Hi, friends. I need advice.
I've collected all of the U.S. Dragon Boxes. In 2014, I went to the fantastic Dragon Ball panels at Animazement (side note: I'm in the Kanzenshuu group picture in the DB 30 Years magazine, between Meri and Derek Padula). While there, I got Masako Nozawa, Toshio Furukawa, and Ryusei Nakao to sign the boxes that their characters are featured on.
This summer, I moved into a place that had toxic mold. I lived there for only three weeks, but it was long enough for the spores and toxins in the air to saturate pretty much all of my possessions. I left that place for a new apartment, but in the process of trying to clean/weed out which of my possessions were not too far gone, I smell-tested lots of my stuff and inhaled so much of the toxins that I made myself sick. I've been diagnosed with inflammatory-response illnesses called hypersensitivity pneumonitis and CIRS, and I am still sick today.
My genetic susceptibility to the toxins, plus the volume of them that I inhaled has made me REALLY sensitive to the stuff. I've thrown away almost ALL of my possessions, including most of my comic book collection that I've built up for over half my life, hand-made gifts, journals, love notes (sigh), my college diploma, a very expensive violin, and so on. Plus I cross-contaminated my car AND the new apartment, so I got rid of the car, and am transitioning to yet another apartment.
But...somehow I'm still holding on to those Dragon Boxes. I don't think they were as badly tainted as some of my things. Actually, they were protected to some degree because they were contained in tightly-sealed boxes and never removed from them for the entirety of my stay at the moldy apartment. And after I moved into the clean apartment and unpackaged them, I couldn't really smell anything weird on them until I placed them on a shelf that (even though I cleaned it thoroughly) smelled weird. Even then, they didn't seem to me like they picked up the smell too bad. But this illness has made me sicker than I've ever been in my life (difficulty breathing and walking, dizziness, panic attacks wherein I legitimately thought I was going to die), so I don't want to own anything that might keep me sick.
All that is to say: what do I do with the Dragon Boxes? I freaking love the things, but I have to get rid of them. But how? Sell them? Throw them away? I have spent thousands of dollars in the form of medical bills, supplies, a replacement car, and a new apartment (I will likely pay double rent from January to May). If I sell them, that money would go toward my medical and housing expenses. But is that ethical? I have a roommate in the post-mold apartment, and he is not affected by the toxins that my possessions brought over--but again, there is a genetic component, plus I inhaled WAY more of the stuff than he did. This makes me think that someone who buys the boxes would be okay, but what if they're like me and they're super sensitive? That seems sort of unlikely, but how should I know?
I just wanted to get other people's thoughts.
Thanks so much to anyone who reads or responds. <3
