is supposed to bind to toxins. Plus, I wasn’t planning to hold or touch her until I was sure it was safe.

When she arrived Brett let her explore around the ranch while I worked on the laundry. I didn’t feel anything from her so I let myself get excited. Maybe getting rid of all that contaminated fur really helped! I have a good feeling about this! I think we’re going or be able to keep her!

I still felt well enough to finish all the laundry and make lunch for us. When I sat down to eat Ramona wanted to cuddle. I wasn’t planning to let her sit on my lap today but since I was doing so well I decided to try it. I didn’t feel anything right away, so I ate lunch with her curled up on my lap.

Big mistake! Eventually, I did start going downhill. When I got up again my symptoms were undeniably worse, I was fatigued and in pain. I decontaminated but didn’t feel much better. So I took my chair far away from Ramona and sat down to rest.

I was sad and discouraged. What now? What does this mean? Are we going to have to send her back with my family? Why is my health still so fragile?

I texted Brett to let him know I wasn’t feeling any better. He came over to ask me if I had changed my pants when I decontaminated. I hadn’t. I had only rinsed my hair and exposed skin and changed my shirt. That’s often enough but he was right that in this case, it made sense to change my pants too since Ramona had been sitting on my lap.

So I decided to decontaminate a second time and change my whole outfit. I started to feel better immediately. What a relief! Maybe we can keep her!

I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to hang out with my family after that episode but I was able spend two whole hours with them tonight! Yay!

Now, we’re going to try having Ramona spend the night with us. Only this time, she’ll be sleeping in the front of the van instead of next to our bed. Sara Mattson, my mold avoidance mentor, suggested this idea. It can make a big difference to put a few extra feet of distance between the mold sensitive person and the source of contamination. I’m really hoping it works out!

By the way, Brett and I made a beautiful PDF of my favorite resources for suffering souls. I created the content and he made it look fancy with his superduper graphic design skills. It’s available for free to my email subscribers. Click here to sign up and receive 5 Resources for the Suffering Soul.