February 17, 2004

• I am so glad our business is moving to a new location in a month or so. I hate the building we are in now. It seemed like a good idea a few years ago when we moved from the one-window hovel we rented then, but we've discovered too many problems with the building we now are in, the latest of which is a huge mold or mildew problem.

  
  

  The manager of the office next door to us in this building has complained about a moldy/mildewy smell for the past two and a half years. The landlords have answered his complaints by spraying bleach in the ceiling. A few months ago, a leaky toilet on their side leaked enough under the bathroom floor on our side to make the floor bubble up and the tiles crack. The didn't get into the bathroom until January to get the floor fixed, and I was apalled at the blackness I saw under the floor when they tore up the bad portion, and the smell was awful, but it went away in a day or so.

  
  

  However, the following week, the manager next door was complaining again about the smell. For the past month, the landlords have been jacking up the floor from the basement where things are settling, and yesterday they tore out a bunch of wood and insulation and obviously sprayed it with bleach. They used so much bleach that when I came back from the other store at 5:30 last night my nose was assaulted the minute I walked into the store and my eyes were burning within 5 minutes. I was planning on staying late and working on tax stuff, but there was no way I could stay late.

  
  

  This morning, we were once again assaulted by the moldy smell. At the very least, the landlord stirred up a bunch of mold spores that are now affecting my business. We have had employees having trouble with headaches for the past few months or so (at least since the bathroom incident) and scratchy throats and coughs. When they go away for the weekend, the cough or headaches go away.

  
  

  This morning, after a customer complained about the modly smell, I finally broke down and called the city building inspector. He made several suggestions, the largest of which was to find the source of the moisture because once that was cleared up, the mold or mildew would dry up and not be a problem. He told  me to contact an HVAC company to do an air quality test, and then asked me if I had ever heard of Legionaire's Disease. Holy cow, did I go through the roof. Not only have I heard of Legionaire's, I've dealth with it and don't want to go through it again.

  
  

  For those of you who do not know, my husband went into the hospital with Legionaire's Disease one week after our wedding. At first he was diagnosed with pneumonia and sent home. After the 3rd time back in the emergency room in one weekend, they admitted him to the hospital for dehydration and put him in respiratory confinement. Just as they were getting him settled into his room, he went into respiratory distress and they moved him to ICU. We spent what was supposed to be our honeymoon in the hospital. He was intubated and in an induced coma for 3 weeks as I prayed each and every minute that he not die, that God not give me something so good in my life that I had been seeking for so long and then take him away right away.

  
  

  Eventually test results came back to tell us it was Legioinare's Disease. My husband was in the hospital a total of  10 weeks. He lost half a thumb, the tip of his finger and 6 toes to gangrene that set in from his organs shutting down. He has experienced a number of health issues since then, none serious, because of the Legionaires.

  
  

  I damn sure don't want us or anyone near us to have to go through that. The doctors at that time told us that only 5% of Legionaires victims are properly diagnosed with the disease before they die. Most of the time, they are diagnosed with pneumonia. Of those who are properly diagnosed, less than 10% survive. We are very, very lucky, and I am very blessed to have my husband 12 years later. You can bet I'm not going to let some cheap-ass landlord cause us problems like that again. The HVAC guys are supposed to be getting back to me on costs for an air quality check.

  • 11:26 pm
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