When Sharing Is Not Caring

Escaping 'Club Med' is looking more and more possible by the day but as the time approaches there is one thing that sends me scrambling back under my hospital sheets with a droplet precaution mask or fifty. It makes me want to shut the door and think of ways to encase myself in a hazmat suit and bathe in hand sanitiser or buy a zorb ball to live in. And yes I have looked on eBay for one, it's a possibility people! For most people the seasonal flu is a whole bunch of unfun but for me it's more than a few days in bed and a bucketload of Lemsip. For me this is deadly serious stuff. 

I don't like posting too many pictures of the realities of my life sometimes. I find it hard to show people me at my worst. However, with my recent medication marathon and my lungs being vulnerable I decided I had to get serious and help people understand just what getting the flu could mean for me this year. Here is what I came up with. 

"Sharing isn’t always caring! Your actions could be deadly so I need your help. Today marks six whole weeks of IV antibiotic treatment. It has been scary, it has been painful, it has been financially challenging, it has been emotionally draining. The worst part is however the scariest part is yet to come. Flu season is fast approaching and with my lungs only working at 40% on the best of days this could literally mean life and death. While I understand it is a pain for you to miss a day or work or school due to illness, doing so helps minimise the spread of colds and flu. Please consider how your actions could impact on those who are immune suppressed. What is ‘just a runny nose’ to you could be life or death for someone else… or the someone else they happen to pass it onto. Your  ‘little sniffle’ to me means more IV antibiotic treatment – a line to my heart, weeks in hospital and more of the scaring that is slowly stopping my lungs from working. It most likely means using a machine to help me breathe. There is a chance that ‘the bit of a sore throat’ you brushed off could kill me. Please consider getting a flu shot, the choice to do so isn’t just about personal choice it is also about public health. If everybody did so I wouldn’t spend my winters missing events I had been looking forward to for months or stressing whether doing my grocery shopping is going to land me in ICU. Even the healthiest and lifestyle conscious of people can pass on viruses on to those who are immune suppressed. If you are unwell over the coming months or have been in close proximity to people who are, please stay away from Cameron and I. We won’t be annoyed if you have to cancel plans with us – we will really appreciate your consideration. Please take a moment to think about the consequences of your actions – it could quite literally be life saving. We really hope all our friends and family will support and respect our decisions and understand that we don’t do it to be difficult or over dramatic. We do it in order share many more happy adventures with you! <3 <3 <3"

- J x