Lead Levels

I found out yesterday that Jacob's lead level is now at 9! This is great news because that's under the current limit of 10, if it's 10 or over you have to keep testing. So now he needs only to be tested again in a year if we're still living in the same house. So I don't have to worry about the lead Nazis anymore, and it means that his lead will likely completely disappear from his body. I called the lead program, and Judy congratulated me and said that I should be proud because his levels going down were soley due to my efforts. (No work has been done to the house and Tom didn't even paint over any of the lead as a temporary solution). I'm just relieved to have it over with.

Check Up time!!

It's doctor day today, with three of the four kids having check-ups. I'm very glad it didn't rain in the while we were out!! Only a small rant today. In the AM we had Justin and Jacob. I was actually very pleased with the nurse, she was very friendly, very fast, and actually got Justin to cooperate!! Since his shy phase started, we've had trouble at all appointments. This lady got his height, weight, eyes, and hearing checked with no help from me!! THAT'S AMAZING!! It took a bit of persuading on her part, but he did it! It goes to show that good staff can just make such a difference. If she had been impatient, or unwilling to show him things first(for example she had him touch the hearing device that he held to his ear first, to show him it wouldn't hurt him. A tiny thing that took only a couple of seconds, but it made a big difference to him) we wouldn't have got anywhere. I tried to take him to the dentist about a month ago, but Justin refused to open his mouth. The dentist was older and foreign with a thick accent and would only order him to open his mouth. No time to adjust, no showing him things to let him calm down and see that it wasn't at all scary. Seemed very stern. Just two minutes of ordering him to open his mouth and then he was done. He said come back when he's ready to open his mouth. So I have no idea how his teeth are. Luckily when I mentioned this today, they recommended a dental van and said the staff was really good with kids and that they might even let him come in one day just to look around and see it before his appointment. Also we'll prob. have to take Justin for an eye checkup in the future. His eyes are about 20/50, so he'll probably end up with them too.
Jacob was cranky today and was unusually difficult. He got two shots. We discussed both his eczema and the lead level at length. She agreed to let us see an allergy specialist first and they'll determine if it's likely his eczema is an allergic reaction. Otherwise I'd have to make an appointment to see a dermatologist, and she said that can take 5-6 months to get in (as opposed to 6-8 weeks for an allergy specialist). As for the lead, apparently there is little coordination between departments and there is nothing in the records to show that we had the home inspections. Or that our house has unusually high amounts of lead paint. So she added the fact that a contractor has seen the home to our file. Sigh. It's a start. In October he'll be tested again.
I asked for results and an explanation of the blood count they had done. She said something about checking if the lead was attaching to the iron in his body. Apparently things looked normal except for his platelet count was a bit high. But she said they weren't concerned about that. I asked her to explain, but she didn't do a good job, so I'll ask again later. The x ray was normal.
This was a polite doctor, which was nice for a change. She was young, and did actually listen when I talked. But they still assume you don't know basic things about parenting, for example when I commented that he was a picky eater, she told me I shouldn't let him eat only chips and sweets. Really?? I had no idea that was bad!! And that he should still be in a car seat and be supervised around water. Again, duh! And she kept notes on the computer about things like what foods he likes to eat (why do they need to take notes on that?) and quizzed me on what percentage of milk fat he drinks. She says she's comfortable with Justin drinking either whole milk or 2%(the kinds we drink), since his weight is normal. She's comfortable??!! I wanted to mention to her that milk isn't the only source of calcium, nor is it the best source of calcium, and that getting enough fat in one's diet does not seem to be a problem for most children today, so I doubt we need to worry about that.......but I don't need to risk anymore calls to CPS in case someone misunderstands and thinks I'm depriving my children of calcium!!) Both the nurse and doctor were very nice today, and I appreciate that more than they know!! I've had my fill of rude professionals. But that sense of being supervised, of having my parenting being reviewed, is still there. The sense that I need their help to raise my children was definitely there. I hate that! I cannot emphasize that enough!! Oh well, end rant.
Leanna's was much easier, though we had a very long wait. Though we arrived early, we waited about an hour and 15 minutes after her appointment until we saw a doctor. Then it took only a couple minutes for her to check the usual stuff. No problems, one shot. It took quite a bit of convincing for the shot though. The nurse was very nice and pointed out to Leanna that either she could have me hug her while they did it, or they would have to get a bunch of people to hold her down. She was scared of getting a shot to begin with, but the nurse who did the check in (height, weight, vision, blood pressure, iron) didn't tell her what she was doing or give any warning she just suddenly pricked her finger and it really upset Leanna. Kind of a nasty surprise. So after that she was REALLY scared of an actual shot! Did you know you have to sign a release form to get a copy of your own child's medical records?? I'm not sure why, but I had to. So I signed to release my own child's records to myself. They'll come in the mail.

