No More Preventable Infections

No more preventable infections. We’ve had enough and deserve better.

Today is the International ME/CFS Awareness Day. I am one of the #MillionsMissing, and this year I hope we can gain more active allies and call attention to this year’s SOS:

• Save our Support Systems:
  • Millions of us rely on disability and public health support systems, or like me, are waiting for approval to access to have that aid.
• Save our Society
  • Millions of us know that when catastrophes happen, many disabled people often can’t get aid, or are forgotten about.
  • We are “canaries in the coal mine,” more sensitive or vulnerable to many threats which could grow to impact abled people, unless actions are taken.
  • Society would be greatly benefited by heeding our warnings because access helps everyone.
• Save our Science
  • This one is the hardest for me emotionally:
  • The strongest likelihood I have for improvement is from scientific research, clinical trials, and FDA approvals.
  • I’ve tenaciously fought the last few years to get any stability, understanding, and quality of life, but I am close to having exhausted my options. I know so many people who have done everything they can, and are waiting on scientific research to let them leave their homes, let alone beds.
  • When we threaten science, we threaten the tiny bit of hope I (we) have for in our lifetime, effective treatments, let alone *whispers* a cure.
  • I am brave but this hope is fragile. I think of those who got sick before me, and have been sick for decades & their hope. I think of sick people in smaller countries who are watching US research and their hope. I think about those of us whose hopes (deeply understandably) weren’t enough to help them.

Please try to advocate how you are able, especially folks in countries with tyrannical governments who are once again flirting with eugenics. We can learn from history, and we can build better societies.

Anyways, on to the bookmark: Having ME/CFS is so horrible, it often defies words. I think that is a large part of why I have stuck with this project (on top of the meaningful social interactions).

ME/CFS is a post-acute infection syndrome, meaning the only way to not get it is to not be infected. Vaccination helps for those who are able, but even being fully vaccinated and boosted (hi) you can still get sick. I have post-acute infection information in many formats on the blog’s about page.

I want precious few things more than for no one else to get sick with post-acute infection conditions including ME/CFS. It is crushing to see that the knowledge which would help others not fall potentially permanently ill are being silenced and dismissed. But I still have hope for us to learn, be the tool-using species we are, and protect our precious lives. That’s the theme of this bookmark. Blocking the door with hope.

I have to go nap now before my symptoms (right now: skin reaction, muscle aches, and poor bloodflow) multiply and get worse just from drawing this and writing this. That’s my ME/CFS.