I am investigating a new lead in the Chronic Illness Drama.

You probably remember my not-long-ago day at home with Hannah where I suddenly couldn’t keep my eyes open and fell asleep on the floor?

And then I was okay the next day. And then on Monday I was wasted again at the end of the day. I realized later that week that it had been raining on the Saturday and on the Monday. And I thought, “well, maybe it’s the rain. Seems like a bizarrely extreme response to rain and I am taking vitamin D supplements and I have lived in Saskatchewan where you get little sun for six months out of the year, but who knows how light and weather affects your body.”

Then I went to Edmonton and I felt so normal for four days. Of course it was primarily sunny for those four days.

I got home around midnight Sunday night and Monday was unexceptional and then I went back to work on Tuesday.

I remember when Ian came home that night I was asleep on the couch and couldn’t manage to get off it for very long that evening. I remember because I said to him, “well, I guess I’m allergic to work.”

We were discussing my miracle recovery while in Edmonton and Ian said maybe we should get our water checked. But then today I was thinking about the rain again and remembering how last time it rained, when I came into the house I thought, “Huh, my house has a slightly musty smell when it rains.” It’s funny because although I am generally the first to note and recoil at anything musty-smelling, I remember noting that it was not entirely unpleasant. There is a similar musty smell in the women’s bathroom at work when it rains and that one is rank.

But then I wondered if there’s molds I’m reacting to either at home or at work.

So I went and googled for historical rain-fall in Saskatoon and realized that the last time we’d had a big rain was Tuesday – the last day I fell asleep on the couch.

Then I thought about how my fatigue and swollen glands all started a couple of months ago and googled historical temperatures in Saskatoon and determined that our temperatures started to go above freezing (roof would be covered in melting snow) in late March. And looked at my twitter stream to determine that I first got sick at the end of march/beginning of april.

There aren’t any great, definitive resources on mold reactions online, not like there are for most of the diseases I’ve been worried I have. But there are definitely symptom lists that include swollen glands, pressure on the larynx, extreme fatigue, night sweats, unproductive cough, irritated eyes, muscular and joint pain, weight-loss, mind-fog, chest pain, etc. And then they cheerily go on to note things like brain-damage, cancer, liver problems, and suchlike. I also noted a couple places saying that exposure to black mold can degrade your myelin sheathing and can cause MS-like symptoms or even full-blown MS.

I will maybe inquire of my coworkers whether they have been suffering from any mysterious illnesses that may have started within the last two or three months, because I know one other who has.

Though also, this spring, Rachel had an asthma attack for the first time ever and now I can’t seem to recall when it actually happened. And my cat in the last year has gone from being just an “old lady cat” to being a decrepit old thing who moves as if everything hurts and can’t even walk without lurching these days.

On the other hand, Ethan’s disposition has improved, Ian’s fine and Rachel hasn’t had another attack, so who knows?

But it looks like home testing kits aren’t that expensive, so maybe I’ll just go ahead and get two.