Special Edition: My Lung Transplant Journey, October 22, 2014 - It's You, Not Me - The Mask!

Well, it's not really YOU personally. It's y'all collectively and those tiny buggers lurking in our environment waiting to strike at any time causing cough, cold, or flu. Oh my!

Germs!!!

Let's face it, we live in a not so sterile world and as a recent organ receipient, I need to take extra precautions while out and about in public by sporting the latest fashion accessory - the mask!

I don't really mind wearing the mask per se because I can breathe through it easily, it protects my new lungs, and I can make faces at the people who are eyeballing me oddly without them knowing it! However, there are a few things I don't like about wearing it:

- The mask fogs up my glasses making it difficult to see especially outdoors.
- The standard "procedure" masks are not that attractive. (But a little browsing on Etsy turned up some super cute masks to remedy this problem)

- Most of all, I simply do not like people staring at me and, as of late, steering clear of me!

I'm sure most people are just curious about the mysterious woman behind the mask, or perhaps they are just scared especially with the Ebola hullabaloo in the news right now. I do wonder what some people might be thinking as they gawk or walk away. The number one thought is most likely "Does she have some highly contagious disease that I might catch?" If so, "Why is she out and about at church, a restaurant, the mall or other public venue? or "Why is she putting my health at risk? She should stay home!"

I would like to speculate that some of the curiosity seekers are thinking, "Wow, she must have had an organ transplant!" I'm cool with that. Others might have their own take on the mask like a young boy of about 3 years old we encountered at a local nature center last week. "Hey, there's the doctor!" he exclaimed when he saw me. I think his mom was mortified by his innocent remark, but I was not. Under my mask, I just laughed and smiled!