• 6 Feet Apart? Or not?

    Posted by jenny-livingston on July 1, 2021 at 6:20 pm

    Most of us here (at least those of us who chat here regularly) are old enough that we remember a time before cross-infection prevention guidelines and the 6-foot rule. I went to CF camp, carpooled to clinic with another CF family, had wheelchair races and Tae Bo parties with CF friends when we were hospitalized, and grew up in a home with sisters who have CF as well.

    When cross-infection prevention guidelines and the 6-foot rule came into existence, we made some changes. Even my sister and I, as we got older and began to culture different bacteria, chose to be very careful in our interactions. I’ve occasionally met up with CF friends, masked and/or 6 feet apart, but have been quite diligent in keeping my CF specific “bugs” from others (and vice versa).

    Last weekend, my sister came to town and we hugged: something we’ve rarely done in the last decade or so. Because Trikafta has changed both the kind and amount of bacteria growth for each of us (she’s had consistently clean cultures for a year), and maybe also because we’ve experienced such a hard year (thanks, COVID) we mutually decided to accept the risk involved with physical embrace.

    As I was thinking about these guidelines and contemplating the choices my sister and I might make regarding this in the future, I came across a Facebook post that discussed “breaking the rules.” The comments ranged from I absolutely never break the rules to absolutely no *bleeps* given. Where do you fall?

    How closely do you follow cross-infection prevention protocol? Are you an avid 6-feet-apart person, or do you choose to be more flexible? If you are a parent to children with CF, how important are these guidelines to you? I’d love to know your thoughts on this. 

     

    paul-met-debbie replied 2 years, 8 months ago 1 Member · 1 Reply
  • 1 Reply
  • paul-met-debbie

    Member
    July 5, 2021 at 10:27 am

    I have been brought up by parents who lost a child with cf, because of measles (and pneumonia). They were of course very keen and strict about preventing infection for me, being born later.

    So I was natural with 6 feet apart even before it existed. It is buried deep into my conditioning and I don’t mind. It suited me very well my whole life and I prevented a lot of infections with it. Common cold, the flu, and now covid. I am sure my persistence of not wanting to be in a hospital these days without a proper N95 mask results from my parents not believing the medical system in the years before segregation, telling them that children with cf could mingle and go on camp together without risk of cross infection.

    Science has been wrong about almost everything so far, only to present an “improved” theory later and telling everyone that finally, they got it right this time. This is of course the way of scientific progress, but it also means that we can be sure that the current model of reality that science provides us with, no matter on which subject, will be proven wrong in the future. I like to anticipate on that and follow my own intuition.

    Having said this, official rules can only provide a framework and are too coarse to measure reality. I perfectly understand your decision to hug your sister. We should never allow rules to impede too much on our pure intuition and spontaneity. Life is too subtle for that, and too beautiful.

     

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