Before I can look forward…
Sometimes acknowledging what is real means communicating it to others. Often to make things real means describing the things you have been battling, to be vulnerable, self-aware, and accept life isn’t the next thing down the road it is right here under your feet.
So, before I move on, I need to set some context. The following prose is from an open email I sent my organization in May 2019.
To sum things up, I am grateful my son, our dog Sky, and I are alive.
We are very lucky. I am not one to focus on the bad, but my story is one I hope can help others. The last year has been the silent brewing of a perfect storm. My unfamiliarity with CO detectors, upgrades to my home, a rodent abatement and working remotely have led to a near catastrophic outcome. After months of migraines, tremors, seizures, and test after test the answer did not come from a diagnostic image or lab result. It came from an alarm chirping late in the night last week, a visit from my local fire department, the resulting replacement of my carbon monoxide detector and the furnace finally going haywire all weekend.
It turns out we were slowly suffocating (Hypoxia) in our home from a low and slow carbon monoxide leak. This did not set off my alarm all winter, but it caused Sky’s seizures in Oct/Nov, my initial headaches last December and then my eventual seizures in February followed by a tremor, peripheral nephropathy, stutter and blurred vision. Evan was also fatigued, moody and found it extremely hard to concentrate. His grades plummeted this year and I thought he was just being a teenager… Testing has shown that he and I have been cognitively impaired.
Thankfully Evan doesn’t live at my house full-time and he sleeps with a window open. I don’t want to think about what would have happened if he didn’t.
Why did this happen?
First, my furnace is not old, it was serviced last year when I put in air conditioning. It passed inspection, so I would never have guessed there was anything wrong. But there was a slow leak. Next my house was the perfect environment for the gas to accumulate because last fall I had the exterior completely sealed following some rodent activity. This created an environment with no natural airflow and there was no place for the carbon monoxide to go…
Additionally, my detectors were either at eye level on my bookshelf or mounted on the ceiling. Next, the type of alarm I had didn’t chirp until the gas in my hallway reached a level of 70 ppm (parts per million) over a period of an hour. From what PSE (my utility provider) explained carbon monoxide is the same weight as air. It fills your home like water going in a glass so when I was laying in my bed at night I was probably experiencing 30 to 60+ ppm over a long number of hours for many repeated nights. The more the gas was trapped in my house night with no air circulating and the more I worked from home or was on leave- the more I was exposed to.
What I have learned:
All fuel-burning appliances, like a gas furnace or stove, produces a small amount of carbon monoxide. Usually, it is safely vented out. However, if there are leaks, malfunctions, or system issues, carbon monoxide levels can become toxic and extremely dangerous, even deadly. Detectors need to be placed on all levels and key areas around a home. They should be placed in every bedroom at least 15 ft from heat sources that burn fuel. They should be positioned 10 ft from bathrooms, near the entry to any attached garage, and at the top of the stairs to most basements. At a minimum a detector should be placed at eye level with a digital read out showing how many ppm are being detected.
Given all the information I have received the last few days I want to share some of my recommendations on Alarms for your home. Please take a few minutes to check your detectors, learn from my situation and evaluate if you need to make any adjustments.
Carbon Monoxide Low Level Alarm — Approximately $99
First Alert Carbon Monoxide Detector — Approximately $70 for 2
Voice Alert Alarm (Good for families with Kids) — Approximately $20
For more information on low-level carbon monoxide poisoning check out:
Low Grade Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
I don’t mind anyone sharing my experience, and I am hopeful for a full recovery. I just want to be an advocate for each of you in protecting your home from this silent killer.
The above was written in May. I am now 5 months into my recovery and doing significantly better. In future blog posts my plan is to focus on what it means to return to work after an event like this, how to move on after truly understanding no breath is guaranteed, pay checks are necessary to pay a mortgage and traumatic brain injuries are difficult process.
