Pots and Plants has become a neighborhood staple in Ohio City, a place to get foliage to brighten your day and complete the decor in a room. It recently welcomed new owners, but not because former owner Lori Switaj wanted out. Turns out, she needed to get out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being around plants reminded Lori of her mother, who passed on her affection for greenery. When she started Pots and Plants, Lori was looking to invest her time and money into work she could enjoy on a deeper level than just another job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy entire business plan is one sentence: Don’t lose more than $500 a month,\u201d she said. She achieved that easily and more. \u201cI wanted a fun store,\u201d she said. And it was fun for her, until she felt like she couldn\u2019t breathe. Now, she can\u2019t look at plants the same way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI probably should have gone to the doctors years before,\u201d said Lori.\u00a0 She had become too comfortable with getting recurrent pneumonia and having it treated with antibiotics. \u201cI’ve had pneumonia so many times I can tell you like what lobe it’s in. I used to just go to the urgent care and say I’ve got pneumonia and they’d take an x-ray and they’d give me some [antibiotics].\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
People can have underlying lung conditions which make them more prone to pneumonia. Or someone without a lung condition can be unlucky and get a bout of pneumonia, but the disease should not strike again and again. Lori only had very mild asthma, which never limited her from running or playing ice hockey for years. Something else was going on with her recurring infections. Her lungs were changing since she started the store. This past winter, Lori\u2019s cough seemed the worst yet, making her short of breath, and lasted way too long.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After consulting with her doctor, enough red flags were raised to pursue a consultation with a lung specialist. At the pulmonologist, with blood tests showing a spike in a specific antibody called IgE, her lung doctor and Lori looked at each other and almost in unison thought, \u201cABPA.\u201d Maybe Lori wasn\u2019t thinking \u2018ABPA\u2019 specifically, but they were both suspicious that the plants might be involved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
ABPA stands for\u00a0allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis — a condition where the body overreacts to doses of aspergillosis (a type of mold) spores found in the air. Those spores are ubiquitous in our environment, found in soil and dust and are unavoidable. Certainly the \u2018dose\u2019 that Lori inhaled on a daily basis in her store was higher than the average person. But, this doesn\u2019t mean we are under constant threat from soil. Lori developed an allergy to it, and it wreaked havoc on her lungs. With all allergies, you can develop one at any time even if you\u2019ve been exposed to the allergen many times before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When she received the diagnosis, Lori said, \u201cit was kind of devastating. You’re just like, what am I supposed to do now?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lori\u2019s story has other unique corollaries in medicine, where a person in certain trades or hobbies is constantly exposed to a trigger and are unlucky enough to develop a reaction. It\u2019s called hypersensitivity pneumonitis, with nicknames like coffee maker lung, pigeon breeders lung, farmer\u2019s lung, or malt worker\u2019s lung. There are nuances to these treatments, but without a doubt, eliminating the exposure in all cases is the first measure that has to be taken.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lori confirmed this ABPA diagnosis by getting a bronchoscopy, where a camera is advanced into the trachea and deeper into the branches of the lung tree. A small amount of water is squirted and then sucked up so the contents can be studied. It confirmed she had aspergillosis mold in her lungs, coating the lining in her bronchi (branches of air tubes). Lori had to stay at a local hospital after that procedure. In a twisted moment of fate, she realized she was on the same floor she gave birth to her son and jokingly sent him a text that read: \u201cI think I’m going to die on the floor that you were born on.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When she got discharged from the hospital, she needed a plan for the store. To start, she wasn\u2019t even allowed to go inside of it. Lori recalled her first course of action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u201cI just put up a post saying 40% off all the plants. And it was like a riot… I passed by later. People were just like, we’re grabbing plants. It kind of felt like, oh, she’s dead. Let’s go take her stuff.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was a line around the corner of the block that day, and her employees came to the rescue by staffing the store. Despite the flash sale, and confusion of what to do after, Lori came to terms with her realization. \u201cIt has to be a plant store,\u201d she said. It just wouldn\u2019t be hers from now on.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As her breathing is restored, Lori misses her plant store. In the boredom of her recovery, she asked herself, \u201cHow many times a day can I take the dog on a walk?\u201d While on high doses of steroids, and not sleeping well, she made an impulse decision to buy 60,000 pieces of jewelry, thinking some niche retail like she had done before could be a good fit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Expected to make a very good recovery, her only limitation moving forward is not being trapped in a room with a plant. She\u2019s embarking on some serious soul searching for her next long-term endeavor, jewelry or not.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’ve been around the block enough to know that at some point I’m going to have some kind of idea or going to see something and I’m just going to do it,\u201d she said, biding her time. Part of what she is grappling with is seeing the world of greenery in a completely new light. Never would she have thought that looking at a plant could spark fear. In the meantime, she cleared out the many plants she had at her house. Actually, she still keeps a couple small ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.<\/a> Pots and Plants has become a neighborhood staple in Ohio City, a place to get foliage to brighten your day and complete the decor in a room. It recently welcomed new owners, but not because former owner Lori Switaj wanted out. Turns out, she needed to get out. Being around plants reminded Lori of her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1764,"featured_media":333578,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-08-06T03:45:37Z","apple_news_api_id":"9949a137-b17b-4f36-9bf7-7be4abeaf766","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-08-06T03:45:38Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AmUmhN7F7Tzab93vkq-r3Zg","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":["https:\/\/news-api.apple.com\/sections\/09551bb6-65e4-48a4-92e6-844c5c570ad6"],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"newspack_collection_is_cover_story":false,"newspack_collection_post_order":0,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Former Pots and Plants owner Lori Switaj dealt with years of lung issues. Her beloved plants were the source of the trouble.","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,23],"tags":[44181],"newspack_collection_taxonomy":[],"newspack_collection_section":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[25189],"class_list":["post-333577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cleveland-news","category-news","tag-pots-and-plants","entry"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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