Thank You CoronaVirus for Bringing Awareness to GERMS and the Immune Compromised

3.10.20

Hello March

or should I say Hello March Madness :))))

Sorry, Not Sorry... but Thank You CoronaVirus for bringing awareness to Germs, and COOTIE CONTAMINATION! Finally! Awareness! Let the cleaning and sanitizing commence! What's going on now, is what SHOULD be going on all the time, everywhere, every surface, every public and private place!

Long before Myeloma, I was super conscientious of cleanliness, always sanitizing and cleaning my office and keeping our home clean and cootie free. I cared for many types of animals outside and inside our home, as well being around the public daily as a college counselor. I was always acutely aware of germ cross contamination. Ecoli, Salmonella, Norovirus, colds, flus, viruses, bacteria lurked everywhere. Germs everywhere. Germs on people, critters and food. I hated being sick when I was "well" and I hate it even more being so sick with Myeloma, chemo side effects, and always immune compromised. Being aware of potential illness is just common sense. Taking precautions to not spread germs is just common sense. So all this new awareness and hype of being clean and sanitary is just amazing to me, and so welcomed! But What was being done, rather Not Done, before CoronaVirus??? Scary to think...

I've always been shocked how "stupid" and unaware the general public is regarding how germs are spread and transferred from human to human. The dirty habits of people was always quite "disgusting" and surprising to me. My students always commented how clean, fresh and nice scented my office was. They were always thankful for the wipes and antibacterial gel I kept handy for them. I was CLEAN and SMART long before it was all over the news with CoronaV. I was the Ninja cleaner before it was Cool! As a result, I rarely got sick.

Living on a Ranch, with a constant flow of kids and animals, I always had our visitors wash up before they came in the house, had them take their dirty, public, pee and poop crusted shoes off, or put on cute disposable booties! Sure everyone thought I was OCD and overly worried about germs, but seriously, who wants gross things in your house. Think about where hands and shoes have been! Think about how INFREQUENTLY people wash up. Think about how much physical touching of things people do. Think about all the gross, rarely cleaned surfaces people touch.... Ugh, just pisses me off to recount attitudes and resentments, eye rolling and sarcastic jeering I've encountered over the years. 

So THANK YOU CoronaVirus for VINDICATING me :)) What I've been preaching and teaching forever, is all over the news and social media now. C'mon folks, really! What was going on before CoronaVirus brought attention to staying clean and trying to stay germ free! Think about all the public surfaces that are touched and not cleaned frequently. Seriously think about ALL those public surfaces everywhere that are not normally sanitized. I have always been aware of that, and used paper towels or wipes to open doors, touch handrails, elevator knobs, etc. When was the last time you sanitized your car steering wheel? Your cell phone? When was the last time you cleaned door knobs in your home, office. I was even surprised how "unsanitary" many of the surfaces were in the hospital when I was an inpatient for my Stem Cell Transplant. I often had to remind staff to wipe down certain areas. And then the staff... always inadvertently touching their face, clothes, hair, and one Dr sitting with his leg over leg, touching his shoes! OMG, finally, one appointment I pointed it out to him. He wasn't happy. Then everyone touching computers, keyboards, cell phones, fixed phones, etc., then going from patient to patient. Even if they changed gloves, they still touched things after they had their gloves on, and cross contaminated everything. No wonder people get sicker in hospitals and medical facilities. Yikes.... I can't believe I'm still alive with such a compromised immune system all the time!

And waaaaaaaaaaaaay before CoronaV, I was queen of AIR HUGS and AIR (hand) SHAKES! Again, everyone rolled eyes and thought I was OCD, but warrior here... 10 YEAR MYELOMA SURVIVOR as a result! How often do you see people NOT washing hands after using the bathroom! How often do you see people touching their body parts, then touching everything, then wanting to shake your hand. I always thought that was a stupid societal custom. And now all over the news, is all the goofy non hand shakes. Common sense people, common sense. Where has it been. And think about airplanes and airports, and all of public transportation... Restaurants, dirty menus, unsanitized tables, chairs, booths... who really know what goes on in the food prep area... Ugh, I have to stop writing about all this, as it's turning my stomach, especially with chemo crash beginning... 

So currently my Myeloma numbers are like the Stock Market! The last several months, my numbers were going up up up, and my Dr was beginning to worry, and began talking about changing treatments. With all the insanity on my homefront with my husband's Alzheimers status, I just can't take another challenge on, with changing treatments, and dealing with new side effects. Yes, I know eventually I will have to change, but I've learned over the last 10 years, my Myeloma is like a roller coaster, always fluctuating. I just don't panic about my increasing numbers, until they're in the thousands. When I was diagnosed, I was 70% Myeloma, and my IGA was over 5700. Since then, it's fluctuated as high as being over 4300. Guess I naively always think there will be a treatment out there for me, and magically there is! Each time my IGA skyrocketed, my treatment Angels showed up and my Drs found a wonderful chemo elixir for me. I am very fortunate that I respond well to meds. Yes my Myeloma is too smart and aggressive, but the amazing cell pummeling Immunotherapies and chemos eventually win over... albeit temporarily. So thank you 40mg Dexamethasone Steroids, Velcade injections and 400mg Cytoxan pills for still pounding the nasty myeloma cells since September 2018! 

And take a look at this CRAZINESS

How can my IGA drop 500 points in one month! I thought this was too crazy, so I did my labs again a few days later...

There we go, my Myeloma roller coaster! Down up, Up down. Who knows what this month's labs will reveal.

And my CBC labs... Yikes! See, this is why I've been a Cootie, Germaphobe all my life...

From a CoronaVirus post:

Back off with your nasty germs!

Ok, I'll sign off here, but I always come back to edit :))

Time to eat before the yucky, nausea chemo crash from Monday really hits me. I'm making my special old family secret recipe of high protein cottage cheese pancakes. I made them a few weeks ago when CoronaV first came out, and we laughed that some of my pancakes looked like the CoronaV cells!

Thanks for checking in and caring about my life story as you do! Hoping you are well, staying safe and being smart, so the cooooooooooties don't get you. In all seriousness, it is very scary for us immune compromised and weak immune system people. Those are the ones that are not making it, if they get sick :(( Stay well, stay clean, and be smart about being around the dirty public!