I was putting our granddaughter to bed last night & she began coughing and became slightly hyperactive for about an hour. I was sitting with her while this was going on and it occurred to me that her behaviour was induced by something other than my presence.
Along with the activity came the strong odor of dust, which I could not pinpoint and had not noticed earlier in her room. The room is cleaned & vacuumed regularly and I could not find a source of dust …………’till I got into her stuffed animals and started moving them around.
Emily began coughing again & this time actually left the room to get away from the dust. I gave the animals a good vacuum and then threw them into the clothes dryer (no heat) for about 45 minutes. The lint that was left in the trap was incredible. This put in mind of what we all forget about from time to time in our efforts to maintain a healthy environment. The OBVIOUS.
Here was a source of asthma generating dust, allergen, etc that was totally forgotten about. The deep fluffy piles of artificial fur have been trapping solid particulate from daily atmospheric dust plus the skin cells, mites allergens, pollens etc for the past two years.
During the coarse of daily life, this is not a problem but as soon as bed time arrives (like laying your head down on a two year old feather pillow) the reaction starts. Just like the forgotten corners of your unfinished basement were the “stuff” gets piled up and the air movement behind the pile drops to zero and the “humid” air then has a chance to accumulate and settle, shaping a breeding ground for mold.
Since this is the beginning of the allergy season, extra care should be taken to seek out those “forgotten corners” of the universe that escape us in our normal scurrying around and take extra time to insure that dust, molds, allergens, fungi, etc are kept to a minimum.