Hi, my Mum was diagnosed with Stage 2 Breast Cancer during lockdown. She was lucky and was treated quickly and had a lumpectomy and decided against Chemo as she is 75 but had radiotherapy and finished it last week. I live 200 miles away and am going to see her on Sunday with my children for the first time. She had a shielding letter in June and she says she is self isolating but she is going out with my stepfather and eating out at cafes and has been to the supermarket and other shops. I don't think she should be doing this as surely her immune system is too low. She says she is self isolating but I didn't think you were meant to go to indoor shops and were only meant to go out for exercise where there were no people to come into contact with. My step father doesn't want to stay in the house and wants her to go out with him. I don't want to upset her by keep mentioning it each time she says they have been out but I am so worried that she is putting herself in danger and I don't know what to do when we go and see her. Am I right that she shouldn't be going out to shops or cafes when she has just had radiotherapy? And that when we see her we need to meet her outside the house in the fresh air and not inside a cafe? I would appreciate any advice anyone has.
Hi and welcome to the online community
I'm sorry to hear that your mum has been diagnosed with breast cancer and that you're worried that she's not following the shielding letter she's received.
I haven't had to shield myself so don't know what all the ins and outs of it are but if you click here it'll take you to the latest government advice on shielding. Macmillan also have a section on shielding and cancer and clicking on this link will take you there.
As the community is divided up into groups, so I'm going to recommend that you join the breast cancer group and copy and paste your question there. I'm sure there'll be plenty of people in the group who have been told to shield and they can let you know what they've been doing.
To join just click on the link I've created and then choose 'join this group' on the page that opens. You can then introduce yourself and post questions after selecting 'start a discussion' and join in with existing conversations by clicking on 'reply'.
When you have a minute, it would be really useful if you could pop something about your mum's journey so far into your profile as it really helps others when answering or looking for someone with a similar diagnosis. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Edit Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
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"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
