I have always been the one who has not masked up for a bit of sanding, cleaning with bleach, or running the leaf blower. Who can be bothered? Besides, it does not bother me that much. But now, I actually do own a decent quality mask, and when I went to clean out the chicken coop two days ago, I brought it along with, and I put it on. Then I went crazy with the leaf blower and cleared out loads of loose feathers and lots of dust and debris. After a session of that, I took off my mask when everything had settled and cleaned up some of the larger things in the adjacent tool shed. More dust! I ran the leaf blower again for a short bit and did not bother to put on the mask.
I was barely out of that end of the barn before I knew I had given myself a sinus infection. I could feel it on the right side, and soon my eye felt that corresponding irritation that comes along with. I gave it that night and the next day to see if it would feel any better, and it did. But now that the overlying sinus infection pain has settled a day on from that, I feel pain that resembles that sharp hurt one gets with a sore throat. Only it is above my throat, and below the sinuses.
Lesson learned; wear the mask! Always wear the mask! I watched my stepdad nearly die when I was younger because of a sinus infection that exploded into his brain cavity. It is not something I want to replicate. And now, with kids of my own, I don’t want them to have to see their father go through something like that, either.
It’s early in the morning on that third day from the cleaning. It is abundantly clear I could have avoided this situation. It is also abundantly clear to me that I am not young and impervious to the things I once was. I also have little people looking up to me to set them a good example, and to treat things like masks as though they are serious, not silly.