I knew you'd cave. Good for you...and him. Get the virus killing kleenex,
have him put his own dishes in the dishwasher, wash your hands a lot and
feel secure in the knowledge that you've done the right thing. Oh, a string
of garlic hanging off his doorknob wouldn't hurt, either.

Kelly C.;o)

what a sweet ol' softie you are!  no wonder he loves you.

if you don't have purell handy, use alcohol or alcohol wipes on things like
door knobs, drawer pulls, frig door handle . . . discretely.LOL  and don't
barehandedly touch your face, no matter how much it might itch or tickle.
use a kleenex to do that.

kelly's garlic is a nice touch.  a garland of it around your neck might help
you avoid a smooch or two and i bet he won't come close enough to breathe on
you.<giggling and just teasing with all of this>

you're gonna be ok, sweetie.  i'm glad you caved.

kate

good...just wash your hands alot...and spray him down with Lysol, LOL!
Stand in the doorway and throw bottle water and food to him....keep
your distance, hehe.

I'm sure you will be fine.
Janet R

now I KNOW you love him...........

you are a good hearted woman, as we already knew.

No kissing!

DeeTee
________________________________
DeeTee and Bob Taggart
http://www.marykay.com/dtaggart3
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8fwov/
________________________________

uh oh. . .nann's right!  i'll send him home now. :-)

diane

I keep pump-sized bottles of hand sanitizer around the house and make sure
to use them.  And George is now trained to cough into his elbow/forearm
instead of his hand.  If I can get _him_ to start using the hand sanitizer
more consistantly, it'll be even better.  We also use antibacterial soap
and he loads the dishwasher when he's sick (I don't touch the dirty dishes).
I _unload_ the dishwasher, so he doesn't touch the _clean_ dishes if he's
sick.  And we sleep in a king-size bed with four cats, so it's easy enough
to not sleep right in each other's faces if he's got a cold. ;}  The cats
will ensure that if nothing else.  They get between us and slowly shove
both of us off the bed.

Out in public, I don't shake hands.  My hands are too mauled for that
anyway, and it's the fastest way to spread germs.  Despite the fact that
I have contact with quite a lot of people and colds spread like wildfire
through the local dancing community, I've mostly manage to avoid catching
the various nasties that have come through this year.  I _did_ skip doing
Dickens Fair entirely this year, even as a visitor, which probably saved
me at least one cold.  Just about every performer there ended up with the
horrible creeping crud that lasted 2-3 weeks.  I also managed to avoid
catching whatever my parents and brother caught over christmas, but they
were very careful to try and not pass it to me as well.  I carry a little
bottle of hand sanitzer in my bag with me, but I confess I haven't been
very good about using it consistantly.  I've mostly been lucky this year.

However, after all that, I've finally caught the evil cold that George
brought home last week.  Took me a week to finally come down with it,
and that with close contact.  After all, we do still sleep in the same
bed, even if the cats try and wedge in between us.  I can't sleep turned
away from him all night, since my bad shoulder won't let me.  So unless
one of us decamps into the spare bedroom, it's still a risk.

Compared to what was happening when I was on Enbrel, or worse when I
was on MTX/Arava/Azulfidine, the Humira actually doesn't seem to make
me terribly susceptible to respiratory infections.  When I was on Enbrel,
I could count on getting a serious ear infection within 24 hours of coming
down with a cold.  Right now, one ear is a little stopped up, but not
painfully and it's occasionally popping so it's not totally blocked.  And
other than the one evil abcess that I had to have lanced (that may have
started when I was still on Enbrel), I haven't had any real skin infection
problems either.  Though _that_ could be because I'm more paranoid about
tending tiny cuts and scratches now...

Who knows, by Monday I may be running to the doctor for antibiotics too...
I'm still on prednisone and Singulair, a leukotrine inhibitor that sometimes
increases the risk of ear infections.  The combination of Singulair and
Enbrel landed me in the emergency clinic early one Saturday morning with
two bloody eardrums.  I'd had stopped up ears on Friday afternoon, which
became an earache by that evening, then the type of pain that 2 Percocet
just barely dulled by about 2am.  I'd never had an ear infection develop
that fast before.  After that, I just knew to run and get antibiotics
the moment my ears started blocking up.  The Humira doesn't seem to be
nearly as horrible in that regard.

I use paper towels here. Much safer for me.

And toothbrush holders! I keep mine well away from the sink in a
container on its own. People washing their hands aren't always aware of
how far they fling water. The toothbrush holder should be cleaned
periodically, and toothbrushes replaced monthly.

For people who are neutropenic, avoid powered toothbrushes and use
listerine for 30 seconds as a substitute for daily flossing (though some
flossing is usually inevitable, daily flossing increases the risk of
oral lesions and recent studies have showed that daily listerine rinsing
can be just as effective).

You're better than I am, I'd probably surprise him by saying "there's a
blizzard coming, snow and ice on the roads, I love ya, but you're staying
put".lol

Kelly C.;o)

But I'm a good grandma.  Sort of.

My left hand has been seriously hurting and everything else aches.  The
weather sucks.  Not near as cold as elsewhere, but the fog just won't go
away.  So last night, once everyone was accounted for I got my jammies on
and crawled into bed.  Fortunately it was so early I didn't take my sleeping
pill.  That was about eight.

At eleven Charlie wakes me up with "you have to get dressed and go get
Steven now".  He couldn't go as he had been enjoying a much deserved evening
with HBO and several beers.  Seems Steven's ride didn't really get his
drivers license (or insurance and registration for his car) and they needed
adults to collect each of his passengers.

Fog so thick you had to use windshield wipers, head pretty thick too as I'd
been sound asleep, kid pretty thick as he couldn't see what the big deal
was, or why he shouldn't go back out with the unarrested passengers.  UGH.

And he has the nerve to wake me up this morning to ask if I'd cashed his
paycheck yet, that he only gave me before I went to bed last night.

How old do they have to me before its just murder and not child abuse?
(He's fifteen)

Jo

I'm even willing to call you wise.  I had to make two round trips between our
house and the church today over a period of almost 4 hours.  Never could see
my footprints from the previous trip.  Actually, the snow waxed and waned,
but the wind was blowing it everywhere.  Mighty glad I didn't have to drive
anywhere.  (the church is 2 blocks from the house so we walk unless we have
heavy stuff to carry.)  I might have driven out to get Mike, but he sure as
hell would have driven back home!

I know exactly what you mean. I've been in situations where I needed to
go to the ER, but instead waited for the following day to see one of my
doctors because the risk of infection in the ER, especially waiting
around to be seen with people coughing and sneezing etc, is just too great.

Ari

diane w, sorry to hear about your mom's stroke. you must have felt
crummy having her in the er and being unable to go with her.  keep us
posted on how she's doing.

the update on john is that he's really been sick. he's in the guest
room and has only gotten out of bed to use the bathroom. . . a  lot.
his symptoms are fever of 101.5 if he doesn't take tylenol; 99.4 if he
does. body aches. no congestion and no coughing, but cramping and
bloating (which might be from the biaxin?) i was ready to take him to
the er last night in the snow, but he refused, of course, and maybe
wisely. he's a bit better today but just wiped out.
my hands have never been so clean.

diane