Thanks, Liza & Llama. The x-ray part of the trip was the easiest part of the day. The staff in the hospital are good people & very friendly & efficient. There is very little fragrance & their hand sanitisers are fragrance-free.
I had a bad reaction on the way into town this morning as I called into our local chemist masked up with what I thought was a good mask for me. I was talking gibberish by the time I left the chemist & G had to drive today. I still haven't recovered from Saturday obviously & had better stay out of shops between now & the op.
I managed to get a haircut (it's just ok- my fringe is too straight) with a lovely young guy who has cut my hair before. He had to move some product away as my head was spinning. I asked him if he had been home to India since I saw him last & he told me about his last visit, which was for three months. We got chatting, as you do, & I told him about a young Indian friend who I keep in touch with who we got to know via R, our younger son who helped him when he first moved to Tasmania. He invited us to his wedding in India, which was sweet. We talked about kindness & I told him about my hearts & why I started making them. He then told me that he has had customers (older people) say that they did not want him cutting their hair. I said "Because of the colour of your skin?" & he sadly replied "Yes".
We had a deep talk about racism & how shameful it is & I told him about our granddaughter's lovely BF, who is North African & very dark-skinned with a big Afro haircut that covers half of his face & we think he's lovely. We discussed ignorance & that people who don't give others a chance to show their humanity, just because of the colour of their skin, should be pitied.
When we got to the counter I got my bag of hearts out & said "Pick one, Ben." One of the young women came up & said "Is this for a girlfriend?" & I said, "No, it's for Ben" & shooed her away, cheekily. He chose the one I would have picked for him. It has an Indigenous pattern on one side. I need to make more of these. Men need them just as much as anyone. Young men who experience racism especially.
I won't go back & re-read this as I'll only delete half of it & I don't think I have the energy anyway. I will ring my sister tomorrow & ask if she can send me a few different masks to try before I'm in the hospital. I tried two different ones today, which didn't work. We did some supermarket shopping on the way home as well! G will be doing the chemist's shopping for me from now on. He usually does & I must make sure I don't start thinking that it's ok if I do.
