Hi! Been awhile.... First I have to apologize for being away from the website for so long. I've been feeling pretty poorly for several weeks. Haven't been very effective as a person, let alone a blogger.... Please let me explain.
A couple months ago the neighbors planted their corn field which backs up to my house. This is normally not an issue. This year they decided to spray a pre-emergent corn chemical on said field; also normally not an issue. The problem lies in their timing of spraying said chemical. The chemical we believe it was is legally not supposed to be sprayed up to an hour before dusk.
It was almost 8pm when Handsome and I arrived back home from going out for supper. The entire yard was engulfed in the cloud of spray. The house was full of it as well since the windows were all open. Handsome promptly got in his truck and left, thank God. I had to live in the cloud until it cleared. It doused everything, including all the animals. It was a situation I was completely unprepared for.
I really didn't know what to do first. I wanted to move the animals but they had already breathed in a huge amount of the spray. I also didn't need to go out and inhale even more of it. I was already nauseous and of course, exremely angry. I don't keep a respirator on hand for such an occurence. I had clothes on the line. And the cloud just kept creeping across the yard....
The first thing to do was to crank the ceiling fans up to get the mist out of the house as fast as I could. Then I went and got the clothes off the line so I could start rewashing them. All I could do was wait. I wasn't going to leave home and not be there for the animals. I continued to check on them throughout the night while I switched out loads of laundry. I didn't end up barfing but my gut was a mess for several days following.
It took a couple hours for the majority of the smell to disappear. There wasn't much for vegetative damage as the garden is on the far side of the yard. I was more concerned about the long-term effects we all might endure. The damage was already done; now I needed to know what might be coming later on.
Dr Google wasn't very helpful as it just said the immediate effects were nausea and vomiting; well no-shit Sherlock. In the following days, I talked to some farmer friends to try and figure out what it was that might have been sprayed that behaved that way. Once I had that information, I contacted the legal team and also started digging for research on the chemical. NOTHING I found stated that the chemical is an endocrine disrupter. But in the future, Lymphoma is a possibility.
In the following weeks, I continued to feel worse and worse. I contacted my doctor and am still awaiting the designated appointment time. The animals all came into heat, even if they had already had a heat cycle very recently. My own cycle was messed up. I put on a whole bunch of weight really quickly. I added a third chin and a second spare tire in no time. My energy was completely wiped out. It was just a general feeling of being unwell coupled with exhaustion.
Fast forward several weeks, I'm starting to feel better. It's changed my body. I've always been hypoglycemic. Now my blood sugars are all over the place; I'm battling with that everyday. I've completely changed how I eat and even the supplements I take. My cycles used to be very heavy and painful; the last 2 since the dousing have been far milder and not so heavy. When I have a good day, my energy levels are up and I'm beginning to feel like myself again. The good days aren't everyday yet, but they are slowly increasing in number. By the time I make it to the doctor's office, I will probably be over it and there will be nothing to do for it. Sounds good to me, I'm so tired of feeling like crap!
The extra weight and inflammation is beginning to fall away. The third chin is still partially there and I am starting to be able to see my feet again with the second spare tire lessening. Clothes are starting to fit the way they used to. The animals all made it through everything fine and appear to be ok. I don't believe they would normally live long enough to develop a Lymphoma anyway.
I'm really not sure what to make of the whole situation. Maybe the whole thing was supposed to happen? You hear of people getting struck by lightning and their ailments go away....
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