Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's to the Mines I Go...

Left Honolulu last night and landed in SLC at about 11:30am. Could have flown in to Helena (which most people do) but since I'm meeting mom, flew into SLC instead. We immediately began the drive northward. Stopped at Costco on the way up to get gas and get the tire pressure checked (do you know they do this for free?) and buy some fruit and veggies. If we had it to do over again we would have purchased a few more items since shopping in Boulder is super dooper limited. Rooms have a kitchenette so homecooking (especially for strict NSDers) is an option. The drive up on I-15 was a no brainer. I-15 was clear, signs were well marked and it was nearly impossible to get lost.
It started to get dark by the time we got to Dillon, Mont. I had promised to call Pat at the Mine Motel before 8pm to let her know that if we'd be running late. She said that she already left the door to room #4 unlocked w/the keys on the table (small town!). It took us about 8.5 hours altogether in drive time, with about the last hour or so done in the dark. We arrived at the Boulder turn-off at about 9:20pm. The motel is straight down from the turn-off on Main Street, and just off on the left hand side. Pat left the porch light burning! Unloaded the car and hit the hay!


Room#4 Sitting Room, Mine Motel.








(Now go to "Pain, Pain, Go Away...")

Pain, Pain, GO AWAY...

And don't ever ever come back ever again now or any other day. DO YOU HEAR ME????

This is Room #4 of the Mine Motel
Slept very well last night (this is very unusual for me-of course it had been hours since my head had touched a pillow). Woke up to a room that was much more than I had expected. It is obvious that the owners are "attention to detail" kind of people. Beds were very comfortable, bathroom spacious with plenty of handles and bars for the arthritic crowd, hooks and outlets in all the right places. Kitchenette had small fridge, stovetop, microwave, sink, toaster, coffee maker, pots, pans, even paper towels and salt and pepper! This is a housekeeping unit, which means that no one will be coming in to turn down the bed and put a candy on your pillow. It also means that you get to wash your own sheets.
There is a laundry room on the premises complete with washer, dryer, iron and lots of little extras.
After breakfast drove just a minute down Main Street to 2nd Avenue (plenty of Montana-ish hand painted signs on buildings) to show us the way.
Turned right for the 2 mile uphill drive to the Free Enterprise Mine.




Met Pat in the office of the mine at 9am. She sat down with us and gave us packets with information and brochures. Answered questions. Also gave us keys to the office (which consists of a lobby area, restrooms, coffee, elevator to the mine itself, radon room,) so that we can come and go freely over the 10 days. It is completely a self-monitored procedure.
Pat is the grandaughter of the original founder of the mine, Wade Lewis. She is an active participant in all things radon - attends conferences around the world, is very civic-minded and involved in the community - I mean come on...she put together a grant to get the entire area wi-fied!

I'll have that WELL DONE Please

After Pat gave us the keys, and since we were already there with the entire day ahead of us, we decided to get this party started.


The secret door is located just off of the office (kind of like an "employees only" area)and I must say it is pretty cool to have a key!

The mine itself is right below this room (about 100 feet below) and some people prefer just to ride the elevator down to the mine and sit down there. That part doesn't open until April 1st. We came during the off season (season runs from April 1 - October 1) and off season is by appointment only.

There are basically two locations, the underground mine and the ground level Radon Room. Mom and I are just as happy in the comfort of the Radon Room - Byob (books) and they supply the air! The only real difference between the two locations in my book is comfort level - in the mine the chairs are harder and it gets pretty chilly. Radon levels in both spots are monitored. During our stay the Radon Room levels fluctuated between 400-600 picocuries per liter. The layout of the RR consists of a main room which is about 10 feet wide and 35 feet long (I'm guessing here) with 9 vents in the walls which are about 2" in diameter. You can hear the vents switch off and on as the radon air blows every five minutes or so. The room is very comfortable (radon of course is odorless, colorless, and pretty stealth which is why it is so scary to some people who aren't as smart as the rest of us ). There are about 10 brand spankin new movie-type Lazy Boys and 3 other easy chairs.

