Isolating/kids…!

Do your children walk to school by themselves? If not then when you leave home, always wear a mask and gloves, and be mindful what you touch. First thing when you get back indoors, get rid of the gloves and wash your hands. Get your children to wash their hands first thing as they come through the door after school. You can even wear gloves to handle their clothes (to put in the washing machine or the washing basket.) 

If you are friendly with any of the other parents, perhaps someone can help by bringing your children home after school, making it so you only have to leave the house once, in the morning.

If I think of anything else, I will add more later.

I hope chemo goes smoothly for you.

Thankyou so much They are old enough to walk themselves. Never thought about using gloves to handle things. That’s a good idea. Thanks.

Dont like the idea of having to send them off to stay elsewhere. Just seems impossible to avoid germs altogether, especially with them mixing so much & I’m the only adult so doing all the cooking /cleaning etc. I guess the pandemic has been helpful in the fact that we are all now more cautious and used to wearing masks/sanitising hands more.

Who told you to send them away?! Absolutely not! If the person suggesting that cannot be told to keep their nose out of your business, you can always point out that de-stabilising the home setup is not going to do anyone any good, and that your children are part of your support network. 

Since they are able to walk themselves, then the only thing I would add is ask them to get out of their school uniform as soon as possible after coming in. 

it wasn’t a suggestion to send them away as such, more an offer to look after them for a few days if needed. Like you say it felt a bit disruptive to even think about it. They will be struggling enough without being uprooted.

Another good suggestion with changing out of uniform straight away. Thank you.

Thanks for explaining, I was getting a bit concerned that someone was trying to force you. Good to know it's just a suggestion that you can thank them for and never take them up on, or allow your children to do if the children feel it's a little adventure rather than a forced separation. I had to do it with mine when one of them had to go into hospital and I had to stay with him, the others had so much fun with the person who looked after them they were a little disappointed when things went back to normal! 

My daughter caught covid from her teacher last December when I'd just finished shielding.  She was in contact with him on the Friday,  sent home on the Monday (day 3) quarantined in her room to day 6 had she had a negative PCR but then developed a headache,  and we all caught it. 

I work In a school and the year-group bubbles have ended,  the canteen is back to normal,  the corridors are full and the extra cleaning has stopped.  Staff still test twice weekly but the students don't,  though we tested all of them last month and 5 had covid out of 1400. I only know about  Y12 students reason for sickness and out of 146 there are 2 with covid and the head of 6th form also has it. I'd say that is in most UK schools looking at the figures, and without testing many children will have it and not know. About 15% of staff and students wear a mask all the time.. 

My advice would be to make your bedroom out of bounds to them, for you to wipe door knobs  light switches and other high contact areas like chairs  regularly.  Have hand sanitizer by the door,  computer,  bathroom etc. Our school uses Nilaqua, which is about £6 for 500mk, doesn't dry out hands,  is used in hospitals and better performing than the gels.  Br aware of how long covid lasts on surfaces.  Is about 6 hours on hard surfaces but 3 days on paper.  Masks which are surgical or cotton stop about 40%, ffp2 ones about 93%, but I've not seem children's ones in the uk,unlike Spain where they come in different colours and patterns and cost 50p each! Maybe when you're in very close contact or cleaning their rooms you could wear one? Tell the school that you are having chemo and so vulnerable.  Ask if they will tell you when there are ANY cases in the school. Policy is to only say to close contacts,  who should test daily but not quarantine anymore (I had a sick student 2 days ago who I sent to test, telling a group of 14 that there were cases in their year which they were shocked to hear). Are your children old enough for their first vaccine? That would help . Have you had yours? It really reduces the effect and the risk of long covid,  which my daughter and  I have and struggle with. 

Good luck,  statistically it should be fine:)

Thankyou so much Londonmumof2. Really helpful advice. They both had their covid jabs last week and I’ve had mine. I was advised to get a booster before chemo but I’m not quite 6 months from having my 2nd jab so won’t be able to do that before it starts I don’t think.

morning all
randomly got an email alert from a post from 4 years ago, so I thought I'd pop in and say hi

how old are the kids?

