Germphobia magnified

When I was young, I was definitely not germphobic. Then I had kids, and voila, it began. working in a courthouse, trying not to get sick, trying for kids in daycare not to get sick, and more and more I became worried about germs and contagion. I worked hard not to get sick, especially when my father was ill, in and out of hospitals, rehabs, nursing homes, always decontaminating my hands but noticing the positive effects that I was not getting sick like so many others. Since cancer, it has gotten worse. I was so determined during chemo not to get sick and suffer any delays with treatment, I sometimes don't like being in public, hate flying and the exposure to sick people, making my son strip off school clothes and wash his hands as soon as he came home especially before he came near me, and so on. A few weeks ago we were at a program for accepted students at a major university. A parent in one of the seminars who was clearly ill, coughing and sneezing had the audacity to offer to distribute papers that were being passed around. I had to instruct my son not to take the papers so we would not get sick, and got the papers from a different stack and distribution. The sneezing woman likely heard me and gave me a major dirty look. My son and I discussed it later, as I wasn't so crazed about it before I got cancer. He told me he understands because I have a reason to feel the way I do, that I am more vulnerable. Wish people would just stay home when they are sick and not spread it!! I am not ashamed to be neurotic about germs!