The stats:

Justin's 38.4 pounds (30Th percentile) and 42.9 inches (46Th percentile). So he's about average for height and a little on the lower end for weight, but still within a normal range.
They forgot to give me Jacob's paper, so I'm not sure of his. I think he was around 26 pounds, but I'm not positive.

Leanna's up to a whopping 57 pounds!!

It was a very long day with two separate walks downtown to the two doctor's offices! I am relieved to have it over!

Lead and Breastmilk-for the record

I'm not mad, but this suggestion that I'm poisoning my children through my milk has come up (twice for lead, a few other times for excema, etc.) so I'd like to pass along some info. Yes, it is possible, though HIGHLY unlikely for lead to pass through my milk to my children. When should a mother stop breastfeeding because of lead?
The answer is probably NEVER, unless she has severe lead poisoning.
And again, if I was the source of the lead, as I breastfed each child, more of the lead would be leaving me through the milk, and there would be less lead for each child, thereby meaning with each child their lcad level would be lower(relatively, each body absorbes lead differently) Which is not the case.
Assorted facts from various sources:

lead does not concentrate in breast milk because it does not attach to fat; indeed, levels of lead are generally higher in a mother's blood than in her milk. Several studies have found higher blood lead levels in formula-fed infants than in breast-fed infants.12 This may be a result of contaminated formula cans or formula prepared using tap water with high lead levels. Lead levels in blood and breast milk correlate closely with areas where lead is still used in gasoline, with the highest levels in areas with heavy traffic


Because breast milk is an ever changing substance, it can be difficult to measure and the literature shows a wide range of results. There has also been the problem of contaminated specimens. What has been found, is that the lead levels in breast milk are related to the lead levels in a mother's blood, but breast milk contains only 5% or less of this amount. Having your blood level checked is a simple way of estimating the risk to your baby. (If you are pregnant, ask your doctor to request a lead level with your next tests or ask your GP - this test is covered by Medicare).
Lead moves from where it is stored in a mother's skeleton, during later pregnancy and lactation, when the need for calcium increases. Maintaining your calcium intake will give the body plenty of circulating calcium in the blood which can be used easily by the body to meet the increased need of the foetus. This means there is less likelihood of the body using the skeletal calcium which might induce lead to leave the bones and enter the blood stream.
The 1994 Australian Market Basket Survey found only trace or undetectable levels of lead in breastmilk, cows milk and infant formulas including soy based formula. In the 1992 Australian Market Basket Survey, lead was below the detection limit in all breastmilk tested. Soy based infant formula had lead levels 4 times the detection limit and other infant formula had 3 times the detection limit. In Broken Hill, which is a lead rich environment, the mothers tested had levels that were one tenth of the amount considered to be a problem for breastfeeding.


Sources of lead (but this list is not all-inclusive, other things can have lead in them)

Common Sources of lead:
Lead-Based Paint
Lead Dust
Soil
Food
Water
Other

Unlike the persistent organic pollutants (POPs), metals do not accumulate in fat, and so do not usually achieve higher concentrations in breast milk than in blood. As a result, infants are likely to be exposed to higher levels before birth than during breastfeeding.

All of these contaminants are more likely to affect bottle-fed infants because they are water contaminants and are often found at higher concentrations in infant formula as compared with breast milk.

Breast Milk Overview
In general, the metals found in breast milk are usually at lower levels than are found in maternal blood.4 Thus, breast milk is not the primary pathway of exposure for infants; prenatal trans-placental exposure is a much greater concern. That said, instances of high exposure through breast milk do occur, and are often important indicators of an infant's total exposure. One study found that longer duration of breastfeeding was associated with poorer infant growth in children whose mothers had higher levels of mercury in their bodies. Generally, infants fed formula made with tap water are at the highest risk from metals contaminating the water supply.

This is me-Sajmom-talking here. Essentially what you can take from all this is that it's possible, but only in a case where the mother has had a significant lead exposure herself. Adults process lead quicker than children, and adults wash their hands more (removing the lead before it's ingested) and are less likely to put their hands in their mouths to begin with. So it's very unlikely that I have large amounts of lead in my body. Levels of lead aren't very high in a mother's milk to begin with and only 5% of the mother's level will pass through to the child. So the mother's lead level would have to be very high in order to significantly affect the child. In our case our house has more than enough lead to explain the children's high levels. And the health department agrees.