There is one other cool little room that is just off of the main RR. It has a little table and just out of eyeshot is a counter area with 4 barstool chairs where you can set your laptop and do work if you absolutely need to. Pat prefers for people to relax, read a book, visit with friends, but you know...there are always a few diehards.

Let the wild rumpus start

view from the front

DAY 1: Spent one hour in the RR - from 10-11:00am. Started getting a slight headache after about an hour. Mom felt perfectly normal - no headache, nothing out of the ordinary. We left to go back to the Motel to fix some lunch. I took a drive to check out the Boulder Hot Springs. It's about 3 miles outside of town. Thought it might be the perfect addition to my Radon experience. Cost is $6 for a plunge in the mineral waters/per visit. Divided into a boys section/girls section with one co-ed hotspring outside.

Boulder Hot Springs
At this point I had seen enough naked women for one day (plunge is swimsuit optional). Decided I'd try again later in the week, after I get this Radon thing down.
1:30-5:00pm back in the RR. I tried reading, but my vision was getting just a tad blurry. I had to keep re-reading for content, so decided to put the book away. Started talking to Bill who was also in the RR and visiting from Georgia. Several years ago he had been told by three different Doctors that he needed to have his colon removed within the week. From his description it was in really, really bad shape - UC gone wild! He said that he wasn't about to have his colon removed and by coincidence read an article in The American Spectator during the same week. He got on a plane to Montana immediately! Bill was quite enjoyable to talk to, as were most of the people we met. Bill gets right up to the vents and inhales. He took in 80 hours of radon during his initial 10 days and when he went back to Georgia the doctors told him to keep doing whatever he was doing! When we saw him he said that at his last appointment, the Gastro doctor told him that his colon was as pink as a baby's and now he only had to make a Gastro appointment for every other year!

RR TOTAL = 3.5 hours

Back to Motel
Slept all night!

More R &R (Radon/Relaxation)

Okay, so it's an old photo, but just goes to show you how long this place has been around...

DAY 2

Enjoyed our typical bacon/egg breakfast, made in our little motel room kitchenette this morning. It takes about 5 minutes from the time we get into the car until the time we arrive at the RR. The weather is brisk for me, but then I'm coming from Hawaii so standing in front of the refrigerator is brisk! We get a kick out of turning to each other in the morning after we get into the car, and saying, "Well, it's off to the mines!"

8:30-12:30: RR. Both mom and I felt extremely tired this morning, even after a good night's sleep. We catnapped and read. No headache or blurry vision today, just tired.

Back to the motel for lunch and a couple of hour break.

2:30-5:30: RR. Decided to take a craft project with me, and worked at the table in the smaller room while I breathed in my radon air. Started snowing outside (!!) which was fun for me.

There is a window in this smaller room that has a beautiful view looking across the parking lot and down the valley to the town of Boulder. Mom stayed in the main RR and read and slept. At about 4:30 I started feeling very achy. It was getting harder and harder for me to walk, almost a stiffening. Also getting harder to turn my neck. SI joint also very painful.
Back to the motel for a hot bath.

Daily Total = 7.0
RR TOTAL = 10.5 Hours

Bed at 9:30pm. Woke up at 2:30 with Restless Legs, then back to sleep

DAY 3
Woke up at 6:30am, very very achy. Ate breakfast.
9:00-1:00 : RR. Bill was there and had been since 1:30 in the morning! I was very achy the entire day. People commented that that is usually a good sign for a positive recovery. Mom was a little bummed because she felt fine! Still tired. Mostly napped and read.
Back to the motel for lunch.

I went to the little local library just a short walk down Main Street to check my email. Library hours today are from 1-5pm. A sign on one of the stores in Boulder says "We're here when we're here". That about sums it up. I fell in love with the town, but it is small town America (population 1,700). Drove over to the HotSprings. Thought today would be my day, since plunging into some hot mineral water sounded pretty enticing when I was hurting so much. No Luck. Off Season. Only open from 4-8pm until April 1st. I'll try again in a couple of days.
4:30-8:30PM : RR. Found Pat's notebook that is about 6 inches thick and filled with research about radon therapy, hormesis and similar topics. Had a field day reading the articles while I breathed in the magic potion.
Daily total = 7.0 hours
RR TOTAL= 17.5 hours

