COVID and chemotherapy

Hi IreneW. I think I’d ask your chemo team about the 4th vaccination in case there’s a ‘best time’ to have it. I am triple vaccinated and caught Covid off my husband 3 weeks ago - I know it was him because I’ve had a hip replacement and only left the house for short walks! - and I felt pretty rough for a week with a cough, loss of appetite and generally feeling mweh. If you can minimise your risk and exposure to Covid then I would as chemo affects your immune system and could also mean your chemo getting postponed x

Hi IreneW. I was told by the chemo nurse that I was eligible for the 4th vaccine. I contacted 119 who said I needed a letter from my Oncologist or GP saying I was on chemo and a high risk patient. GP wasn't able to do a letter and that the letter should come from the Oncology Consultant as they would know when was the best time to give it. My Consultant suggested i have it at the end of the current cycle (cycle 2) as the rest period will have given my immune system a chance to recover. I've booked a date. I've also read somewhere that the nurse giving the vaccine takes into consideration which ones you've had before and reviews which is best for you. But I don't know if that is true for all vaccination sites.

Have you had a letter or been told by the hospital that as a chemo patient you should be doing lateral flow tests regularly and in particular if you have any COVID symptoms. if the test is positive my hospital arranges for you to have the COVID antiviral drug which needs to be given in the early stages to lessen it's impact.

Since the beginning of the pandemic I've been contributing to the ZOE COVID-19 study which was created by doctors and scientists working in partnership with ZOE - a health science company. The data we submit via an app is used to study the symptoms of COVID-19 and track the spread of the virus. Most importantly the research is led by Prof. Tim Spector, professor of genetic  Epidemiology at Kings College London. To date over 4 million people have contributed data, some more regularly than others.

One of the earlier findings was that the commonest symptoms changed with subsequent variants. For some time now temperature and cough have been lower down the list. For anyone interested the current symptoms shown in Tim's weekly YouTube video this week the top 6 are:

1. Runny Nose 84%
2. Fatigue (mild & severe) 72%
3. Sore throat 69%
4. Sneezing 69%
5. Headache 69%
6. Persistent cough 

and fever is 11th on 32%

I have a link to this week's video but as it's a YouTube video I'm not sure I can post it here - can someone advise me? The presentation is by Prof. Tim Spector and the study has been funded by the NHS up until last month. Its full of understandable information and data.  In this week's video he also talks briefly about cancer as the study has recently been widened to cover other heath concerns.

Hope some of this is helpfull for you Irene

Jane 

Thank you Jane, brilliant information. Thanks for taking the time to answer so fully,

with all good wishes

Irene