Folks, I've been in contact with Dawn's Meta
She asked me to pass along our last two PMs.
(12-24-21)
Dearest JtC,
I have been very reluctant to say how badly we are doing, but things are dicey for us now. We have spent four years chasing down toxic air in our home and in refuge places we have tried to live in while working on this house, but we have run out of rope.
If you already got this message, please ignore this one. I'm just trying to say we have one step at a time had to deconstruct and rebuild almost our entire house. It's left us financially in deep debt, which was not the plan in any way.
But in reverse order we have step by step uncovered problems only seen once we exposed a previous problem. We are now down to the septic, electrics, and heating.
As long as we are breathing gases from our anaerobic septic, we are increasingly unable to carry out tasks of daily living, such as cooking and cleaning because our house traps the back draft from outside and in a leaky stone house accumulates gases in the interior.
We have exhausted the generosity of family and friends and it is what it is. It's nobodies' fault (except the previous owner and real estate agent, we have no recourse against).
We haven't the resources or revenues to seek other places to live or to correct the problems. They are out of our reach. We attempt to stay here, living at times in an unheated bedroom to escape the gases. But we are not able to cope with no breeze days which pile the exhaust onto our terrasse, and continue to press our lungs and bodies. We are fatigued, losing cognitive skills, dizzy, low vision, in pain, and more from these gases.
Sorry for the ramble, as it's difficult to capture in a few sentences what we are dealing with. But we are not asking for help. We just want you to know what is going on.
Daily it is getting worse as we cannot get away or ameliorate the broken systems here.
It has been such a wonderful thing to share with you all the best of what is here to experience. Being here has been a true refuge and at times the only refuge we have.
I cannot thank you enough for this space and all the good souls who come here for sanity and discussion.
Love to everyone (I will keep you posted if we can make any headway),
Dawn/Rosemarie--------------------------------------
That's terrible Rosemarie. What will it take to fix it?
Thanks for the heads up.
Stay strong.
JtC
--------------------------------------Hi JtC, the Fosse Septique would take removing the 4000 L tank buried on our terrasse; making sure all house waste water flows out properly; unhooking the waste and ventilation pipes; then placing a micro station in the same spot; create a fluid/liquid pond with appropriate plants to treat overflow liquid; very small leach field.
We have an estimate of 17,000 euros. Two like this have gone in near us, came in at 22,000 euros.
It's so beyond our means. I am waiting for the next puff of a front to be able to re-enter the house. We need clean air not blowing our exhaust back into the house.
(1-15-22)
I hope all is well with you and yours. I have someone who is interested in doing OTs if you feel you need a break from doing them.
Take care, my friend.
JtC
--------------------------------------
JtC, I am sorry for worrying everyone.
I don't have COVID. It is severe respiratory damage due to many toxic exposures. The latest being at least four years finding septic gases in the house and terrasse. We've had mold which caused our house to be declared uninhabitable. Mold mixed with volatile is incredibly toxic.
I have had several breathing crisis in the last week.
I don't know how we will have an aerobic MicroStation, but it is the answer. The rainy year we had almost surely have mold.
We still don't have a heat pump, so it's a hard winter.
Please pass this on along with my last note to you. Yes if you have someone who could liven things up, please accept a helping hand.
Please say hi to Janis, and to all members of the Dose, what a group of sleuths and truth. Snoop, CB, LO, ggersh,SoE, QMS, rand, NYCVG, and many more.
I am using a nebulizer and hoping to slowly heal my lungs. We shall see.
My job is to work on my lungs. And to prevent septic venting from entering the house.
It's been a lovely time providing a weekly OT. It helped remind me of some of the reasons we came.
Love to all.
Dawn--------------------------------------
Glad to hear you don't have covid. Sorry to hear about the respiratory problems. I will pass this on to the community and will try to get a replacement for the OT. When you get better your place at the OT will be reserved in case you want to continue with it.
Take good care of yourself, my dear. We all miss you.
Comments
Good morning folks...
any suggestions as to how we can extend a helping hand to dawn and her husband?
That totally sucks. My first thought was for them
to temporarily cap the whole system and dig a pit toilet and french drain for bodily waste and grey water respectively, but they'd have to reroute a lot of plumbing for the latter. They'd get some breathing space, but probably aren't up to the project, plus it might be illegal anyway.
Financially it sounds like 17,000 - 22,000 € plus living expenses elsewhere for about a month while the work is done. That's a bunch. Perhaps a cheapo/rental small to minimalist RV or trailer sited in the wind shadow of the house using house electricity until they recover enough to do some of the labor, but dunno the revenue picture and it sounds like zero savings and maybe even debt service on top of it all?
Just throwing out some ideas, don't have any likely solutions at the moment; a few bucks isn't likely to do much.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Dawn, if you're reading this...
I have a couple of questions and suggestions and I apologize if you have already considered these suggestions.
Do all of your sinks and toilets have traps installed in the waste lines? Traps, if installed correctly will stop sewer gases from backing up into the house.
