COVID-19 and Transplant Patients

joyces, I understand where you are coming from with your concerns! I've been in the Sporting Goods Industry for over 30 years! As you said it was a time to reaquaint with others you have known and worked with for many years. But in my side of the Industry, golf, we have seen changes. It's becoming harder and harder for the small Mom & Pop Stores to make it!
But back to your comment on the day of hugging shaking hands and so on will be back! Old Saying "Leopards Don't Change their Spots!" We humans have a very short memory and span of attention! I think in a year or two this will all be forgotten!
Just my Opinion!
Richard

Response to Richard, who's in the golf industry: Sadly, for several years, since "Me Too," there's been almost no hugging at tackle shows. I'm 77, and women who struggled and fought to do "men's" jobs during the 60s and 70s had to be tough. When (and it wasn't "if" but "when") we were approached by a boss or supervisor or someone else with authority over our jobs, we simply told them we weren't interested. I don't know of anyone who was disciplined as a result of turning down a swell invite for dinner. So, having opened doors and made many new things possible for women, we're a bit disappointed that today, instead of simply refusing these great offers, they feel they must accept them...and then pursue revenge via a lawsuit. We lived in an environment where we got compliments like, "You've done a helluva job of selling advertising...in spite of the fact you're a woman." This from a boss who simply expected me to load my pickup with cases of books and magazines, drive several hours to the next show, set up the booth, work four 12-hour days plus an 8-hour day Sunday before packing up what hadn't sold and starting the drive home. I was a single mother during those years, and he never, ever asked what I did to ensure that my children were properly cared for while I was off having "fun" at the shows. (He didn't like to go out and meet people.) It's sad not only that young women aren't benefitting from the ground-breaking we did for them, but that they've now gone a long ways toward making everyone less open and friendly.

I'm extremely fortunate to live near a very small resort town on the Oregon coast...lucky because people here are generally friendly and extremely generous, and because the three western states all have governors who acted early, prevented some of the horrors that have happened where people didn't act as quickly. As a result, all three western states (which also have far fewer residents per square mile than many states) are doing reasonably well, have sent respirators and health care workers to NYC. Fortunate, too, in that we have lots of open space and zero infection within 40 miles of our town. None of us are forced to stay in our homes but are free to walk the beaches (as long as we can prove we live here) and rural roads. All the people who walk along our road (we're the only house on this mile of road except for one other and four just off the main road) are friendly, wave or stop to visit. When we first moved here full-time (after over 50 years of long weekends here most weeks), I didn't like the long lines at the stores caused by the checker and the customer exchanging news about their kids, grandkids, etc., but I soon understood that's one of the advantages of living here.

However, this crisis is bringing out the worst in a small minority. There's a long-standing dislike for VRDs (vacation rental dwellings), which make up a quarter of our community. In many cases, people buy a small cabin, raze it, and replace it with a 4BR VRD that they consider an investment, not their second or future home. The mgmt. companies encourage packing as many beds in each room as possible, and most VRDs have additional cots in closets; a 4BR house is often rented for several hundred/night and advertised as "sleeping 16." This leads to too many vehicles for the parking when there's often no parking along our narrow streets, loud parties late at night, overflowing garbage after a single weekend--and complaints. It's now illegal to rent any place on a nightly basis, so many of these owners have decided to spend part of their "stay at home" time in the rentals they can't rent...and bring germs from the metro area. This has led to some ugliness, but there are some efforts being made to stop that.

joyces, You're preaching to the choir! I was taught many years ago in retailing about "Me#TO" stuff, aka SEXUAL HARRASMENT!
Many of the people in Management may have beenn good salespeople, but Lousy people mangers.
Nothing upsets me more than going to a trade show and seeing the very young women that are hired to stand in booths to attract "MEN!" Many of us who have been around for many years call Trade Shows "Testoserone Gatherings!"
I'm kind of the "God Father" of the industry reps in my area. We have two trade shows locally each year! Very small, 16 -20 reps in rooms. I always try and accomodate any of the out of town ladies with Security concerns!
It still surprises me how people have not learned about how you treat women!
As I said before "Lepords don't change their Spots!"
Richard

Because so many tackle companies are just a couple, perhaps one or two employees, even back during the 70s there were a few wives at the trade shows. One year, 1980 or '81, one of the bait companies had a two-story booth and rather scantily-clad young ladies offering to help write orders. Rumor was that those who ordered a lot could retire to one of the upstairs rooms with a lady. The "ladies" only lasted one day before multiple complaints ended the bait company's program.

