FWIW: if able, ALWAYS bring someone with you to the hospital and doctor appointments. Someone willing and able to fight them. Ideally, HCW will do their goddamn jobs and all your person will have to do is keep your spirits up and maybe play PokémonGo on their phones.
But they have to be aired and braced for battle.
I taught my kids, before every interaction w HCW: Take time before going in to armor up, get all your symptoms in a bullet point list, have an answer for what you want them to do about it, and have an answer for no I will not remove my mask.
“I’m dehydrated from vomiting for X hours. Z is the cause, my GP has it in my records. I need zofran and fluids. No, I won’t pull down my mask, I’m already sick. I don’t need to make it worse.”
And you can 100% tell them you will not remove your mask for any reason. They have no legitimate need to see inside your mouth. No is a complete sentence.
I’ve had nurses get really pissy with me when I refused to drop my mask for a thermometer. I told them you can take it in my armpit or get one of the forehead kind, but I’m not risking my life so you can take a temperature, esp when I’m not here because of a fever.
I’ve also had them try to remove my mask after they gave me ketamine (to try to stop esophageal spasms) and I was already short of breath. I told them no, but my partner had to stand up and forcefully tell them they would NOT remove my mask. My O2 was fine, 97%, and my struggle had nothing to do with my mask. He is a large intimidating man, thank fuck, because they backed down. Obviously, had my sats dropped, I would have.
He has learned the hard way that HCW may have a job where they theoretically are supposed to help us, but that doesn’t mean they will.
Idc. They can get as pissy as they want. We have the right to protect ourselves, according to the courts who declared asking HCW to mask is an ADA issue.
That’s why it’s so important to have someone with you who will fight them, if at all possible. I’ve talked with everyone still in my life about it, repeatedly. So if they end up in hospital and I can’t get there fast enough, they know they can AND SHOULD fight, if they’re able.
We don’t have to shut up and let them kill us. They succeed when we get too tired and sick to fight. That’s where stepping up for each other comes in.
Npars01