on the necessity of breathing and otherwise being exposed to air
So I just laid down a hefty chunk of change, ordering air-purifying HEPA and other stuff online. The good news is, I got some nifty new-tech stuff. The better news is, I think even the old-tech stuff I ordered is better quality than the pair of old-school Honeywell HEPA systems we've had. (The Honeywell models date back to when Andrew was a toddler with asthma, although one was bought by my parents a few years later, when my Dad got sick with emphysema. And they really haven't changed their product line in the interim.) We still have one running downstairs. But they're no longer even listed by most of the allergy-abatement product sources. They're also bulky as hell - the size of an ottoman (empire). Whereas the newer, Hamilton Beach model I ordered is somewhat more compact; and will tuck against a wall better because it's squared; and has cool stuff like a UV light that kills small malevolent organisms, as well as an air-cleanliness gauge so you know how well the job's being done and can adjust the unit (or another unit) accordingly, and ... ooooh, shiny!
The best news of course is that I don't have to run all over the place/kill 3 or 4 hours looking for these things, while sneezing and headachey and hive-y and rather tired. I know Kohl's carries the Honeywell units, but the only other storefront source I know of for this stuff is Allergy Solutions, which is located down in Chadds Ford PA, i.e. halfway to Baltimore. I wasn't really feeling the love for that drive. But they should have my supplies here in a day or two, and in the meantime I may just drag the unit that's running downstairs, upstairs. Since upstairs is where I live. :D
But what I'm really happy with is this spiffy new AirFree gadget I found, which actually incinerates particulates. Woohooo! It gets excellent ratings from several independent sources as well as consumers, and the aforementioned Allergy Solutions is running a fab sale on it ($99!), so I ordered two. :D (In 2 distinct orders, since their system didn't seem to want to give me the sale price if I ordered more than 1 in that same order. Free shipping regardless, so who cares really?)
I was looking at some of the higher-end units like this, but honestly? We don't have the living space on each floor to justify these things. We'd still need one for each floor - that's just how it works - and that would be a LOT of money for a unit with more capacity than the space requires. So 'm hoping the combo of 1 smaller HEPA unit plus 1 particulate-zapper per floor will do the trick, for just over half the cost of only ONE of these premium products.
Of course, if we ever move to a big ol' new house with big ol' new rooms, I'm totally springing for the latest in Swiss technology. ;)
(The saving grace with all this money-bleeding stuff, really, is that much of it is tax-deductible. Thank deities. )