To shake or not to shake

To most people this would seem like a rather strange question. I frequent a number of places such as my local Shul (synagogue) where I am well known to most of the people.

Chemotherapy can affect your blood counts in a number of ways. If the white count falls, it means that your autoimmune system has been compromised. That means that you become prone to catching infections. One you have picked up that unwanted infection you could battle to fight it off.

That is the reason why I am not allowed to get into a crowd, and I avoid that quite carefully. But at any one of these places, people generally expect to shake hands. Not a big deal for most - how often do you get sick from shaking hands?

In fact the risk - especially for me - can be quite immense. Some of the people will most certainly be carrying some sort of virus or bacteria. Even someone in perfect health could put me at risk. Before I shook his hand, he has already shaken the hands of another 20 to 30 people. The transfer of germs has taken place already. Then there is someone else to shake and so it goes on.

One option is to hide my hands in my pockets and refuse to remove them. Some may be offended. Others will understand one they knw the reasons. So far, I have not employed any such tactic. However, i spent the last week in great discomfort and the bud seems to be far from over. I firmly believe hat I caught this from a handshake with a man that (as I later discovered) had quite a serious cough. I was coughing and struggling to bring up phlegm within 36 hours. No laughing matter.

There is another option. This one is to carry around a bottle of hand sanitiser, the pink stuff that they use in hospitals. This could cause upset as well. The trick is to not let anyone see.

So, what is it to be?