Bed by 9:30. Woke up with horrible earpain. I've been getting this for the past year, but this is the first time on this trip. The pain is so bad it wakes me up. It is always just in one ear (whichever one I am sleeping on) and I can never tell if it is just inside the opening of my ear, or the cartlidge on the outside. Whatever it is it hurts like hell. I become totally paralyzed, but subconsciously know that the only way the pain will stop is to move, but I have to do it ever so slowly, like a mm at a time. I always hope that there is no fire or burglar during one of these episodes because I would be a damsel in distress! After about 10 minutes the pain subsides and I can go back to sleep. I spoke with my doctor about it, but he could give me no answers, only "the look." Funny, I have heard other people with AS who experience something very similar (cartlidge arthritis?) which is always reassurance that I'm not totally bonkers.

...and the beat goes on

Day 4


Woke up stiff as a board. All my pains seemed even worse than usual, and that is pretty bad. Decided to take a drive up to Helena to replenish supplies (this is the wild west!) and to hunt down the Walmart Superstore (don't let mom see this - she hates Walmart). Helena is about 25 minutes away. Roads were clear. Weather was good.

We looked around Helena and shopped until about 3pm. We were really dragging. The weather had sunnied up and I'm sure that in the summertime and if we had been feeling better we could have found plenty to do. This is the capital of Montana. It is divided into several different sections. We stopped at the Triple A right away - okay, we happened to pass it, so we pulled in - and picked up some brochures, then we went cruizin'.







4:30-8:30 RR. Back to the Boulder and slept in our recliners while we continued to breathe.

In the past year I've started suffering bouts of iritis (arthritis of the eyes) where one of my eyes will get very very red and pained. Also for about the month prior to coming, I started getting a bright blue half moon shape appearing at night when I closed my eyes. This freaks me. I've been reading testimonials about the well water curing cataracts and iritis - hec, I'm here! Why not? Next to the restroom, there is a sink with the water piped up from below. Mom and I started filling our water bottles to drink it while we are here. We drink at least 1-2 bottles worth a day. I also started splashing the water in my eyes several times a visit. At first it stung. Now it doesn't.
Another interesting sidebar. At about this point, mom and I realized how very strange our dreams are here. We both have full out color, outlandish dreams. It's easy to fall asleep because we know we will be entertained. (Good thing, cuz there are no movie theaters !)
Daily total = 4 hours
RR TOTAL = 22.5

Days 5, 6 and 7 makes a week!

Day 5
Slept in until 8:30. I'm still feeling achy and yucky, but at least I've been sleeping through the night for a change. Last thing before I left, my doc wanted to put me on a muscle relaxant so that I could sleep thru the night. To hec with that! Mom is still feeling pretty much the same. We seemed to find a schedule that works well for us. 3 hours on. A break. 4 hours on.

10:00 - 1:00 RR. Worked on crafts in the little room. Mom read and napped.


Lunch Break. We checked out the hours for the little library in town. Closed Saturday. Sunday 1-5. Monday 6:30 - 8:30 PM. Tuesday 10-12N, 1-5. Wednesday 10-12N. Thursday 10-12N, 1-5. Friday 1-5. Funding/worker shortage no doubt. They have free computers/internet service. Newspapers, books, magazines also in abundance.

Also checked out the hours for the Senior Citizen Thrift Shop. MWF 10-3. It's located in an old railway station that was converted and moved to Main Street. Can't wait to check out the potential antiques roadshow items that are waiting for purchase in there! I'll have to wait until Monday though. There is also a Curves-like gym a short walk from the Mine Motel with a 10 day pass available. There are a few places to eat, two small grocery stores and a gas station just off of I-15 that has convenience items. Oh yeah, and also of note, across the street is a taxidermy shop with hundreds of elk skulls drying on the rooftop. No comment.

4:30 - 8:30 RR. Read, napped, talked to mom. Priceless.

