The Sad State of the State We're In

I mean the sorry state of the members of my household, not Florida, although on the whole, Florida ain't particularly healthy. Something happened in 2008, not long after moving here, and we've been struggling to regain our overall health ever since. At first we joked about getting "all our bad luck" out of the way in one year, but as '08 became '09, and now '09 has become '10, I'm getting worried. Both my husband's family and my own come from hearty stock - the kind of healthy, hard-working, athletic & outdoorsy people who never get sick. We have "thick blood" (actually, my father's blood is truly amazing, but that's another story...), we enjoy hard work, and we never have colds, let alone anything more serious. Injuries? Sure, we have bumps and bruises and a few scars here and there, but those are normal if you live an active life. But illnesses? Never, until these past few years.

Let me clarify that, a bit, for those who know me and are undoubtedly biting their tongues right now. See, autoimmune conditions run in my family, UC, RA, MS, and other annoying initials. Oh, and some diabetes on my husband's side. Ok, so they're not minor illnesses, but the thing is, we handled them just fine. Either MS or RA can put you in a wheelchair within months of first emerging, but my mum has had them both for decades and still works even now, in her 60s. Both she and I have enjoyed years of complete remission from our conditions drug-free, ignoring our genetic predispositions and getting on with our lives. My husband's family was prone to diabetes, but that was lifestyle-induced. When he saw his numbers creeping up, he ate better and exercised more and completely avoided the problem. What I'm trying to explain is that even in the cases where the medical problem is supposedly unavoidable, we've tackled it.

So here we are, on the Gulf Coast, with sick kids and pets. My husband and I are generally fine, still no colds, allergies, etc... although my autoimmune condition is more active than usual thanks to worrying about everyone else. The kids, however, have had one infection after another. Not one long, lingering illness, but a constant barrage of bad bugs. Tiny cuts turn into nasty infections, or sudden fevers strike with no other symptoms. Everyone gets sick now and then, but this is well beyond anything in my childhood experiences. Even our pets' health has been threatened lately. In fact, my husband just called from the vet now to tell me (to our great relief) that our Maine Coon has kitty acne, not an infected wound or tumor. We're thrilled it's so minor and harmless, but who the hell ever heard of kitty acne? Where are all these germs coming from?

Of course I clean and disinfect my house. Yes, we're clean, and our pets are well-groomed, too. Even if we weren't, we're living the exact same way as we have everywhere else. We move every few years, courtesy of the military, and what I'm wondering now is what's wrong with this place?

You hear about those places with toxic waste in the soil, or polluted air, or a contaminated water supply, but they're never "home". It always happens somewhere else, and we feel badly, wonder why the people don't move, maybe send some aid. Now, after the recent water report, after witnessing my own strong family struggling to enjoy good health even with our concerted effort to practice a healthy lifestyle, I can't help but wonder if we live in one of "those" places. And, as someone who has traveled and still feels truly blessed to be an American, it saddens me deeply. It angers me too! For God's sake, they can't figure out if something is wrong with my son's vital organs! And if I've learned anything over the past month of trying to live a healthier lifestyle, it's that the problems with the American food chain, which includes us, the environment, and everything in between, are omnipresent. I went to the organic farm, but he used some grocery store produce in his compost (pesticides), and public water for irrigation when their wasn't enough rain (worst water in the country). I bought a water filter, but what water did they use when they made that juice from concentrate, or worse, that Capri Sun that my son takes to school every day? We're at the bottom of the national run-off, the Gulf Coast, where all the chemicals from the rain, from the fields, from Canada and the U.S. end up. What might be in the dirt where my kids dig, the trees where they climb, the air they breathe?

I'm tired of limping along, making excuses for one illness or another. It's not just a fluke, it's a fact. We're all sick of being sick. No, I can't prove that the environment is making us sick, but we never had these problems in rural New England! And until someone can give me a better explanation and make my family feel better, I'm going with my gut instinct. We can't move until the military lets us, but I'm damn sure going to work that much harder to improve our living conditions here. I'm demanding natural products from clean sources, I'm supporting local farms and businesses who operate with environmental responsibility, and I'm openly blasting those that are ruining my family's quality of life. I hope you will, too. Vote with your choices and your voices and force things to change for the better.