Chemo Side Effects or Mold Allergy?

[Mtngrl]

I live in a third floor apartment in an old four story building in Boston. Two weeks ago, a large pipe in the unit above me burst and water started pouring into my bedroom. It was a holiday weekend, but fortunately both I and my two roommates were home, and we sprang into action quickly.

The maintenance man came and got the water shut off, but not before my ceiling, walls, and much of the floor got soaked. There was one gushing waterfall directly under the break, and numerous other leaks. Water also got into the hall and the bathroom. My roommates' bedroom appears to have been spared. Other units were also affected. Water went all the way down to the basement.

It's Boston in the summer. It's hot and humid. And the landlord did nothing to dry out the walls or dehumidify the rooms.

I got a dose of Abraxane Monday, July 13, 9 days after the flood. Tuesday I didn't feel too bad, but Wednesday night I developed severe joint and muscle pain and intense neuropathy. I hardly got any sleep. Last night was even worse.

I called my oncologist this morning, and the NP prescribed me a painkiller. I had to go by bus to retrieve the paper scrip and take it to the pharmacy to get the prescription filled. I felt frail, exhausted, and weak. My calf muscles were giving way as I descended stairs. Then when I got home over 2 hours later I hung around in the kitchen for about another hour. When I got around to thinking I should take a pill and go lie down it dawned on me that, though I was not ALL better, my pain level was greatly diminished, as was the neuropathy.

I am extremely allergic to mold. In the past couple of years I've slept in two other buildings that I suspected had mold contamination, and, come to think of it, I had that same muscle and joint pain.

My idiot landlord is downplaying the situation, so much so that I called the City's Department of Environmental Health and had them open a case file on it. We're moving out next month, and he wants to find new tenants, so he just wants to repaint and call it done. I've gotten mold remediation done before, and that's not how it's done. First you test the mold levels. Then you have to take out all the affected plaster, insulation, etc. down to the bare studs, dry it, treat it, test again, and put up new drywall. That's not a two-day project, and it's not cheap. And it can't be done in a room full of furniture, clothes, bedding, etc.

I'm allergic to anti-fungal agents, including chlorine, and also dust. And, of course, there's lead paint. I can't be in the apartment while that's going on. And he can't just patch the holes, slap on some paint, and pretend nothing happened, though he's already done that in some of the other units.

The front part of the apartment didn't get wet, and there's good ventilation, so I'll start sleeping in the living room.

I'm happy I figured this out. I really want this Abraxane experiment to work out. And it was puzzling to have such severe side effects so fast. The last time I was on Abraxane I found it pretty easy to tolerate.

Sorry for the novella, but my point is I tend to blame everything on my cancer or my cancer treatment. If I hadn't had the Abraxane dose at the beginning of the week, I'd have realized earlier that I was reacting to the mold. I bet there's quite a colony above my ceiling and behind my walls.