My daughter insisted I took my temperature at least twice per day and I got a fancy digital one, not expensive, so we could keep track. It is useful to know what your 'normal' temp is. So that was her job. She was  21 so not a toddler. She also indulged in a little black humour, if I coughed she'd look at me quizzically and ask if I was dying, and I'd say not yet.  My youngest son was 14 and at school. His job was to ask me each day how I felt and note if I looked or sounded different. More tired, less cheerful, more grumpy, hot and bothered, cold etc.  As chemo took its toll I was less able to do stuff and got very tired very quickly. If you slump on the sofa and fall asleep how long should they leave you for and how often should they check you? Stay hydrated. I also struggled with low potassium and couldn't pick small things up. You all need to be aware, and agree, at what point you consider something to be serious, to call the unit or your GP or at what point you need to take a trip to A&E and how are you going to get there, have a taxi number and payment ready. You can phone first to find out how busy they are and see if you can avoid the other ill people. 

Don't forget it's not just covid that's going to trip you up. 

I just flew out to Portugal and got a bit complacent on the plane, took my mask off to chat to a lovely Irish lady and when I arrived here went down with the mother of all sore throats. 

Obviously I felt I needed to do a covid test, despite having a negative PCR on the Saturday.  Lateral flow came back negative. 

Which leaves things like strep throat, and I guess that's what it was.  I've never had it this bad, I was crying when I swallowed. I did try to pick up some antibiotics, in case it was bacterial tonsillitis,  which you can get from the pharmacies here but the one I went to wasn't a proper pharmacy, although I did get some StrepFen, which solved the issue in a couple of days. 

Then you have the usual coughs, colds and D&V bugs. One of the biggest threats is actually flossing your teeth. It is the quickest way for mouth germs to get into your blood stream. Get up to speed on symptoms of sepsis, high temp, flu like symptoms, d&v and lethargy. 

Then there's the risk of blood clots. I was truly shocked when I went for my first jab after the media attention on blood clot risk with the AZ jab and they didn't give me a short list of symptoms to look out for. I had to look very hard to find what the actual risk was, how long you need to remain vigilant, two weeks, and what they symptoms are, severe headache, breathlessness, swollen legs are the top three.

The rules are straightforward, as we've all found out, wash your hands, don't touch your face, keep your distance and wear PPE.

You can't see the germs, you can only see the effects. 

Forewarned is forearmed, I sailed through chemo by all accounts.

I was pretty careful yet I still found myself doing that thing we do and we all do it, "I'll be fine."

Have a 3 strike rule, you're allowed 2 x I'll be fines and then you have to examine your symptoms,  talk to the unit, your GP or A&E.

The biggest surprise for me, and I only found this out just recently, was that there is a significant risk of food poisoning bugs on the outside of fruit, so I have now started washing the fruit before I eat it or peel it. I'd also avoid bagged salads and shell fish, it's not worth the risk.

Can they cook? Porridge was my absolute saviour, I didn't want to eat apples yet felt I needed to, the texture was weird. So I chopped stuff up and hid it in porridge, it was great, with a spoonful of honey or maple syrup. 

love and hugs

Carolyn

xxxx

You could check antibodies to see how much protection you have. I had my first Pfizer in February,  2 months after covid and still recovering.  I had a bad reaction to it which I think was my immune system thinking it another infection and I was really unwell for 5 days then developed loud tinnitus. I've not had the second as still have the tinnitus from covid, but took part in a trial a few months ago at King's College where I sent a blood sample. I have good natural immunity (from protien inside the covid shell) and immunity equal to '1-2 doses of from vaccine' (from the spike protien). It might reassure you to have that checked.  

Good luck with chemo.  The chemo thread is great, with lots of tips like a soft toothbrush and medicated mouthwash daily,  eye drops in case of sore eyes, and how to protect your nails.  If you're having Docetaxel I'd consider cold capping as it protects your roots,  and about 8% of women don't get full hair growth after it unless they cold cap (though for most it's fine!).

When we had covid grocery deliveries were a life saver,  and in emergencies Deliveroo etc  also do grocery deliveries. With chemo it might be something to think about on days when you're feeling a bit under the weather (usually the first week of each EC cycle).

X

Thankyou so much for your reply & lots of great advice. It’s a steep learning curve that’s for sure. Grateful for all of the tips & advice. Just wish it wasn’t happening to us all.

P.s. love the SH quote