The woman with the badge was Detective Altha Fam, Kenton County Police Department, with the kind of face that had probably not looked surprised since the nineties and did not appear to be auditioning for surprise now. The doctor spoke first. He explained that the MRI showed progressive damage to my peripheral nervous system, specifically demyelination of the nerve fibers, the protective coating around my nerves being systematically stripped away. He said the pattern was not consistent with multiple sclerosis, not Guillain-Barré syndrome, not any autoimmune condition they could identify. The pattern was chemical.
Then came the toxicology.
They had found methylene chloride in my blood.
Methylene chloride is an industrial solvent. A paint stripper. A degreaser. The kind of chemical found in warehouses and manufacturing facilities, the kind of chemical an inventory manager at an auto parts distributor would have access to every single working day.
The levels were not consistent with a single accidental exposure. They were consistent with repeated small-dose ingestion over an extended period. Months.