Have you considered ventilating your house to remove the gases? Whole house fans and air exchangers are two examples I can think of off the top of my head.
These ideas wont fix the septic problem but may ease the air quality problem.
Get well Dawn!
My immediate thought is to pump out your septic ($300-500 USD in the states) and start using a composting toilet...no organics in, no methane nor other gases can come out. Just funnel your gray water into the system.
It takes a bit of getting used to...but not much.
Wishing you the best of luck, good air, and good breathing!
Thanks for the update JtC!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Hi Dawn
sorry to hear of the septic infiltration.
A few suggestions: one is the vent stand pipe for your flushing
toilet / sinks /washing machines, etc. When I built our house, I connected a stand pipe going thru the roof for the two drains leading out into the underground beehive (for grey water) and the black water run going underground to the septic tank. Neither would work without displacing the air in the systems, therefor a pipe thru the roof to displace the liquids / solids dumping in. The toilet, bathroom sink and tub all connect into one 2" stand pipe (I used copper, but PVC will also work with a rubber union). The second vent pipe works for the kitchen sink / dishwasher and washing machine (gray water). If there are stand pipes on your roof, perhaps a vacuum attached would draw up and out the septic gasses, creating a negative pressure down below. Another possibility is to cover the drains in the sinks / tub when not using them with a flat rubber disk weighted with a stone. The drains should all have a water trap (gooseneck type) which prevents gases from escaping into the house. They are built into flush toilets, and are added to sink / tub drains. The third option would be to tap into a pipe (above water levels) and apply a small stream of compressed air if there is a way to vent it outside of the house. Again, using a trap or goose neck, you would be creating a positive pressure to force the gasses up and out.
On the boats we use a holding tank filter which vents outboard. I have also used ozone generators to neutralize the odors in and around the holding tank plumbing.
PM me with questions on specific applications.
Good luck and get well.
Q
Dawn's story is
...engaging and compelling. She writes beautifully about their journey and all the effort they have put into their farmhouse. The photographs I've seen are fascinating. It's so discouraging that after all their hard work, they can't get a breath of fresh air. All because of an undisclosed and unsafe obstacle they cannot afford to repair.
This story is ideal for:
GoFundMe
A photo essay about the challenge, and everything they have accomplished in their goal of living sustainably. All the work they have done themselves. She should tell the story, simply and sincerely. And request sufficient funds to hire a professional to put things right again.
On the Internet is a wealth of information on how to run a successful Gofundme campaign.
Wishing them both the very best.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Dear Dawn,
I am very sorry to hear of your physical and financial difficulties. They are major, but hopefully surmountable with time.
From my limited perspective, there seem to be some good suggestions here. I hope you first find a solution that enables you both to recover your health, and then with greater strength tackle the rest.
I’m wishing you improved health and confidence in your decision making.
I lived in France in an older farm house
for several years and I can definitely relate to the higher dampness in the winter which may exacerbate mould problems.
Normally this humidity is mitigated with a wood burning fireplace/stove which continually brings in fresh air and heats it reducing the relative humidity. Unfortunately heat pumps are not designed to have as many air exchanges so in this case you will also have to install a dehumidifier to keep levels to manageable levels.
One of my memories in the village where I was staying were housewives airing their bedding by draping it over bedroom window sills every morning. This would also alleviate the moist air buildup in the bedrooms.
BTW, I also got a nebulizer shortly before Christmas which has worked great for clearing my nasal passages allowing me to breathe better during the night. Another thing I did was to install HEPA air filters several years ago and kept my windows closed to prevent neighbour's smoky wood burning stoves which was getting problematic with my breathing problems. These are also good for reducing mould counts in the air. I run my filters 24/7. You want to look for ones that run very quietly. I cannot hear mine from several feet away. This may be suitable for your first line of defence.
BTW, a GoFundMe as others have suggested may help mitigate costs.
Good luck and all the best to you!
Best of Wishes, Dawn
I think the idea of (from QMS) weighted covers over the drains to keep the gases out of the house, is a good one for a temporary fix. GoFundMe sprang to my mind too. I'm so sorry this has been such an ordeal. I was, and still am, so inspired by your story!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Please pass this on to Dawn's Meta
I went through something like that, lost years of my life and have some ideas that might be helpful, which I would be happy to share with you. But not here.
I have free global phone calling, so I can call you. What I went through was extensively well documented so because we spent quite a bit of money at the time, our situation then was quite well documented. You should get a powered ventilation system set up, to start all you need is two fans one blowing in one blowing out. Then you can add a heat exchanger between the two air flows so capture some of the air blowing out and warm the air coming in. If you can have your living space slightly pressurized (more than outside) that would be helpful to keeping the sewage air out.
This is important because of a recently discovered (verified by the NTP or National Toxicology Program) phenomenon called priming. Sewage products contain something called endotoxin that makes the effects of mold as much as 10 or 20 times *worse*. Look up priming on PubMed. Very similar chemokines are also created by COVID cell death. They are what causes the lungs to fall apart and allow fluid to flood the lungs. Resveratrol helps prevent this. THATS WHY THEY CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO PATENT NATURAL SUBSTANCES LIKE THEY ARE TRYING TO!!!!!
