Why Marshall Hated Tuesdays

I am from Oregon. Having said that, I will also say that I do shave my pits, I don't own a tie dye t-shirt, and I don't ride a bike everywhere (but I wish I did). However, lately I have been getting back to my environmental roots, thanks to my three year old son, Marshall. Marshall has been sick for two-thirds of his little life. He gets RSV, then bronchitis, then pneumonia, then RSV again. And his skin, particularly on his legs and wrists is shredded. We've been told he has asthmatic lungs and eczema. We live in Utah. That was the answer. But it wasn't.

I have wrung my hands over this child's poor health. And the long nights of short breaths clogged with mucus. And then allergies popped into my head. We had him tested for our cat, and bingo. He was dramatically allergic to the member of our family who's been around longer than all of our children. So we loaded up the next week and drove the cat to live in Portland with my parents. Problem solved? Oh no.

The allergist was booked until November, so we consulted a naturopath my mother-in-law Sherry uses in Colorado while we wait for the full test panel to be done. She did testing on Marshall's hair and discovered he has a very high chemical sensitivity. So I sent little baggies with every chemical in our house to be tested against Marshall. Toothpaste, shampoo, hand soap, laundry soap, dish soap, flouride tablets, daily vitamins, mopping solution, even a feather from our chickens just in case. And guess what. He's allergic to all of it except the chickens and vitamins. Bah!!!!

So Sherry, who has chemical sensitivities herself, gave me her book, Why David Hated Tuesdays, by Amilya Antonetti. This mother had a son with a dramatic case of chemical and environmental allergies, and she gives steps to help you rid your home of damaging chemicals and toxins. Her son hated Tuesdays because that's the day she would clean her house and he would get sick. Same situation here, once I paid attention to the patterns.

I am learning so much. I take the book in small chunks, because I've been focusing on many trips to the health food store, and I'm trying not to turn into OCD Howie Mandell. We've got just about everything replaced now. Even organic pillows and towels. And still, Marshall has specific things that set him off that I haven't discovered yet. Molds was also very high, and I suspect our trampoline is adding to his woes, but seriously! A kid's got to be a kid!

Stay tuned in future posts where, if you're interested, I'll let you know about the products we're using now and how I like them. I think this is a huge blessing in disguise for our family, because we are all benefiting from getting rid of the anti freeze in our shampoo. And I did go into the health food store and have the gaul to ask the granolas about deoderant. There's an oxymoron here somewhere and I feel like it's me!