Hair and Air

Hair

So, I haven’t mentioned this, I don’t think. My hair is growing back in, post-chemo and post-sudden-onset-menopause, brown and wavy. People don’t recognize me at first. And I don’t always recognize me in the mirror. Sometimes I think it is fun. Sometimes I think it is weird. It is nice to have hair that does something besides just lie there. My hair before was straight, very, very straight, and blondish, getting darker as I’ve aged. But now, post-purple and blue, it is brown. Just straight up brown with a touch of silver. So I’m looking at other possible hairstyles and having to learn how to do this new ‘do. Just so you know, if you catch me out and about. Maybe I’ll go for a look Audrey Tautou has sported. Cute.

Air

On a much more serious topic, Grant has been suspecting that the house might have radon issues. The various neighbors’ houses have radon issues. It is common around here. So he/we finally broke down and invested in a real time air quality monitor called Wave Plus by Airthings. It arrived yesterday, and it has been monitoring since last night. We first placed it in our bedroom.

Suffice it to say that yes, there is a problem. Not only with Radon, but also with VOCs (volatile organic compounds.)

This here is fracking country, unfortunately (see map here) (Dear Lord, look at all those purple dots in the northern Front Range area!), and VOCs are one of the noxious byproducts. And we’re definitely in the red zone for both. So… we’ll be looking at ways to remediate these. (Or maybe we should move??!!)

Radon increases lung cancer risk, and benzene, one of the common off-gases of the fracking process, is carcinogenic. Please see this article from Physicians for Social Responsibility entitled Hydraulic Fracturing and Your Health: Air Contamination.  It says:

Benzene: Known carcinogen. May cause anemia; can lessen white blood cell count, weakening the immune system. Prolonged exposure may result in blood disorders like leukemia, reproductive and developmental disorders, and other cancers.

Hmm. It may already have done its dirty work on me. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. We need to stop this nonsense.

In any case, in the meantime, we will attempt to keep as much of it out of the house as possible.

Wish us luck.