So it came to pass like this. My Aunt and Uncle both died recently, and a memorial service for both of them was held at the same time. However, before the service was to take place, our Country was also hit with the Covid-19/Coronavirus pandemic. I have severe rheumatoid arthritis, which is an autoimmune disease. The high doses of
prednisone that I have been on for so long are not only an anti-inflammatory medication, but also an immune system
suppressant. I have also taken other immune suppressing medications very recently. The two rounds of biological
medication infusions and two rounds of chemotherapy that I completed last spring are also immune system
suppressants. So basically, these things taken as a whole put me in the category of the “at higher risk” population, so I am choosing not to take any chances. Therefore, it was most certainly not out of a lack of respect, but out of an abundance of caution due to this crazy Covid 19 pandemic that we find ourselves faced with that I made the difficult personal choice not to attend the memorial service.

Now this may seem a bit of an over reaction to some, but I really don’t want to tempt fate. I’ve been on the front lines of three pandemics before, and came through unscathed. In the early years of
the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the 80’s, scientists were just beginning to study the disease. In the fire department we
used no medical protective equipment whatsoever. We didn’t even have any. So, we’d go on our medical calls, car wrecks, etc. with no gloves or eyewear, nothing. We’d often have blood up to our elbows, all over or faces, in our eyes and mouths, everywhere. And I didn’t get that terrible disease.

I was also a first responder to both SARS and H5N1 bird flu cases on inbound flights to PDX in the 2000’s. We went in in full protective equipment, offloaded the passengers on the tarmac into buses for transportation to quarantine, removed the infected patients and loaded them into special ambulances for transportation to treatment, then went through full decontamination procedures when the work was done. So I’m particularly sensitive to pandemic
issues, especially as someone who is now immune suppressed. Also, several of my coworkers contracted different strains of hepatitis, as well as MRSA and even HIV/AIDS through exposure in the fire department. I feel blessed that I came through all of those 27 years in the
fire department, mostly in the top ten busiest companies, and the busiest Battalion Chief, disease free. I don’t want to get taken out now.

So I began