Sad News

[attackfish]

We had to give up all of the birds.  My mother and I both developed hypersensitivity pneumonitis, specifically the type called bird fancier's lung.  After it caused my mom to develop pneumonia and almost killed her, and made me unable to go to sleep because I couldn't breathe, we found our birds temporary homes with a reputable rescue that will make every effort to keep the birds that should be together, together.  I have worked with them before.  They do very good work, and my babies are safe with them.

I miss my babies terribly, but it had literally become life and death, and my mother and I were at risk of permanent lung function loss.  I have had birds my entire life, and it really hurts that I will never be able to have birds again.

After we found homes for the birds, we had the entire house cleaned, washed all the sheets, and blankets, and curtains, rented giant hepa filters...  I;m starting to be able to breathe again.  But I still miss my birds.

Comments

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

I don't really know. Mom and I both in retrospect had symptoms for years. Mine got much much worse suddenly after I got an upper respiratory infection that made everyone in the family's autoimmune issues go haywire for some reason. Grammy caught it, developed asthmatic bronchitis, and had a diabetes flair up that sent her blood sugar up to 500 and put her in the hospital. My sister's been having an autoimmune flair up since she got it too, and Mom and I had worsening symptoms of this. No one is really sure why it suddenly develops in individuals, but it often develops suddenly after years and years of frequent problem free contact with birds.

My mother's x-rays looked like she had infectious pneumonia (because she had secondary pneumonia), and because of her other immune issues, she tested negatively to the sensitivity test. However, once the pneumonia went away, and she got reallllllly sick after sleeping with my grandmother's down comforter...

I know I did the right thing. We couldn't keep them. It was an actual impossibility. But I still feel bad, and I wish I could explain to them what was happening, and why, because everything is suddenly different for them, and they don't have any idea why. It's the things I can't help that always make me fuss.