COLD AND FLU BACKLASH

Have you ever been around sick people and you are not sick? I have never been a germaphobe. Believe me, I live with a germaphobe. I just don't go out of my way to be around outwardly sick people. If people tell me that are sick and we have plans, I say thank you but no thank you. If they are supposed to come over, I ask them politely to stay home.

I take Enbrel which causes me to have a compromised immune system. This means those germs that other people can fight off, I can't or might not be able or I may not get sick but I may just feel crappy. Who wants to feel crappy?

Sometimes I don't get sick but my hands swell. Or I have a cut that won't heal. My immune system is busy fighting off some other germs and can't heal a cut. Or it goes into overdrive and attacks my hands and they swell up. It can come out in many different ways.

So I am careful about hand washing and don't touch things very much when I am out of the house. I clean my keyboard and phone (not as much as I should) and am generally careful. I don't shake hands during cold and flu season and if someone is actively sneezing or coughing, I don't sit near them or stand near them. I don't want their germs!

But there is still a backlash. A view that I should buck up and "you won't get sick" and "if you do get sick it will only be a cold". A cold for me can put me down for more than a week, maybe two. By down I mean in bed, not able to do or go anywhere. Normal people get a cold and one, two or three days of staying home (not in bed) and they are good to go. The last time I got a cold/flu I ended up with bronchitis, then pneumonia. It took me months to get back on my feet. And before you ask, yes, I took the flu and pneumonia shots but does that mean I will never get them? I don't think so. I think that means if you get it, it will not be so bad.

So, despite everything, I am steering clear of the sick people. Staying by myself. Keeping well.

Oh, the red spots look better today, they have not gotten worse and have not spread. I must be allergic to this new soap or something. I tried my old soap this afternoon.

Interesting article today in the paper about how bunnies are attacking the cars at the Denver airport! See other people have rodent problems too! Oh, are bunnies rodents? Seems the bunnies are climbing into the engines of the cars and chewing on the spark plug cables and other wiring. Damn rodents! I feel their pain. Imagine you come back from Hawaii and your car won't start because some rabbit has chewed the wiring in your car. The best way to stop this is to coat your wiring with fox or coyote urine. Yum! Where do I get me some? Do they have any tricks for getting rid of rats out of hot tub insulation? Now that I would pay for. What kind of urine would I have to buy? Oh, you can get fox urine at hunting stores in case you were needing some. In the meanwhile be careful if you park at the Denver airport.

Until tomorrow...