Avoiding Sars2, making art, growing/preserving food. Trying to teach our littles how to live in this mess.
Living with EDS and its sack of toothy terrors
I realized something last night about the ‘masks don’t work’ crowd; if they were serious, they would advocate for better masks… ones that ‘DO WORK’. But, really, they just don’t want to wear a mask. The end.
In healthcare, a bare-faced practitioner asking a you, masked person, if you prefer they mask is a power-play to make you say the words. They want you to know that they don’t think it’s necessary, that it’s a favour. That you are weak and they are strong. All under the radar.
So, today after having to fight for antibiotics for my child who was bitten by a Lyme-positive tick, my practitioner told me she was only prescribing it for MY mental health. I was also told to “stay off the internet”.
This is a masterpiece. This is the article/interview I’ve been waiting for. It covers all the bases, doesn’t downplay the seriousness and is eminently shareable with people who are not up-to-speed.
Even if a cure or a sterilizing vaccine miraculously became available, I would never forgive any of this. The lies, the betrayals, the deliberate ignorance, the pure EVIL of the Covid era is permanently etched. It’s difficult realizing I will be angry until the day I die.
A whispered fear: “What if my infection from 2022 is all it took? What if it’s all for nothing & my health is already lost?” I share this fear. But, fighting this virus is always going to be the right thing to do, come what may. Viral load matters. Number of infections matters.
“But my doctor isn’t worried about Covid!” Science takes years to become medicine. Only a bunch of fools would turn their backs on the precautionary principle wrt COVID. Especially with what science is clearly showing us.
4 YO Wellness Check today. Not a mask in sight, waiting room full of coughing. Had to ask NP to mask. Expressed my disappointment in the lack of masking. Then before I could react, she PULLED HIS MASK DOWN!! I feel so defeated by it all.
Update: My 3-year-old, whose antibiotics were prescribed yesterday, reluctantly (and with a dose of shaming) has woken up screaming this morning from pain in his arms and a rash from hands to elbows. So, yeah, I think the antibiotics are necessary.
People will spend days researching the best new toaster to bring home. But when it comes to a novel virus that’s swept the globe, killed millions and left millions more disabled? Roll out the welcome mat without a glance at the mountains of research.
I just saw a group of 10 crows in a tree, quietly staring down over their fallen comrade who’d been struck on the road. I couldn’t help but think that they probably have more community care than humans at this point. 😷
I’m sitting here at an art show and I don’t think I can do this anymore. I can’t sit here, selling pretty pictures, smiling under my mask and pretending like it’s not all falling apart.
@sassyashieOG
Imagine what a struggle it must be, mentally, for the athletes to maintain this level of denial in the face of what’s happening around them? Where’s the breaking point?
@CovidSolidarit1
If you have school-aged children and unless you are willing to lay waste to EVERYTHING you’re used to, it can be very hard. We’ve done that, however, and I’m grateful every single day.
I’ve stopped looking for the end of this pandemic. Instead, I’ll focus on what’s in front of me; masking, protecting my kids, fighting for clean air and treatments. But I’m coming down off my tiptoes.
@amethystarlight
Well, in her defence, the guidelines in Ontario are to wait and see unless the child exhibits symptoms. Which, is a terrible strategy.
Refusing to mask for patients is an (unacceptable) outlet for anger and a desperate grasp at control in what is probably a very frustrating job. I don’t excuse it. It just means you are a nasty piece of work and should be in a different job.
Cancer patients? Nope.
The elderly? Nope.
Newborns? Nope.
Kids? Nope.
Immunocompromised? Nope.
“You can’t make me mask. Nope. Not my problem”.
-GARBAGE SOCIETY.
At my art show this weekend, I was laughed and pointed at for my respirator, by a child goaded on by his grandfather. This is a new low that I’m finding hard to process.
I know that
@1goodtern
has said it best but I’m really feeling the weight of it today; this is all going to get much worse. Hold tight to your moments of joy or peace.
I felt panic when (somewhere in 2022) I first opened my eyes to how depraved, selfish and willfully ignorant most of society is. But after that, the words anxiety, fear, worry and panic all changed. Now, I simply prepare, protect and learn.
FIL just got in touch to say he has Covid (second time this year). He contacted Hamilton public health for access to rapid tests and they told him not to bother testing more than once. He can wear a mask in crowded places if he wishes. This is where we are.
If humanity somehow survives the mess we’ve made, we will look back in horror on those who pretended not to know and who refused to do something so simple as wear a mask.
@SocraticaKim
I suppose they are arguing that transmission from tick to human is uncertain…but if the past 4 years have taught me anything, it’s that the precautionary principle is a better practice.
I’ve already swallowed a lot of bitter pills in this pandemic but the idea that I’ve done (maybe) progressive damage to my brain from an infection I tried like 🤬 to avoid is too much right now.
I don’t know why I’m telling the Twitterverse this but, a tick that bit my daughter on Sunday tested positive for the Lyme disease-causing Borrelia. Why is everything getting worse instead of better?