Daily RR - 7.0 hours
TOTAL HOURS - 29.5

Day 6

Still sore and achy. Again slept through the night and had wild dreams. Switched over to daylight savings time.
11:00 - 2:00 RR.
Lunch break
4:00 - 8:00 RR. Met Sheri and Bill. They come up every year from Idaho. Sherri is the one who emailed me before I left about her husband who has RA and a trucking business. Really good people. Sheri comes up for "prevention" and to support Bill. They have been coming since '95. They have lots of stories, but one that Bill likes to tell is about a lady who lived in the area and had a horse who was dying. This horse had been written off by the Vet and everyone else. The lady would come up everyday and get a bucket full of water from the well and take it down to her horse to drink. Within the month that horse was eating again and looking "as healthy as a horse!" These stories sound amusing, but they are really no joke. There is a huge notebook full of personal testimonials that have been collected over the years.
Daily total = 7.0 hours
RR TOTAL - 36.5 hours

Day 7
Woke up with a sore throat. I asked Pat about this and she suggested that it may be from the plane. I'm sure she is right. Sure is sore. We did some laundry on the premises. Very convenient.
10:00 - 1:00 RR. Read, napped, talked. What a life!
Lunch and then my very anticipated trip to the Hot Springs! I had the place almost to myself (only about 3 other ladies). Started out with a shower and then "the plunge". 102 degree water filled w/lots of minerals (sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Magneseum +) next I tried the icy water, but I only got to my knees! Into the Steam Room for about a 5 minute cooking session, then cold, then hot again. Ahhh. Good stuff.
4:00 - 8:00 RR. At about 7:45 we had our first breakthrough. Mom stood up - all by herself! No help. No tugging on the arms of the chair. No asking for my hand to give her a boost. She just stood up. It has been years since she has been able to do that! We were so suprised that she sat down and then did it again! Amazing!
Daily Total - 7.0 hours
RR TOTAL - 43.5 hours


Every evening as we're driving down the hill, we drive as slowly as possible so as not to hit the uberzillions of deer that are everywhere!

Day 8: Keep it Straight

Day 8
All I can say is that I didn't sleep well last night. My throat was sore. My body was sore. If it weren't for all the positive things that I had read... if it weren't for seeing mom stand up w/o help... if it weren't for talking to people and hearing their positive testimonies...if it weren't for all that, I would really start questioning things. It has been 8 days and I feel worse than ever!
11 - 2:30 RR. Napped, wrote in notebook, visited w/Mom & Sheri.

For our break we decided to visit Basin. It is about 15 minutes South, and was the zipcode featured in the National Geographic article. NG only selects one zipcode, so Boulder and the Free Enterprise missed out, even though they were the original health mine. I'm glad that we went to Basin. It only served to reassure us that we had made the right choice in choosing the Free Enterprise Mine!
At first we stopped at the Earth Angel.
This is run by an elderly man, a WWII vet. We drove onto the property and were chased by four guniea hens who I'm sure had planned to each take a tire of the car and try to pop it!!! We drove up a small hill and arrived in rabbit heaven! There were more rabbits than I had ever seen in one place and at one time! There was also a goat and various other farm-type animals. A trailer had a sign that said "Office" so I hollared. A voice in the distance advised me to come inside. I hesitated. The voice beaconed. I entered. In a (I'm sorry) very unkept, smelly bedroom was a kindly man who engaged me in a lengthy conversation about the mine. He invited me to take a look. There was no one on the property at the moment, but after I had visited at great length, I looked at the mine. It is referred to as a "wet" mine, and I found out why. It is a walk-in and the rock walls are very damp.
There are electrical light hung randomly to give the mine some light, but I didn't feel really safe when I was there.
Next we looked over the very tiny "town" of Basin. It seemed like something transported from "Twilight Zone". Basin is an old mining town, vacant except for a very active bar and a couple of kids playing in the street. A drive across the highway took us to the Merry Widow Mine. It is another "wet" mine, but was more lively than the Earth Angel. I spoke with a few people who have gone there for years. This is another "walk-in" mine. Along the side is a small stream of water, or I should say a small stream of red muck. People dip rags in this to put on whatever is ailing them. You need to walk about 300 feet into the mine and there is a section in the back with chairs and benches where people sit and talk and play games. Along the way is also a little pet room. The other difference about the Merry Widow Mine is that the owner only allows guests to go in for one hour at a time. The Free Enterprise lets the client come and go as they please. FE also has one blanket charge. MW charges $3 for each visit.
Back to Boulder.
5:00 - 9PM RR.
Daily Total = 7.5 hours
RR TOTAL = 51 hours

