back in 2015, when i was going through chemotherapy to combat triple-negative breast cancer, there were times when i had to wear a mask.
neutrophils — the white blood cells that do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to fighting off infections in our body — are in the normal range between 1.5 to 8.0 neutrophils/mcl. mine would start off below normal at 0.8 prior to my chemo sessions that recurred every three weeks, and drop down to 0.1 or 0.0.
that meant i had no immune system at all to fight off infections. a common cold could have killed me. when i entered the hospital i would don a mask. when i had to fly to rome for a family funeral, i wore masks the entire flight, changing them every hour or so. ( i also would completely disinfect my entire seat area , and disinfect my hands any time i touched anything outside of my seat area.) while i was hospitalized twice because of infections at my surgery site, i never once caught a cold or other airborne illness during that entire time.
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on monday, calgary council voted in favour of extending calgary’s mask bylaw until at least july 5 — which muddies the waters in terms of providing clarity to citizens. seven members on council voted to extend the indoor mandatory mask mandate for a bit longer than is required by the province.
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hinshaw certainly didn’t sound upset about it tuesday, and she had some sound advice about moving into this new stage.
last friday, when kenney announced that alberta would be open for summer starting on july 1, after more than 70 per cent of the population had received at least one vaccination against covid, i spoke with small business owner and hairstylist rolanda anderson of salon true on 17th avenue about her plans with regards to masking.
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it’s going to take a long time before wearing a mask will look unusual again. that’s not necessarily a bad thing for those who must wear them. a little grace and flexibility all around for those who don’t and do is the best way forward.