When the outrage, horrors and moral injuries of this pandemic become too much, I remind myself of what I’m doing; protecting from repeated infections that degrade the health of my family and community. It’s a good and clear goal, come what may. Stay the course.
Welcome to Ontario healthcare, where your doctor won’t test your titres to see if you need a Measles booster and Public Health won’t give it to you even if you do. During an outbreak. Of Measles.
@LowlyWorm2022
My kids got sick from outdoor things twice in 2022. You are bang-on when you say it isn’t magic. We mask everywhere outside our bubble now.
If you’ve ever looked at Covid wastewater data in Ontario, you will know that they are not cancelling funding to this critical measure because Covid is receding. Please, please call the premier’s office and make your voice heard. 416-325-1941
@CDCDirector
You’ve used the following words: fight, respond, support, improve, work and protect. There is ONLY one person doing those things in that photo.
@1goodtern
She knows his history…that he tested positive for Covid for almost 2 years. We’ve upended our lives to protect them from future infections. And in the end, it’ll be “healthcare” that gets us every time.
Readimask dental hack; a 🧵. I have EDS and need intensive periodontal work every 3 mos. It is my 2nd highest risk activity in an otherwise very covid-safe lifestyle (1st = occasional work travel). Today was my 1st attempt using the Readimask over my nose for my appt.
@maosbot
Head straps do not stay in place for me…hair texture? Head shape? Not sure. I wear ear loops with a lanyard string attached and tightened at the back and jacked up on my ponytail. It’s the only system that gives me a good, ongoing seal.
I don’t care for too many people these days. You all understand this. But my 2 amazing, CC friends are both suffering the debilitating effects of infections that they did everything possible to avoid. One is in hospital, the other struggling to function day-to-day. I’m so angry.
Hi friends. This platform has decided to stop showing my posts for more than 20-30 views. I would love a little interaction to help correct this.
Here is a naughty, wet dog:
@sentientsparkle
Holy shit, the rash should have been an instant ‘yes’. Our trouble was, the kids had no symptoms even though we had lab results for Lyme in both the ticks.
You know all those gnawing, pent-up facts and that corrosive understanding of the pandemic you’ve been carrying around that nobody IRL gets? This two-part interview lays them out in a way folks can grasp. It’s a tiny bit less to carry.
Part 2:
@1goodtern
We are infested with ticks here in Southern Ontario and there is now a private lab doing testing. Theoretically, public health does testing too but, in my experience it is impossible to access and extremely slow.
@makeupartist524
If it wasn't for this community, I'd still be in the dark, letting my kids get infected again and again. I came here when I needed answers. As more people start feeling the effects of repeat infections, they will need folks like you. It helps.
@1goodtern
Refusing to mask for patients is an (unacceptable) outlet for anger and a desperate grasp at control in what is probably a very frustrating job. I don’t excuse it. It just means you are a nasty piece of work and should be in a different job.
@KennethBarrows3
@1goodtern
Well, we’ve certainly proven utterly useless at this one haven’t we? Learned nothing, improved nothing, protected no one and turned on each other.
@laurieallee
I had an asymptomatic infection last November (caught it by testing daily after a risky work event) but kept my family safe through rigorous masking. I’ll never forget eating my meals outside in the snow. But it makes me happy that I succeeded.
@haleyjo261
I happen to be in Ottawa for an art show and there are so many people already masking at this event. Around 95% this morning. Nice going Ottawa!
@DEC0L0NIZE
I’m at a large trade show this week and what breaks my brain are the parents wearing high-quality masks pushing their exposed newborns around the show in strollers… WTH?
@danaparish
Thank-you. I am incredibly glad I pushed as our 3-year-old has woken up today with pain in his arms and a rash spanning from hands to elbows. But it’s been almost a month since he was bitten. It seems a long time for a rash, no? We start the antibiotics today.
People think that, ultimately, someone will protect them. Whether it’s god or government, they think there is a safety net. That we might be scolded, rather than destroyed by our inaction against Covid and climate.
I’m solid in my mitigations, but these maskless public photos by learned, C’vid-aware advocates cause an erosion of confidence. With each, a little bit more of our shoreline is taken by the tide. You are causing harm with these photos. Why the burning need to post them?
@lucyveepee
I wish I could convince people who don’t believe in asymptomatic spread. I always mask and test when I return from work trips to protect my family and had zero symptoms (I mean, NOTHING) when I tested bold, bright positive in 2022.
@1goodtern
Ever tried the balloon trick? Not sure if it works with all types of air flow, but if you release an inflated balloon over our Corsi boxes, they float and spin and stay suspended in the airflow above the box!
@ElizaEmTM
It’s all really gotten me down this week. But when I go out with my mask, I remember that I become a symbol of support for some, a cue for angry denial for others, and always a reminder. I’m proud to be a reminder and it gives me strength.