By Kris McFalls
Families dealing with a chronic disease live with a lot of medical paraphernalia. Between treatments, however, many of those same families long to appear, “normal.” They don’t want the look of a sterile medical environment; they simply want their home to be sterile. There are, however, some clues that you are about to enter the home of a primary immune deficient (PIDD) patient.
You might be entering a PIDD home if:
Instead of a doorbell, there is a Purell® dispenser in its place.
You are greeted at the door with an ear thermometer and asked to open your mouth and say ahhh!
Your coat is hung on an IV pole instead of a coat rack.
All household odors, good and bad, are masked by the unmistakable scent of Lysol®.
You find the kids playing doctor with a real blood pressure cuff and stethoscope.
You reach into the fridge for a soda and accidentally grab a bottle with the word “human” on the label.
Just put it down gently and grab a glass of water instead.
You find out the little round disks you thought were Tiddlywinks really came from those bottles with the word “human” on the labels.
The bathroom reading material consists of a copy of IG Living instead of People magazine.
Instead of pictures on the fridge, you find a letter from an insurance company with a big red smiley face and the words “preauthorization approved” highlighted.
Instead of a medicine cabinet, they have a medicine closet.
You find a bottle in the bathroom that is labeled sinus rinse where the cup dispenser used to be. Good rule of thumb, don’t drink out of it.
They have a green garbage can marked trash, a blue can marked recycle and a red one marked biohazard.
Many families feel normal is a state of mind. PIDD families are no different. So tell us, what is normal for you? How do you keep your family safe without scaring friends and relatives away?