Is it risky going out?

Hello Ange

Thanks for getting in touch. My name is Helen, I’m one of the Cancer Information Nurses on the Macmillan Support Line.

I see that you have joined the womb cancer forum and hope you find it a warm and supportive community.

It’s great that you have the opportunity to go to the theatre and really important that you keep your social life as rich as possible. However, you are right that your chemotherapy can impact your immunity and that has to be taken into consideration.

Chemotherapy for womb cancer doesn’t generally ‘wipe out’ someone’s capacity to fight an infection entirely, it reduces it.

In addition, the low level of immunity is not experienced throughout the time someone is undergoing treatment. It rises and recovers before the next session is due, and dips and drops following another cycle. So it goes up and down.

This is why your oncologist has not cautioned you against going out entirely but explained the need to be mindful of infections.

You didn’t mention how frequently your sessions are, but if they are three weekly, for example, the lowest point in your immunity would be at days 7-10 after the session. After this point, immunity increases and improves so that by the third week your immunity should have recovered to a level that is safe to have the next session of chemotherapy, and therefore sufficiently high to fight most common infections.

Knowing this might help you feel you can make a ‘risk assessment’ when planning social events. However, it’s important that you chat to your chemotherapy team about the upcoming theatre dates and the likely state of your immunity at that point.

If you and the team feel the risks will outweigh the benefits, you might consider speaking to the theatre to explain your situation to see if the theatre date could be deferred to a better week during your treatment? 

If everyone agrees the risks are as low as they could be, you might want to have a mask and carry a hand sanitiser with you. The most likely infections would be respiratory such as colds and coughs. And Covid is of course still present.

By the way, it is safe to have vaccinations when you are undergoing chemotherapy as long as they are not ‘live’ vaccines. Flu and Covid vaccines are not live vaccines, and it is recommended they are kept up to date.

A night out would be a such a treat but it’s impossible to reduce risk entirely, isn’t it.  If you feel unclear or confused about our response to your query, do consider giving us a call as we can talk through the issues with you more fully.

Please don’t hesitate to get back in contact by email, webchat or phone, if you need further information or support.

The Macmillan Support Line offers practical, clinical, financial and emotional support. You can call us free from landlines and from most mobile phone networks on 0808 808 00 00, 7 days a week, 8am – 8pm.

Best wishes, Helen

Cancer Information Nurse Specialist 

Ref HM/AMc