After a decade of cooking and cleaning for an immunosuppressed person, should I continue the practices that were necessary? I always feel mean or imposing to push others to be more hygienic. I watched the first season of a science fiction show called Counterpart where one aspect of why some people are less nice or even downright vicious is linked to a the repercussions of a virulent and often fatal outbreak that significantly changed the survivors.
But every time I see a commercial for many of the new cancer drugs on television, I note that immunosuppression is a side effect that endangers those taking the breakthrough drugs. This was certainly the case for Sue. And although it feels great to push for and support cancer research, poor hygiene may cause more pain and suffering for all of us and especially for cancer patients. Sue died due to an infection even while she was in remission from leukemia.
I do not mean to be mean when I ask people to wash their hands before coming into my kitchen or setting the table. I do not mean to be mean to ask people to not sneeze into their hands and to wash their hands afterwards. I am really just trying to save lives and decrease disease. I know that we do not completely understand the immune system, but according to experts, better hygiene saves lives.
So please continue to donate to cancer research, but also try to use better hygiene. That is more likely to immediately decrease diseases that hurt and kill immunosuppressed people (and is even good for average people avoiding the misery of colds, flu and stomach bugs).
Here are some resources for you to help spread (in a good way) to help save lives. And please know that when I ask you to wash your hands in my kitchen, I am saying it in love and to support good health for all of us.
- https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/hygiene/etiquette/coughing_sneezing.html
- https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/basics/clean/index.html
- https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/index.html
- https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/adults/index.html