The phenomenon where added sewage from flooding was discovered in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to make systemic inflammation as much as 10 or 20 times worse was found as part of an investigation into the phenomenon of "Katrina Brain" in New Orleans in the wake of the hurricane and flooding that effected almost the entire city to one degree or another. (an individuals susceptibility is determined by one's HLA-DR type). You need to prevent yourselves from being exposed to endotoxin in addition to mold, by bringing in fresh outdoor air from an area upwind of your sewage area.
There is a test for endotoxin in air particles.. I think its called a Limulus assay.
Here is what I am talking about. specifically. Also related papers to this one. Because LPS is present and the sepsis aspect of COVID is a big part of its scariest effects, this i super important. They will multiply adverse effects. of COVID, COVID-19 has a potential to make any mold illness many many times worse. Foreclosed houses often have mold problems, alsofactory farming exposes people in rural areas to large amounts of endotoxins, Blontly, there are lots opf endotoxins in shit. "LPS" is an abbreviation for endotoxins. LPS causes sepsis, Also when cells die, like from COVID they suddenly produce chemokines including LPS. Its literally the "gold standard" of inflammation and apoptosis producing chemicals. Nanoencapsulated resveratrol orally, can prevent this.
There is a whole thread of stuff on priming at the links below. Read it all. This is super important because of extreme weather and flooding when shit is involved, and it always is there when there is flooding, Also factory farming produces literally megatons of shit. Which means similar tonage of highly infammatory LPS(endotoxin) will potentiate COVID-19 greatly, the government should be aware of this priming effect. Even though a branch of government discovered it I see them still trying to hide it because its connected to fossil fuel use. They want foreign investors to come here because of lack of environmental laws. Investment makes the cuurency look healthier than lack of investment. So all our rights are being traded off. permanently, trade deals are how they remove democracy from the picture. As most of the country will be too expensive for the jobs in the future, there is lots of pressure on countries to take care of the losers of globalization so they dont starve,l etc. But thats too costly for oligarchs. They want the bill tobe paid by the victims by creatings ways to take the blame off of them. Otherwise when liberalization was implemented tens r maybe even hundreds of milliuons would lose everything in a huge financial crashy much worse than any before because its a permanent sea change. Voting couldnt get the jobs back. Ever. They want wages to fall a lot (to lesss than in the LDCs which average around $2/day so the less skilled at least can get jobs and buy rice and beans to eat in their campsites. They are trying to push us towards a niche sort of like Mexico's, a deregulated, low wage country, where most people can still read. (Not illiterate) We would be like Mexico with higher rents and more expensive food and harsher weather. So since people will be more desperate wages will fall below Mexico because people need jobs more and there will be less of them. See, supply and demand regulate wages. They have this all figured out, they claim.
Its cheaper than educating people to get good jobs which takes too long (more than four years, more like eight, after middle school, eight years of college, that might be worth it if wages here were like Indias or lower but that seems unlikely because of thecost of living and profits which they want to stay high.
Education which is necessary for the stable jobs will cost too much when India and AFrica are there and winning the bids. They will get an entitlement to do any work involving tax money in a committed sector! So so much for many jobs. Alternatives to hiring US workers will be abundant and so much cheaper. Why buy when you can rent workers? the logic goes. Read WTO document WT/WGTI/W/39 for the argument by India which lays their argument all out. Its entitled "Communication from India: Global Relationship Between the Mobility of Capital and the Mobility of Labour" Please read it NOW!
Here is the stuff about the exponential magnification of inflammation. Set those fans up, you dont want to have priming going on, it will make you really sick. Better to freeze, wearing coats, gloves, mittens, hats indoors, etc.
Trichothecene mycotoxins activate inflammatory response in human macrophages
free full text: http://www.jimmunol.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=19414795
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19414795/
-------------------
J Toxicol Environ Health A
. 2003 Feb 28;66(4):379-91. doi: 10.1080/15287390306363.
Modulation of lipopolysaccharide-induced proinflammatory cytokine production by satratoxins and other macrocyclic trichothecenes in the murine macrophage
Yong-Joo Chung 1 , Bruce Jarvis, James Pestka
Affiliations expand
PMID: 12554543 DOI: 10.1080/15287390306363
MORE!
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12554543/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11766169/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10494915/
N-acetylcysteine may be helpful
in preventing to a sigificant but mild extent the illness due to mold+ priming from endotoxin in sewage
In europe many vitamis are sold as drugs and may only be available by prescription, of course, public healthcare systems mean Europeans pay a tiny percentage what Americans pay because their governments pay the cost of Rx drugs. Some drugs cost 100 times (or more) in the US what they cost in the EU (it varies from country to country)
Drug companies blame high prices in the US on the Europeans for not paying what we demand. So they claim we must make it up. Its the biggest pack of lies ever.