Husband starting chemotherapy

i note you haven’t received any replies so I thought I would tell you what we’ve been doing

I think that, as always with Covid it’s a balance between preserving your mental health and being as careful as possible re all viruses. following comments here, we asked the oncologist (Husband having radiotherapy, and not chemo) if my husband is at extra risk of covid. He said that, so long as my husband is fully vaccinated, his greatest risk was his age and not the radiotherapy and sort of dismissed it! Later that day my husband got an email from the NHS saying he is now clinically vulnerable and entitled to free test kits and, if positive, antivirals which will be delivered by courier!

we have never fully relaxed our guard and don’t go to indoor, crowded places and avoid visiting people with obvious viruses. We wear a mask in hospitals and GP surgery. We do see our grandchildren but I’ve noticed that their parents keep them away from us if they have colds etc. 

so, we try to be sensibly cautious, carrying on with activities but keeping a bit of distance.

I think with chemo there is a much greater risk of all infections and I would seek guidance from your husbands medical team. There might be people here who can give you better advice

I totally agree with Worriedwife. My husband has just come out of hospital with Neuropenia Sepsis, it was extremely frightening. We have been told by the Ward Consultant that whilst he  is on chemo, he is to go from home to garden and garden to home. And if he is at the hospital, he is to sanitise when he arrives and leaves and at all times wear a mask. We are both trying to isolate as much as possible and to refrain from contact with anyone. This is his last chemo session and I do not want to jeopardise the treatment and I certainly (like all of us) for him to be so terribly Ill again, it’s just not worth taking the chance. 

Thank you for your reply. I'm sure in time we will have a plan of action. As you say, mental health needs to be preserved too. On Thursday we will see the medical team, who will advise on 'keeping safe' . Sometimes though, advice from those that have done it goes further. Everything is new at the moment as far as this is concerned. However our daughter has had cancer and she didn't take much car at all (she is grown and mother of said grandchildren) her reason was, the children come home from school and cuddle up to her.

Hi...we see Dr on 23rd to start chemotherapy. I'm going to ask questions about protecting my partner. We got letter today saying he is high risk of COVID . It's all a worry.... I've not been on here for a while...I keep having low days...I just never seen this coming....I finally got to meet the man ever and we get this thrown at us ....Not even been a year since I lost my mum not to cancer . My head is all over the place and he has not been feeling well.... 

My daughter has just come through cancer. The day she got the diagnosed my other daughter got married and the day she got the all clear my husband go his diagnoses. Sitting in appointments with my husband is sometimes a bit surreal and difficult to think straight and as to say, head all over the place. Really strange dreams too!

Hi Practically Pink…I have just started chemo too and similar profile to your husband (my journey to now is in my profile).  My wife has not stopped social activities but has been generally careful around others, similar to covid but not as intense. She is a hugger but has been hugging less so!  Peak infection time after chemo is around 7-10 days I believe so being quite careful then is something we are doing. For instance there is a football game on I would like to go to but it is day 8 of cycle so I am not sure whether going is the best idea and may just give it a miss.  From day 14-20 we were pretty normal in activities.