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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

lead poisoning!

a few months ago i got to work and noticed that in sporadic spots across the front of their house the paint had been chipped away, and then covered up with white primer. their rental house color is a tannish, it was clearly noticeable.


i walked in and C said, "the outside of our house is painted with LEAD PAINT!" i didn't really know how to respond.. i think a lot of older houses are indeed painted with lead paint. and i'm sure that it being a rental, they had to sign something that acknowledged that.

i asked what made him decide to test it. he said that he was at the hardware store and saw a lead paint test kit and decided to try it. ok. fair enough. the inside paint, however, is not lead based.

then C and M both told me that they are terrified that little C has now got lead poisoning. really? i said that i don't think the little man has been eating paint chips. and there is no yard outside so we never spend any outside time there. i'm sure he's fine. 

C got on the phone right at 9, when their doctor's office opens, and made an appointment for the babe to go in THAT VERY DAY to have his blood checked. 

ok, so i'm sure that finding out your house has lead paint is probably a bit scary. but honestly, the child has not been eating/snorting/touching/licking the outside of the house. that's just gross and dirty. 

M told me that whenever the maintenance people come around to trim the bushes and tidy up the beauty bark, they also use a leaf blower to clean up their mess and that right there, that act that's done about twice a year, probably spreads around all the paint dust that would cause lead poisoning.

at this point i'm just trying not to laugh and tell them how completely ridiculous this all sounds.

she also went on to tell me that if/when the yard maintenance people DO come, i am to close up all the windows and doors and not go outside until well after they've left and the dust has settled. sweet! i love being on lockdown! 

little C has his blood tested that afternoon as planned. the results came back that his level was a 2.6 and they don't begin to be alarmed until it's a 10. but C and M were literally convinced that this child had lead poisoning. even tho he was showing no symptoms. they even tossed around the idea that if he did infact have lead poisoning, that was why he wasn't sleeping through the night.. seriously?

i was of course told daily for the rest of the summer that we are not to play outside there. only at the park or other safe places. gee, but i really love sitting on a slab of concrete in the direct sun with your infant child. damn. guess i can't do that anymore. as if did that regularly...?

1 comments:

Brandon and Callie said...

love it...one of my favs