Germ Warfare

This week I got a cold. This is bad news for an immunosuppressed person since it's not only easier for you to get sick, but also harder for you to fight off. So on Monday, as the first signs of a sore throat were kicking in, I attempted to smother any growing cold bugs with copious amounts of hot tea, zinc gluconate (Cold- Eeze), and sleep. Unfortunately, none of my little home remedies worked and I woke up the next morning with a full blown sore throat. There was a slight fracas as I had to call and tell the infusion center I was sick, and they then had to verify that I could continue my treatments with my doctor. But in the end, it was decided that it was fine to continue on with my regularly scheduled protocol. Phew! I really didn't want to have to stop anything just because of a stupid sore throat.

As a result of all this, getting sick felt like a personal failure. At my first chemo treatment I was handed a packet on precautions to take in order to prevent getting sick - which I thought I followed to the letter. I got a flu shot, I washed my hands constantly, I avoided getting too close to other people, I sanitized things with a little packet of disinfecting wipes... I resolved to do better at keeping up my germ fighting techniques since apparently some had broken through my defenses.

With this in mind, I strolled into Whole Foods that afternoon and as usual, grabbed a disinfectant wipe from next to the cart area and began to wipe off the handle. I'm not sure if I looked extra intense about my cleaning or something but for whatever reason, a germ terrorist decided to target me that day. Just as I was turning to throw away my wipe and walk on to do my shopping some random dude slapped his hand down on the freshly wiped handle and smirked. I stood there confused for a moment. Surely that guy didn't just do that on purpose? Maybe he thought my cart was his cart? I eventually regained my composure and asked "Did you just touch my cart after I cleaned it?". He nodded and continued to smirk as he walked away.

I should remind you all that I am on daily prednisone at the moment, one of the side effects of which is mood swings. I've never had any sort of steroid-induced rage experience thus far but I think what followed may have been my first one. I'm normally not an aggressive person but I wanted to punch this guy in the face very badly. Instead I decided to try for public embarrassment by walking after him and loudly explaining that he was a total jerk for doing something like that to an immunosuppressed patient on chemotherapy who has to be mindful of germs for serious health reasons. At least a few people in our vicinity turned to stare at him and I felt vindicated even though the dirt-bag didn't look the least bit sorry. Meanwhile my non-confrontational little brother had quietly slipped away with our cart and was trying to pretend he didn't know me. I guess he thought I was going to do something worse than just yell at the guy.

Some people are so rude. Keep your germs to yourself people!

This post is dedicated to my little brother. Sorry for being an embarrassing sister!