Day 44 | Our New Favorite Place

I had an awful night last night and was unable to fall asleep until about 3:00am. Unfortunately, the plume seems to have contaminated my sleeping blankets and we have no way of washing them here.

As soon as I got under my blankets I started to feel pressure in my chest and even had a few stabbing pains. They were much milder than the heart pains I had while driving out of the plume but still uncomfortable. When I moved the blankets away from my face my symptoms stopped but I also got really cold. It was quite the struggle to fall asleep.

Thankfully, my bad night of sleep did not prevent us from carrying out the plans we made yesterday. After breakfast we hiked up to Spence Spring again so that I could sweat out some toxins before heading over to the Giggling Springs. Brett had to help me through some of the rough spots. Parts of the trail were really rocky! Not only am I out of shape, I also only had flip flops to wear. It was fun though and I was panting really hard when it was all over. We couldn’t wait to get in the water.

When we arrived at the Giggling Springs, Brett went in to purchase a one hour pass and I stayed back. For now, I am still too reactive to go into buildings. The girl who works there was really sweet. She came out to say “hi” to me and opened the gate for us. The place was really beautiful, with 4 individual hot pools. Only one of the pools was occupied. We were so excited!

As soon as we got in we both started laughing with joy! The warm water felt so good it almost made up for all the miserable cold “showers” of the last four weeks. We couldn’t stop smiling and gushing to each other about how good it felt. It was amazing! Not to mention, we had the whole pool to ourselves!

We soaked in the same pool for about 45 minutes before we decided to try some of the other pools. Unfortunately, there is a river that runs through the property and I didn’t feel great in the pools that were right next to the river. I’m not sure why, maybe cyanotoxins? We got back into the first pool and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of our time there.

When I got out, I was virtually pain free. I guess I had forgotten what that felt like. It was so strange and wonderful! What an amazing feeling! All for less than half the price of a massage or acupuncture treatment! And at least for me, soaking in the hot spring was way more effective than massage or acupuncture ever was.

I wish I could have basked in the joy of a pain-free body all afternoon but we had to go into civilization to buy new blankets and groceries. We were almost out of food and unfortunately, our cooler molded so we had to throw out what little food we had left. I was having reactions just opening the trunk of the car when the cooler was in there.

We’re about an hour away from Albuquerque. Most of the drive was pretty good, except for Rio Rancho. That part was awful. I’m not sure what’s wrong with that particular town but I got a terrible headache, pain, nausea and general malaise. I decontaminated as soon as we got to Albuquerque and the symptoms started to subside right away. I felt decent in Albuquerque and only had to decontaminate two more times. At one point I did start to feel a reaction in my throat so I took some allergy medication. Even so, I am still thinking that Albuquerque is a more tolerable city for me than Las Vegas.

As always, I waited in the car while Brett shopped. I even got to talk to a dear friend over the phone that I hadn’t talked to in months. Actually, I hadn’t talked to anyone besides my immediate family since we started doing mold avoidance. It was so nice to catch up with her, hear about the normal things that normal people think and do, and really connect with another human being. It was especially reassuring to hear her wonder at how crazy and difficult my life is. Sometimes, I forget and it feels good to be reminded that this isn’t hard because I’m a particularly weak person. It’s hard because it’s just plain hard.

All in all, today was a happy day. It was so kind of the Lord to give us a day of respite in the middle of all this chaos. On the way back to Jemez Springs, we sang the hymn “Because He Lives” over and over. The words went straight into the deepest part of me and I started crying. I’ve been needing to cry for a while now and it was therapeutic.

Even though we have no idea what awful thing might happen tomorrow we can be certain that because Christ lives our suffering has an expiration date. It’s not going to last forever. One day we will see Him face to face, all of our doubts will fall away and we will know that our hoping and trusting was not in vain.

And then one day, I’ll cross the river
I’ll fight life’s final war with pain
And then, as death gives way to victory
I’ll see the lights of glory and I’ll know He lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow
Because He lives, all fear is gone
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living, just because He lives

Note About Locations: There is growing concern among experienced mold avoiders that sharing good locations is causing places to “go bad.” This is probably the result of inexperienced mold avoiders flocking to these locations and bringing along contaminated possessions or failing to decontaminate properly. Because of this, I was really torn about whether I should even identify the Giggling Springs. In the end, I decided to share openly in good faith. Please remember that doing mold avoidance wrong won’t work, but it will ruin good places for you and others. I strongly encourage any chronic illness patients who are considering mold avoidance to read “The Beginner’s Guide to Mold Avoidance” before heading to any “good locations.” Thank you for respecting your fellow biotoxin illness sufferers.

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