I shouldn't be blogging

I need to clean, clean, clean, but I don't feel like it at all! I finally heard from a company today about lead removal! They called to schedule a time convenient for us, them, and the landlord. Monday at 10:00 they'll be here! I am so nervous, I haven't seen the landlady since the last time she stormed out of here when we asked about her fixing a broken window. I am not looking forward to it at all! I don't know if she'll be angry with us because she has to pay for this or if she'll be mad again because she doesn't think we've made enough improvements to the house. I will have to have, literally, every room in the house clean. Plus there's a lot of stuff Tom should fix before she sees the place and he's working all weekend.

I've actually done a lot of cleaning here this past week or so, but it's all the invisible kind. You don't notice that I put all the winter clothes away and got summer stuff out. You don't see that I cleaned out my closet and a few hidden storage spaces. I bagged up a bunch of clothes we can't use and a thrift shop picked them up. I cleaned out under the couches and got rid of a bunch of unnecesary papers. I cleaned the fridge and took care of a few appointments. The house doesn't look any cleaner for all my work, and it can be really frustrating sometimes.

I really wish all this stuff with strangers coming to our house was done and over with!

Lead levels, revisited

Justin and Timothy had their lead levels re-tested with a blood test. When they had the finger-stick tests, both came up with levels of 10. They want kids to be under 10, although no amount of lead in your body is considered safe. If a finger-stick test comes up with a result of 10 or over, then you have to retest with a blood test, because finger-sticks have a higher risk of contamination.
So on May 6 both boys did the blood test again. In about a month, Justin had gone from a 10 to a 5, and Timothy went from 10 to 7! What is the difference? Since the house was tested I don't let them on the third floor or basement or porch. I'm not 100% successful because they do sometimes wander down when I try to quick switch laundry into the dryer or when we leave the house Timothy will run over to climb on the porch railings. But their exposure to those three areas has been greatly reduced. Jacob's due to be re-tested again at the beginning of June, it should be interesting to see where his lead level lies. (also interesting that now that Jacob's level is at 19, he's only being tested every 3 months but when it was only at 14 they had a fit because they wanted him tested every single month!)

CPS Update

The CPS man came this morning and I signed the release so they could talk to the health dept. He said that the case probably only entered "the system" because we didn't have insurance. I had to confirm that the insurance was in place and that I would have no problems getting to any future checkups. He said that this should end it, thank God! I think I'll celebrate when it's officially done!

I have to say he was much friendlier this time. It's a subltle difference, but this time he wasn't talking to a poor soul that needed his help and guidance. He wasn't talking down to a child. Instead he treated me like a person, which is what I've been missing in my dealings with all these health officials and doctor/nurses. So my letter actually did some good! That makes me feel better also.
Thanks for the prayers and well-wishing!
(Now we just have to hope everything goes well with the lead level and lead-in-our-house-stuff!)

Pray or cross your fingers!

I spoke with the CPS guy today and he's coming over on Monday to have me sign a release form for the health dept. He said hopefully we can wrap this thing up. But then he wanted to know if I'd heard the results of the kids' lead tests yet. I told him and he said, didn't you say that 20 was cause for concern? I explained it to him again, but that kind of depressed me because it shows he still isn't understanding. I can't do anything to lower his lead level other than try to have him eat a healthy diet. I didn't do or not do anything to cause him to have a high lead level.
People sometimes think that children get lead in them from chewing on windows. In reality most lead cases are caused by old houses deteriorating and this causes lead dust to get in the air and on nearby surfaces. Or someone does remodeling in an area with lead paint. In our case we have so many surfacers with lead paint, that there's no way to figure out where exactly the kids' lead source was. Most likely there were multiple sources. For all we know it still could have come from dust Tom brought home with him from work.
But there is hope that we may be able to close this stupid case and I'll have one less worry on my mind.

