Aug 28, 2021 12:34AM jhl wrote:

Mae,

You can obtain an exemption from the Texas Department of State Health Services:

https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/immunize/docs/faq_exe...

You can certainly do any banking or government business if you call ahead & arrange for an appointment. This is just like a parent who has a child with measles or chicken pox. You must arrange for an appointment & be admitted through a limited access area. Personally, in the past 15 months, I have had to deal with selling a home I did not own, process securities for sale in which I was only a beneficiary and work through other financial hurdles. None of these required me to go into a bank or other brick and mortar facility. Everything was accommodated online.

I appreciate you masking when you need to interact with the public. You are an outlier with regard to a vaccine but each has their own reasons.

Stay well,

Jane

Aug 28, 2021 01:45AM - edited Aug 28, 2021 01:47AM by dutchiris

JO, I don't think anything was wrong with your thread. I do think someone probably complained. I can't say I've ever heard of a thread being shut down for having enough information already. That could apply to many long running threads.

If you are vaccinated or not, please wear a mask. Whenever someone "gives me permission" to wear a mask, I want to respond by saying you're welcome as the mask does more for others than for me.

I am not sure why someone would turn to a Podcaster, politician, eye doctor/surgeon, internal medicine doctor, etc. for medical advice outside their field. If I wanted a second opinion regarding my cancer would I consult a podiatrist? I have stage 4 cancer and had an internal medicine doctor ask me when treatment will be done.

If I offend maybe I can be sent to a special room, banned, or blocked.

Aug 28, 2021 07:01AM melbo wrote:

my biggest source of anger about those who aren’t getting the vaccine out of personal preference is that their choice doesn’t just affect them, it affects them, their families, anyone who comes into contact with them, and ultimately the general public and all of society. I have zero anger toward the people who can’t get the vaccine for health reasons, but I am angry on their behalf.

To get the vaccine or not is not like the choice for breast cancer patients to take an AI or get chemo. For cancer patients, you can look at your specific situation, get advice from an oncologist or two and find out the standard of care and various options and risks, and then make the decision that will only affect you and the people you are close to.

With the vaccine, misinformation is spreading rampantly and distrust is extremely high, but the decisions to get vaccinated has life and death implications that affect you, your family, and literally everyone you come into contact with, regardless of whether you wear a mask or not. (Masks help, everyone should wear them — but they were never expected to completely protect everyone all of the time.) And of course, beyond the actual life and death risks an unvaccinated person is taking at this point with the delta variant, they are also helping this pandemic continue, giving covid more opportunities to mutate yet again, and prolonging all of the various mitigation efforts that stress us all out and make us angry.

For those of us on this forum, I have an even harder time understanding hesitation. If you’re here, you were most likely diagnosed with cancer and understand the sheer fear that diagnosis causes. And then you almost certainly got treated — almost certainly with surgery, and a high likelihood of either chemo, radiation, or an AI — or all of the above. Chemo is literal poison — but when faced with the prospect of chemo, most of us look at our risks and decide the poison will do. The vaccine has some side effects, sure, and some things are unknown about it — but at this point it has been tested millions of times on millions of people and has proven to be a safe, effective way to save lives. And unlike the choice to have chemo or take an AI, the decision to vaccine or not affects everyone.

This is why I’m angry.

Aug 28, 2021 09:44AM - edited Aug 28, 2021 09:45AM by m_and_g

The vaccine passport is useless for restaurants and concerts. You can purchase one at the local flea market for 25 bucks. So, do not think vaccination passport mandates locally are going to prevent unvaccinated people from attending these venues.

Aug 28, 2021 10:18AM alicebastable wrote:

Tinkerbell107, My husband and I ate out three times when things seemed relatively safer after our vaccines. One was just a Denny's 😐 for a late breakfast after a test I'd had to starve for. We picked it for convenience and because it's one that has scattered seating in the best of times. They were really spreading patrons out in different sections this time. Another place is almost all booths, and they had put plexiglass extensions up to the ceiling between each. The third has always had their seating far apart, so we took a chance because it's one place we missed. But that was it, we're still doing carry-out when I don't want to cook or picnics on weekends. Luckily, we're year-round picnickers unless it's actually snowing. I saw a lot of places last winter that did tented patios, but I don't see how that would be any safer than going indoors.

My husband's large family is having their annual gathering Labor Day weekend. It was cancelled for the first time in decades last year. As far as I know, all adults are vaccinated, but some of them, based on their FB posts, have been socializing quite a bit, plus there are a lot of school-age children. Luckily, it's always been an outdoor event, so I guess I'll claim a spot with some others who don't have minor children or grandchildren and have a mask handy. My life-long RBF comes in handy for keeping children and social butterflies at bay.