Cindy MacDougall

A writer, comms professional, mom. Hyperemesis survivor. #MCAS patient. I contain multitudes.

[Cindy MacDougall @Cinmacd]

Well, hi there and welcome to Mast Cell Disease Awareness Day! I am Cindy; I have a mast cell disease, either #MCAS or #mastocytosis. Yes, I am STILL not yet diagnosed, or NYD. Still waiting on the lab test. But this year, I have hope. #MastCellDiseaseAwarenessDay #NEISvoid

[Cindy MacDougall @Cinmacd]

@1goodtern Good for you!!!! I mask continually, but I have an immune condition and can no longer get the vaccine (I am the extremely rare person who had an actual adverse event). I've had it twice now. One was worth it (travelling to see my dying mother, took it off to eat.) The other, not.

[Cindy MacDougall @Cinmacd]

@WlooGal @1goodtern Never ask. Tell them. You're taking a purifier and no one enters your room unmasked.

[tern @1goodtern]

I've just got off the phone with a lady who has been denied a life saving operation because she has just had Covid.

The doctors won't operate on her because of the *increased risk*.

The same doctors don't mask when they see her.
They don't mask in the wards or break rooms.

[Cindy MacDougall @Cinmacd]

@dockevinmcleod PS The solution to this is not a for-profit system. It's proper funding of the public system. If we had a profit system, I would be bankrupt or dead.

[Cindy MacDougall @Cinmacd]

@dockevinmcleod Wait times are a HUGE issue. I am never going to downplay that. You *also* have problems beyond wait times in this province with the rise of Long COVID related heart issues (many may be mast-cell-implicated). The system lacks continuing medical education at the community level.

[Cindy MacDougall @Cinmacd]

@dockevinmcleod *could, love the irony of this typo though.

[Cindy MacDougall @Cinmacd]

@dockevinmcleod My immunologist and I had to find my current cardiologist on our own. She properly diagnosed and treated me. Untreated I cold have had another MI any time I experienced a significant temperature swing. 2/

[tern @1goodtern]

Someone covid cautious messaged me about making a a large funeral safer, and although that's incredibly hard, I thought I'd share a few tips for them, and share them here now.

[Disabled Academic Collective @DisabledAcadem]

Unemployment rates for disabled people fell to 7.2% in 2023, which is the best it's ever been, but this is still double the unemployment rate of nondisabled peers (3.5%). Largely this is because disabled people CANNOT FIND JOBS THAT WILL OFFER PROPER ACCOMMODATIONS 3/8

[Plague Poems @PlaguePoems]

My employer asked
for all of us to observe
a moment of silence
in memory
of a past tragedy
and as we stood there
the silence
was interrupted
by coughs
from a current tragedy.

[Kelly @broadwaybabyto]

For the “masks don’t work” crowd…We never gave them a fair shot. Cloth & surgical were all that were required & many ppl wore below nose, under chin or not at all. Mandates were loosely enforced at best.

Yet despite the lacklustre implementation - cases still went down /1 🧵

[Kelly @broadwaybabyto]

When you have a complex chronic illness - you often go through the 5 stages of grief while you mourn the loss of your health & previous lifestyle.

Those stages are straightforward - but the stages you go through learning when to seek medical care are far more jarring. 🧵/1

[Plague Poems @PlaguePoems]

If you ask me
“were you like this
before the pandemic?”
I will be honest with you
and respond that no
I was not like this
before the pandemic,
for you see
before the pandemic
I truly believed
(I foolishly believed)
that in the face of catastrophe
we would stand together.

[Dr. Glaucomflecken @DGlaucomflecken]

False eyelashes are incredibly popular but can I just say as an ophthalmologist, they look horrifying under 10x magnification. The lashes are so densely packed that they trap all the dead skin cells, dirt, and oily secretions from your eyelids. It’s a sebaceous swamp in there and frequently results in red, itchy, swollen, irritated eyelids.

[Cindy MacDougall @Cinmacd]

@studentaidbc It's ridiculous that you don't offer technical help on weekends and evenings, when people wil be filling out these forms.

[Cindy MacDougall @Cinmacd]

@studentaidbc Your site is not allowing new applicants to register. We're using the BC Services card app and all. Getting error message: SYSTEM ERROR :: failed to create account. Profile Fault error #100431-3.

[Cindy MacDougall @Cinmacd]

@studentaidbc Also wondering when you are opening the loan applications for this year! Two eager students at my house.

[Cindy MacDougall @Cinmacd]

@JEVLloyd @CamMarZip My neurodiverse needle phobic kiddo goes into our local public health for a private appt for his shots, even as a teen. Maybe call public health and ask for the nurse who specializes in needle phobia. Worked for us. Wishing you the best.