Last week I listened to a co-worker sneeze, blow his nose, and occasionally cough up an ocean of phlegm. I smugly said, Try sinus massage, drink this echinacia tea, get more sleep. Then yesterday I slammed into a wall of inertia that quickly brought me down. Damn his virulent germs!
I don't remember getting sick from my kids. My theory is they brought home a plethora of public school microbes every day, but in amounts my immune system could combat. Now I isolate myself to a handful of public places, thereby reducing the general germ hazard but leaving me susceptible to periodic mass invasion. The good news is my symptoms are minimal and I usually bounce back in a day or two, assuming that day or two are spent at home on the couch.
Maybe I should visit the mall more often and make sure to touch a lot of common surfaces, then eat at the food court without washing my hands first, to mimic the mini-exposures I used to experience. Or maybe I should just barricade myself at home, have my groceries delivered and telecommute. The latter is tempting, but even a misanthrope such as myself needs human contact once in a while.
Back to work it is.
1 comment:
I think you're on to something regarding the mini-exposure. I went almost 20 years without catching a cold when I was a normal person who left her house every day, but now that I work at home, I catch a cold about every other year.
But even if I weren't a bit of a germophobe, I wouldn't recommend touching a lot of stuff in public places. In fact, now that MRSA is out in the community, I think we should all wear those Bubble Boy suits. Plus, it's just a stylish look.
Post a Comment