When I was 16 years old I experienced Carbon Monoxide poisoning. I was sleeping in my grandparents camper as we were traveling down the Alaska Highway. We stopped in Fort St Johns at a store and my little sister came to the door of the camper insisting that I go into the store with her. That was one of the few times I was thankful for her penchant of not takiing no for an answer. At her insistence I slowly woke up and staggered to the door of the camper. I had a splitting headache and could hardly walk. Inside the store I leaned against a display of watches pretending to be interested but was actually just trying to gain my balance. I fainted right there and woke up on my back staring at the white store ceiling. I assumed I was in heaven and all the people staring down at me were angels. When I slowly realized that I was still on earth I got up and walked outside where my parents layed my down in the back seat of that old Plymouth with all the doors open to allow fresh air. The headache slowly went away and as far as I know…I’m OK. But they say CO kills brain cells, so who knows. I still think about carbon monoxide poisoning more than most people do.
Everyone should have a Carbon Monoxide detector in their home. Not only should you have it, it’s the law to have one on every floor of your home. I still go in quite a few homes in the valley that do not have these installed.
They are easy to install and inexpensive to buy so there is really no excuse. The state law says that you should have one that is connected to the home wiring system and has a battery back-up. The one in the photo is probably the easiest to install. It just plugs into a socket and has a battery for back-up. Here is the link to buy it on Amazon, or you can pick one up at one of the local stores.
