Words from a Reader

The “Writing Life Stories” e-mails I receive are such treasures. As soon as I see there is one in my inbox, I read it immediately. I look forward to them and never know how they will touch me. They can be interesting, informative, humorous, and/or touching.
Showing posts with label respiratory illness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label respiratory illness. Show all posts

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Hat's Off to Marriott's Grande Ocean for their Clean Indoor Air

I like to give credit where credit is due. In my travels over the past fifteen years, I've found that most motels and hotels pollute their indoor air with "air fresheners" and room deodorizers. So, to combat that trend, I call ahead. I speak to someone in housekeeping. Usually when I explain the result of my breathing the air in a room that has been "sprayed" or cleaned with products that include strong chemicals or fragrance, the housekeeper is sympathetic to my plight. If possible and if I have called early enough they make every effort to see that my room is safe for me. I reward them as best I can with a tip. That makes my request more lasting in their memory.

Thank the Folks Who do it Right.

I have named places in the past that are understanding of the needs of us who have serious consequences from polluted indoor air. I want to say that the housekeeping staff of the Marriott's Grande Ocean where we stayed in Hilton Head, SC was superb. Bryan promised me he would see that there were no toxic fragrance products used in our villa. And there were none. The soaps were not offensive, the sheets had not been dried with dryer sheets, and no fragrance had been sprayed in the rooms.

I don't know if that is the normal procedure for this resort or if my phone call made a difference, but I will continue to make that call when I travel.

Pulmonologists advise their patients to avoid triggers that cause asthma or respiratory illness. They say it as if it's a simple thing to do. But we encounter triggers everywhere we go. I have to move when a woman wearing perfume comes and sits at a table beside me, but sometimes it takes only a few whiffs to start my throat closing up.
Most of the patients in hospitals are bombarded with triggers that make them sick, from cleaning products to the personal body products used by the staff. Children suffer from the products used in their homes by well-meaning parents. They suffer at school from the cleaning products used to kill germs when there are other gentler products that will suffice.

I hope one day we can travel and stay at motels that automatically use green, fragrance-free products that don't make us sick. Until then I wish that all of my readers would take notice of businesses using safe non-toxic products and would compliment the staff or management. If we don't let them know, they can't learn the importance of safe indoor air. 

Click the links below to read what others say about this problem.



Friday, April 6, 2012

Sleep, Spring, and Super Bugs

After two days of fighting a respiratory bug that seemed invincible, I lie in bed tonight with Tiger on the pillow beside me, the rain pelting the new leaves on trees outside my window. My hope is that rain washes all the pollen away and I can open my windows again.

April, considered to be the beautiful month spring really begins, is usually a tough month for most of us who have allergies. Instead of digging in the dirt, planting flowers, and enjoying the vibrant color of the forests, the dogwood, and oodles of other trees I can't name, I watch from inside - inside my car and inside my house.

To fight the symptoms of allergy turned ugly, I take over the counter antihistimine which gives me a strange "I don't care about anything but sleep" feeling. I realized today, in that state between total sleep and aware-of-someone- in-the-room, I could hear that a tornado was about to hit my house and I'd just pull the covers over my head and ignore it. I hate being drugged. I don't like feeling I'm not in control of myself.

DRUGS AND CREATIVITY
All those writers who drink and use drugs because they think it makes them more creative, well, I could not be one of them. I don't refuse pain pills when I hurt, but I'd rather deal with it than be unstable or unsure of myself. Guess I could never be a junkie.

I had to cancel my class tonight. I am sorry that three students did not get the message and showed up anyway. I missed seeing them and hearing what they had writen this week.

I can't keep my eyes open another minute. Sleep is healing, they say, so I expect to be well tomorrow.