On the Move Again? Perhaps, but not very far.

It was about five years ago, when we knew, we would need to make some changes. As many of you know, our kiddo was diagnosed with T.Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia almost 16 years ago. He survived this terrible disease and how grateful we are! However, about five years ago he started to have serious health problems that are called “late affects” which mean these health problems are caused by the very treatment that was used to save his life from leukemia. Most of these health conditions are non life threatening but there are very few options to treat them.

We were living in South Carolina at the time and had been having lots of fun with the kiddo. We had moved there, because we felt that he had missed out on most of his childhood while battling cancer. We wanted to spend some time, just having fun and boy!, did we! We adventured all over the place, we kayaked marsh rivers, saw thousands of pelicans, saw dolphins galore, ate seafood like crazy, explored historical places, found lots of lighthouses, watched little crabs dig holes, collected shells, enjoyed endless sunsets, and stuck our toes in the sand of almost all the beaches, from North Carolina to Florida. Then, the kiddo started having serious breathing problems, it took a long time to identify the cause, but it’s one of those “late affects”. This “late affect” made it difficult for him to breathe thru the mold, and pollution,…. he could hardly breathe. That’s when we knew we would have to do something.

 

There were two places we knew we could take him, where he might have a safe environment, one was to live on a boat in the ocean (not very practical for us) and the other was to move back home, to New Mexico, the semi-arid desert with clean, dry, windy air.   First we had to find a way back, so we gave up most of our possessions (I don’t miss any of the stuff except my old couch) and lived in a camper for a year and half. This, gave us the ability to come back home.  Here, we continued to live in a camper another 6 months and then found a house to rent, that had what we needed.

Galisteo basin NM

The kiddos breathing has improved tremendously, however he still isn’t able to be around things such as perfumes, cleaning products, lotions with fragrances, dryer sheets, hairspray, etc.  Which causes him to be housebound most of the time. We are very careful about where we go, whenever we go places. I have learned how to make all my own cleaning products except for dish soap and dishwasher detergent. I’ve learned to make our own lotions, body butters, chapstick and use essential oils prodigiously.

 

However,  over the last few years the kiddo has had several new and painful conditions appear that are also “late affects”. We have come to the conclusion that these will not be overcome but will need to be lived with. We continually search for and have found a few ways to reduce his pain without using pain killers. These conditions limit him. We decided the best thing to do next, is to try to purchase our own home to divide it up for him, to have his own private space. This way he can live independently, while having us nearby to help with his health troubles.  It has taken us a few years to reach this goal. It looks like we have reached the goal!

 

 

You may have noticed, over on my fb and instagram accounts I’ve not been sharing any active projects lately. That’s because I’ve been packing!  We have a contract on a house not very far from where we are now. I’m excited for many reasons, but I’ll wait to share these, when all the papers are signed and the keys are in our hands!  I’m afraid that our life has looked a little bit, like the fabulous book series called, “A Series of Unfortunate Events”, so I always hesitate to count on something before it’s final! If everything goes thru, I will share all the exciting projects! Have a lovely day out there!