9,10...It's coming to an end

Day 9Throat still sore, but you know...I think that this really was from the plane and had nothing to do with the radon treatment. If I look past that, I'm sure that I'm feeling better. It seems that I am starting to get some mobility back in my neck. Every day that I go into the RR within 5 minutes of arriving, I get a light tingling, almost burning, in all the places of my body that give me trouble. For me, this is my butt (not very lady-like, I know, but this is the only way to really describe it) the back of my legs to my knees, my upper back, my shoulders, my neck. The places that haven't hurt for the past year are just fine - I get no special sensation at all. It's very strange, but it feels like the radon is just going to work on the places that need it...very "Star Trekky". Again at night, just as I'm falling asleep, that same sensation of good energy working on my body becomes very strong. As they say in Hawaii "chicken-skin, ya?"
8:00 - 11:00 RR. I'm just finishing a book by Ed Hiserodt called Underexposed. It is excellent and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in reading further about Radon. It is written in a fairly easy style and clearly, Dave Barry is his hero.
Mom usually goes back to the motel on our breaks and hooks up her oxygen. Today she forgot about it. She is starting to feel much better too. She was feeling good enough to go to the local beauty shop to get her hair done. Because the girl did her hair differently than usual, it was the first time I had really seen the psoriasis that she has talked about for all these years. It is really, really bad - she has had it for years, so it is basically an open wound. At the beginning of the trip, mom said that if she could just get that skin healed (she's tried creams, medications, special shampoos and nothing seems to work) then she'd be happy. I had never realized that psoriasis is an arthritic disease. It is also common with people who have AS. While mom was getting her hair done, I went next door to the Senior Citizen Thrift Shop. The nicest ladies ever work in there. It was a virtual gold mine if you like that kind of stuff. I made them go and get a ladder and get me really dusty old things from the top shelves (I'm so evil). I got stacks of stuff and when I asked the price she said, "Oh, $10.00 will cover it!" Ebay, here I come...It'll probably pay for the trip!
Dropped mom off at the motel (she looked so perdy) and then I headed out for another plunge at the Hot Springs. I'm really getting to enjoy this place! I usually stay for about an hour, with most of the time spent in the indoor plunge. The water is warm and it is just so relaxing.
4:00-8:00 RR. Visited with new comers. People are starting to come in now since the regular season is beginning. The underground mine closes at 4, so people come up to the RR to spend some time. Tomorrow I'm going to go down and check out the mine itself.
Daily Total = 7 hours
RR TOTAL = 58 hoursMom went back to the motel and didn't plug her oxygen in until she went to bed. That means she went the entire day without it!
Day 10A rainy morning. Even with the rain we both woke up feeling better. Each day we feel improvement now. As we drove up to the Mine, we noticed that just at the cattle crossing the rain turned to snow.
10 - 1 RR. Mom headed into the RR and I buzzed the elevator. It was already there so I didn't have to wait. It took about 3 minutes to go down the 100 feet. It is a spacious Otis elevator. The elevator guy comes up from Helena to keep it well serviced. There is an emergency phone in it and the mine portion can only be used when an employee is upstairs manning the office. The mine is actually very cool. The openings are much wider and higher than at the other mines I saw. As the elevator doors open, there is a sitting lobby-type area. To the left is the "north gallery" . The entire mine is wi-fi, so there is internet access throughout. Also, I called my hubby in Hawaii on my cell from there, so I know that works too. I was suprised at the size and length of the mine. I walked the whole stretch and it is over 400 feet. There are lights and little lover's nooks all along the way. I actually think on the next visit I might spend some time there. There always seems to be a card game or scrabble or something going on and it really didn't set my claustrophobia off like I thought it would.
Back to the Hot Springs for one last visit.
4:00 - 8:30 RR. Took a few really deep breaths since our time is running out!
Daily total = 7.5 hours
RR TOTAL = 65.5 Hours