back to the house
The airport trip went well, now I'm back, feeding breakfast to the cats, thinking about whether I want to stay at the condo for one night or two. I can give the cats extra food and water this morning so that I don't have to decide until tomorrow. Maybe I'll wake at the condo by myself and want a full Toy Day there, or maybe I'll be too worried about leaving the cats alone so I'll head back to the house and have a Toy Day at the house instead. Either way, I'm pretty sure I'll want Sunday to myself, after so much socializing.
I checked with Public Health Friend and she said to wait on getting a 4th shot until the shots are updated this fall, so, OK, I'll do that. Now I can stop obsessing over that decision :-) First chance I get at an updated shot, I'll do it.
I will formally try to nap now, if I can sleep for a bit, great. If not, I'll start getting ready to head to the condo. I presume when I get there I'll have to do some cleaning before Ben arrives this afternoon, it's been a while since I've been there.
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Despite my overall News Blackout, I'm keeping an eye on two other diseases that are making their way through the gay community right now -- monkeypox and meningitis. Globally, monkeypox cases are doubling every 9 days, primarily among gay men who frequently have sex with multiple partners, especially if they travel to play at sex parties. Some countries are trying to rush monkeypox vaccines to gay men who are at high risk, but here in the DC area the vaccines are in short supply. Monkeypox is rarely deadly, but it can leave permanent scarring, and some men are getting it up their butt from unprotected sex. You do not want monkeypox up your butt -- it is extremely painful and can require hospitalization.
Also -- gay men in Florida, or who are traveling to/from Florida, should get vaccinated for meningitis, as there's been a deadly outbreak of this disease among gay men in Florida, with a couple dozen deaths so far.
Although gay men can take Prep to avoid HIV, when they travel to gather in groups and have lots of unprotected sex, they create a fertile ecology for viral and bacterial infections to spread around the world. It's how HIV took hold, but there's nothing special about HIV, any disease that spreads from close contact can take advantage of the sex party ecology that gay men create. If you want to play that way, get tested frequently for STDs and get your shots for monkeypox and meningitis.
I checked with Public Health Friend and she said to wait on getting a 4th shot until the shots are updated this fall, so, OK, I'll do that. Now I can stop obsessing over that decision :-) First chance I get at an updated shot, I'll do it.
I will formally try to nap now, if I can sleep for a bit, great. If not, I'll start getting ready to head to the condo. I presume when I get there I'll have to do some cleaning before Ben arrives this afternoon, it's been a while since I've been there.
-----
Despite my overall News Blackout, I'm keeping an eye on two other diseases that are making their way through the gay community right now -- monkeypox and meningitis. Globally, monkeypox cases are doubling every 9 days, primarily among gay men who frequently have sex with multiple partners, especially if they travel to play at sex parties. Some countries are trying to rush monkeypox vaccines to gay men who are at high risk, but here in the DC area the vaccines are in short supply. Monkeypox is rarely deadly, but it can leave permanent scarring, and some men are getting it up their butt from unprotected sex. You do not want monkeypox up your butt -- it is extremely painful and can require hospitalization.
Also -- gay men in Florida, or who are traveling to/from Florida, should get vaccinated for meningitis, as there's been a deadly outbreak of this disease among gay men in Florida, with a couple dozen deaths so far.
Although gay men can take Prep to avoid HIV, when they travel to gather in groups and have lots of unprotected sex, they create a fertile ecology for viral and bacterial infections to spread around the world. It's how HIV took hold, but there's nothing special about HIV, any disease that spreads from close contact can take advantage of the sex party ecology that gay men create. If you want to play that way, get tested frequently for STDs and get your shots for monkeypox and meningitis.