Wife has cancer, I've tested positive for COVID - what should I do?

Hi 1968,

I am Sharon, one of the nurses on the Macmillan Cancer Support Line.

It is understandable that you are concerned about your wife’s risk of getting covid-19.

It would be advisable for your wife to discuss her exposure to covid with her GP or her hospital team, who can advise accordingly. We don’t have enough information here to assess your wife’s risk fully, but we can offer some general information that may help.

If your wife was considered high risk, her GP should already be aware of this and would have contacted her to let her know. Her risk of infection depends on many factors including the type of cancer she has, whether it has spread, and what treatment she is on. Chemotherapy and many other cancer drugs make you more at risk of infection.

The current recommendations for someone with covid-19 are to stay away from other people, including those you live with, wear a mask if you are sharing a room, keep the windows open for at least 10 minutes after sharing a room, consider asking someone to get food or other essentials for you and avoid indoor or crowded places if you need to leave your home for any reason.

If you are assisting your wife with care, we would recommend finding someone else to support her until you are feeling better. You can request an urgent care assessment by calling social services or applying online.

It is worth bearing in mind that if someone in a ‘high risk’ group has symptoms and has taken a positive test, the NHS offers treatment to reduce their risk of complications. If there are no symptoms, then there is no treatment needed.

If you think it would be helpful to discuss this with someone, please don’t hesitate to give us a ring.

Take care,

Sharon

Cancer Information Nurse Specialist 

You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or send us an email. Ref; SA/KA