Explanation of previous post

Sorry to be so dramatic, at the same time I felt like bursting with this new situation but at the same time I didn't/don't want to talk about it because I haven't even processed it yet myself.
Basically what happened was the samples they took of the house last week came up elevated, so today the man from the health dept. came back with a machine that can read through 35 layers of paint. It gives you a number, and anything over 1 is considered elevated and dangerous. Essentially, one paint chip put in Jacob's mouth could send him to the hospital.
He found lead on: all the front porch wood, inside the door jam where the doorbell is, on the closet trim, on the trim on the kitchen door, on the wall in the back porch room, inside the door jam going into the downstairs bathroom, the bathroom window, the window in our bedroom that is between our room and the crib room (it's an enclosed upstairs porch), in the upstairs bathroom window, in the middle bedroom window, on the landing to the third floor, on the walls going up to the third floor and throughout the third floor hallway, on the ceiling in the third floor hallway, on the outside of the window in the third floor hallway and most likely outside the window in the computer/storage room in the third floor-because it had an air conditioner he couldn't test it. Plus the walls going down into the basement, the steps going down to the basement, the door to the basement workshop, the door to the butler's alley, the trap=door thingy from the outside going into the butler's alley, and the basement floor in the workshop section.
He was actually quite surprised. Lead was-and actually still is-added to outdoor paint because it does an excellent job of keeping the paint safe from the weather. He said if you put your hand on the side of a house and you get this chalk coming off, that's lead. Now only very small amounts are added of course. But he said probably 99 % of his cases are from windows. Lead paint was used on outside surfaces and then if a home has been remodeled you may find a surface inside with lead paint because it was originally an outdoor surface(like with our backporch room). But our house is highly unusual because he was shocked to find lead paint on the 3rd floor hallway walls and on the walls and steps etc in the basement. You don't usually find lead paint on indoor surfaces. Guess we're just lucky.
So we will have to move while lead removal specialists come and take care of this. First they notify the landlord of the situation and they have 3 days to reply. Then the landlord has to find a contractor-certified in lead removal-they put in bids, which means they have to come here and examine the place too. Then after they do the work and the cleanup, the place is stringently examined, the samples are submitted to the lab and we wait for the results. If everything comes back ok, them we can move back in. I asked a lot of questions, and the answer I got was that it'll probably take about a month until they get someone to come do the work, and then maybe about 3 weeks to do the work. I asked what's the worst case scenario, and he said 2 months out of the house. That's a loooong time.

I have no idea how the landlord will react to this news. Hopefully they will explain to her that there is no safe way to remove lead paint unless you are a certified professional, so it's not that we did something wrong. But we've known from the start that they cannot throw us out because of this and even if we voluntarily move out, they still have to take care of the lead before someone else can move in.
I don't really know when all this will happen or how long it will actually take-the info above is just estimates. This is just a nightmare as far as I'm concerned. I must now triple mop all floor surfaces (3 buckets so you aren't re-contaminating every time you put the mop back in) clean all window sills at least once a week with the triple bucket method, really scrub the basement steps good and we're supposed to paint with an enamel paint over those steps and the upstairs bedroom and bathroom window wells as a temporary protective measure, and keep the kids off the porch and away from the basement and 3rd floor. Plus wash all their toys. In addition to getting EVERYTHING out of the basement because they are going to have to do the entire floor, and moving everything out of the third floor hallway and computer room into my craft room for storage. And getting ready to move out. I don't know how we are going to do it all.
I don't know if we will just move out temporarily or make it permanent. We can't really afford either one. Our entire lives are up in the air right now. My stomach is in knots all day long. This is just a nightmare. On top of the whole CPS thing. And they don't have the results back yet from the testing the boys all had done last week, so I don't know if Jacob's level has gone up or down or if Justin or Timothy has become elevated again as well.

The source of my kids' lead levels??

Oh great, they've discovered yet another source of lead-ink from books published before 1985! Yikes! I seriously doubt that's the source of their lead, but it's one more thing to worry about!

Jacob, eczema, lead levels

Jacob's eczema is pretty bad lately. I had to call to get the results of his test-they had drawn blood for both a lead test and an IGE level test (if his IGE levels are high then he'd be just be predisposed towards eczema and there'd be nothing we could do about it). The lead level test they had called me back about-he's at 14 now, it was at 16 before, so he's on his way down. They're still worried though and want him to repeat the test every freakin month. Sheesh, with each kid they get more worried about levels that didn't bother them in the past. Anyway, after being misdirected three times, I finally got through and they said his levels were normal. And they couldn't tell me anything more, didn't even suggest I make an appointment to talk about what to do next! Very frustrating. Although they did want to talk about his lead levels again, seriously when I said they'd already called me about them and I knew what to do about that she didn't believe me and made me tell her, "at his next appointment I'll get the prescription for the blood to be drawn and I'll go down to the lab after the appointment and have the blood drawn." ?? Um it's not difficult and there's not a lot of steps to remember there....I am getting increasingly annoyed at being treated like an idiot by their staff.

Lead levels

Lots of phone calls today! I found out that Justin's lead level is finally about where it should be! We had to recently re-test him because his last test came up an 11, and they want a child his age to be under 10 (He's now at 10).
Timothy, unfortunately is at 18. So in three months we have to re-test him to make sure the levels are going down. When the nurse told me I said, "That's high!" and she said, "yes, but at least it's not a 40 or more." I think Justin's levels were first tested at nine months I he was at a 19 and I remember the nurse being very concerned about it being that high. They sent a letter to the landlords about it and everything. Justin is at a different hospital/pediatrician than the other two though. Makes you wonder about what they must regularly see at Sacred Heart if a lead level that warrants concern at one hospital is nothing to them.