I also remember a national show for the trade in Las Vegas. I was good friends with a fellow, same last name but no relation, who sold advertising for an east coast magazine, while I sold ads for west coast magazines. The first day of the show, I said that I had been surprised to be offered a list of, ahem, entertainments by the bellhop while the elevator was taking us up to my floor, that I had cut him off as soon as he began to list various combos of people. My counterpart was disappointed to hear that I had cut the fellow's list short, because he was still wondering how some of the combos would work. <g> That kind of behavior, however, was totally apart from the show itself. Personally, I thought the saddest thing to view was little old ladies in wheelchairs with oxygen tanks pulling the levers of the one-armed bandits adjacent the hotel restaurant (it was just after the first of the month).

I need to be careful, too, about saying "old" as I just delivered some of the bread I picked up yesterday (almost 500 loaves) for folks here who can use it. I realized, while delivering to a residence for those over 55, that lots of the ladies there are probably younger than I am, even though they appear to be older, much older in some cases. I'm glad that I can still hustle hundreds of loaves of bread off stacks of trays, into totes, and the totes into the van we use...every week. The trip involves 220 miles, a minimum of four hours driving plus at least an hour, sometimes more, to load. Then, the next day, I pack most of the bread into freezers and deliver some around town. It's nice to be able to help those who really need a hand up, even though some will always have a hand out, can't be helped to a better way of living. The main program I volunteer for is Backpack for Kids, which during ordinary times provides food for school kids who have no permanent address, i.e., are essentially homeless. This week, we had far more than we needed as the school dist. is providing packaged meals via bus routes, so we donated almost 200 loaves to the Food Share program for the county, 40 miles south, as they had no bread whatsoever. These are crazy times, with almost no ability for any of us to plan anything, but we're making do.

Joyce, That is so not that you are able to do the volunteer work. Up until I came down with Lyme I volunteered at a Seior food pantry! I always enjoyed taking the meals out to the assisted living locations. An like you said probably many were younger than myself!
As for the Trade Shows we had the same setups. Many of the Top Name Golf company had the same two story booths.
One of mu main cap companies, has our yearly sales meeting in Vegas! As you said, I can't stand walking through the gaming area seeing the little "Old People" with Oxygen pulling handles! One step worse is then seeing them unhook the oxygen and smoke a cigarette.
But I don't have to go to Vegas we have multiple Indian Casinos here in NM that are my customers! Most time I have to walk through the area to get to the main office!
Very Sad!
Richard

Hi @sundance6 and @joyces, I'm afraid this discussion has veered far away from the original topic of COVID-19 and how transplant recipients are affected. Might I entice to either start a new discussion with a relevant title or jump over to one of these:
– A New Kind of Grief in These Times https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/a-new-kind-of-grief-in-these-times/
– New Habits from COVID-19 and the New Normal https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/new-habits-ive-learned-from-covid-19/
- How to survive COVID-19 with other health conditions? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/how-to-survive-covid-19/

WILL DO! THANKS! RB

@rosemary, Working toward 40 days of self-quarantine, I've not been tempted by handshakes...vbg...kitty Precious doesn't count, yes? Going forward, the instinctive reaction will be to shake hands and sometimes hug. Some habits are harder to break than others, right?

After 2 weeks of stay-in-place by our gov, he is reopening state parks 4/18th; all dept. stores with "retail to go" 4/24th and "eases restrictions on surgeries starting April 22. The goal of this order is to allow doctors to diagnose patients without an exception".

We are one of the worse states for testing/capita. Scares me to pieces that Texans will be stampeding back out and about!

Hi, to all of me dear fellow transplant patients. Yes, "dear" because each of you is very close to my heart and in my thoughts. We have entered a journey that we never expected due the the coronavirus pandemic. As a mentor, I sincerely want to thank you for the powerful messages of support that you are sharing with other transplant patients on Mayo Connect. You are an inspiration. You are strength. You are hope.. .I would love to hear from you! How are you getting along?

As for myself, I am reading that some areas are in discussions about reopening and easing some restrictions. That brings fear to me and I am guessing to a lot of you too. So here is a bit of promising information that I would like to share in a video Q&A.
Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious diseases expert and director of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group, answers questions about the two tests, who should take them, and how they will help scientists and researchers better understand this virus.