I gave a tour of our church to about 100 third graders the other day (it’s an historic building, and the kis were a HOOT!). I brought my dog with me because he’s great with kids and they flock around him like a rock star. Who doesn’t love a classic tri-color beagle?
As I suspected, Maxfield was a huge hit with the squirts, who surrounded him and lavished all manner of love on him in the form of ear fondling, head petting and tummy tubs. Later that night as I was kissing and cuddling him I suddenly realized that I was basically kissing every form of germ known to man and God. Do you even want to THINK about how much bacterial and viral mess was coming off the hands of one hundred third graders?
The next day of ministry involved hospital visits. I don’t know any minister who wears gloves while holding the hand of someone who’s sick, and I don’t know any minister who would stop to put on gloves or a mask while being coughed or vomited on. [CORRECTION!!! This is NOT Best Practice! Please read Chaplain E’s admonition against not protecting ourselves and patients here. – PB] We hold hands, we smooth brows, we hold straws to parched lips, we stay close. The sharing of germs is the inevitable result. Sometimes the usual application of hand sanitizer is just not adequate to the risks of a hospital visit, and I believe we owe it to ourselves and our larger communities of ministry to take precautions against infection and illness.
Here is what my colleague Rali recommended the other night:
1. As soon as possible, take a long, hot shower.
2. Drink lots of water and get to bed early.
3. It couldn’t hurt to take Emergen-C, or any other immunity-enhancing formulas on the market (Airborne is another one I like).
4. Start a dose of oscillococcinum, a homeopathic remedy for flu and stuff. Take for 24 hours (it comes in packs of 6 doses. Take all 6 within 24 hours).
What’s your favorite stay-well tip? And short of bathing my dog, what’s the best way to spit-shine him after a visit with cute, germy human beings?
Get a flu shot. The extra strength one if you are over 65.
Yea. Too late. I think I’m already sick. I got a pneumonia shot but not a flu shot yet. Tomorrow I hie my tushie to the clinic.
Yogi Tea Cold Season Tea is my favorite nostrum. Along with the unpronounceable Duck Liver thing and Emergen-C. I keep a supply of what I lovingly call my Quack Remedies in my overnight bag. To move out of the realm of homeopathy into the mean world of commercial drugs, Day-Quil has also gotten me through many a day when I just wanted to be home with the cats watching old Alec Guinness movies. But I consider it a last resort.
Surely your dog has worst germs than the kids? As long as you wash your hands before eating you should be okay, methinks… 🙂
From the files of Preggo Pastor: in my third trimester I had a parishioner in the hospital with Shingles. She was also dying. Shingles and chicken pox are REALLY BAD NEWS for mama and fetus. After calling my OB, I went to say goodbye and offer a final blessing, but only if I suited up in full gear.
I know this is a really outlier of a case, and yes, mostly the gloves and stuff are there to protect patients. But occasionally it is there to help us, too. I would not have missed that visit for anything. (Boy, did I freak out the nurses on staff, though!)
I’d be more concerned about what the kids might carry than the dog’s germs. There are more viruses people can catch from other people than a healthy dog. (Some of the notable but rare exceptions require biting or contact with saliva OR are also carried by rats.)
The vector of virus epidemics in office environments normally involves handing papers to
people, sharing keyboards or telephones, etc. A lot of the colds brought to work are by parents whose children happen to catch a virus to which the parents are not immune.
Soap or shampoo and water actually kills lots of germs, so I think the dog would need to be washed to get rid of the kid germs. [Yep. Thanks for the reminder. I was never worried about my dog’s germs but in what I was “ingesting” by kissing him after his having been stroked by all those dirty little hands. – PB]
Just a word of caution for those about immune system enhancing remedies. For those people whose immune system in compromised already, ie. Chronic Fatigue System, MS, Fibromyalgia etc. all can be aggravated by immune system boosters… as our immune systems are already working over time and against us.
Blessings, Catherine