Advice on how to look after a partner undergoing Chemo If you are exposed to more germs as a teacher?

HI Sim0n 

Sorry to hear that your wife is about to start chemo. I hope she copes as well as she can with it.

There are some general hygiene regimes, which if you can follow would help her - especially 48 hours after receiving chemo.

1) If you have a separate toilet in the house -try and both use a different one.  If not, then flush it twice and obviously the usual handwashing regime. The bathroom is naturally where most germs lurk isn't it?  You also need to be protected from any 'drug waste' if you were to accidentally to come into contact with her bodily fluids. If using the same bathroom - paper towels thrown away are the safest option.

2) If you are worried about sleeping in the same bed if you may have picked up a bug, then definitely worth for the first couple of days after,  sleeping in a different bed.  It might be that she or you will have disturbed sleep and she will obviously need as much proper rest as possible, so it does make sense if she doesn't feel abandoned by you moving to a different bed.  Wash the bed linen on their own, rather than with any other washing.

3) If you do pick up a bug, at lease face masks are common place now after Covid!

4) If you have pets, make sure she washes her hands after stroking cat/dog.

5) Use moist cleaning wipes for wiping down more frequently

6) One piece of advice suggested is not to have live plants /flowers around as these have fungal spores.  Most especially in the bedroom - but it might be an idea to move them to an area where she's not going to spend a great deal of time and perhaps let friends/family know not to gift her flowers as a get well present!

7) Ensure fruit and vegetables are washed thoroughly.

Just a few ideas from me, I do hope this helps.

Kindest wishes, Lesley

Thank you for your reply lots to work on. I'm touched you felt compelled to write so much.

Sorry to hear about your wife and I get your worrys with being a teacher I myself am about to start chemo on Friday and I have 2 small children both attending school 

I think it's just a matter of washing hands all the time if you feel unwell then check temp or wear mask around your wife and just being precautious don't isolate yourself from her it's definately doable just got to keep ontop of how we feeling and clean hands 

Wish you all the best 

I just finished chemotherapy, I just done exactly what we did through covid , when I went to hospital and shopping I wore a mask , washed hands and used hand sanitizer . I did isolate myself more during chemotherapy. But I had plenty of fresh air everyday by walking. There is no need to sleep in separate beds but I was a bit restless during chemotherapy so perhaps for that reason you might want to for you to have some rest. I had 18 weeks going through treatment and it soon went by so try not to worry to much it’s not that bad honestly 

take care

Hi Simon, sorry to hear about your wife, you’re being very thoughtful and that’ll be her biggest support. I’m a single parent to a 12 year old at the time of my chemo and we were concerned about bugs, especially covid it being a couple of years ago. I also work in a primary school as an LSA so I know how infested they get this time of year! You’ve done the jabs which is great, all you can do now is hand wash all the time at school, especially before you leave for home. Wash your hands again on entering the house. Keep the kids washing their hands, especially if they have colds. Stay out of the staff room if there are people soldiering on while ill. You may find she is awake a lot with the steroids and treatment so keeping the spare bed ready might be an option, I also agree with a previous poster that if you are ill maybe use the spare bed yourself. At one stage half my daughters school got Covid so we pulled her out for two weeks until everyone seemed to have had it. I got Covid on chemo and luckily wasn’t significantly worse with it than the time I got it ‘off’ chemo, the antibodies they gave me were brilliant, I started to feel better within a day! I wore masks myself when I’m the supermarket but otherwise just maintained that good hand hygiene, wash every time you come in. Good luck x

Masks and cleanliness is my advice. Also think about a small HEPA filter, you can buy them fairly cheaply nowadays. Covid is airborne.

hope all goes well 

hugs xxx

Hi Simon, I have 2 young children at primary so understand the dilemma. People have responded with some great advice on hygiene. All I would add is that cuddles and comfort are just as important for a cancer journey as the chemo - so if you’re well, then there is no need to isolate and keep dishing out those cuddles. Try to plan nice things for her on her good days - my husband and I still get dressed and go out for nice meals! Life does not stop when we’re on chemo - there might be some days when we don’t feel physically well, but try to create happy memories on the good days! BC reminds us that everything can change in an instance - so all the more reason to enjoy ourselves when we can!! Wishing you and your wife all the best - you’ve got this!!!  Xxxx