Coronavirus
Comments
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my lovely American friends
don’t visit Europe. Most countries have gone or going in lock down so events indoors / outdoors , musea , schools etcet. will be closed at least until Easter. So that bucket list to the Eifel tower (random example) , postpone it because it’s closed anyways.
And no it’s not just any other flu
Sorry if I sound blunt , I mean well
😘 From Belgium , tourists still very welcome but bring a game of Scrabble or a jigsaw puzzle for entertainment
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Hi All starting radiation next week ... concerned ... dies anyone know if radiation compromises your immune system.. my doctor reassured me that mine won’t DCIS 21 sessions of Rad please private message me as I’m not always in sight
thank you and god bless us all0 -
Hi All,
I am currently in my fourth year of treatment for MBC. It is HER2+ so I am now on Herceptin and Perjecta every three weeks. I am also a college professor in the Boston, MA area. Initially, I wasn't too worried about COVID-19 - given all I have already been through - but this week my concern level did start to increase. There was an outbreak in the city traced back to a conference and since then it seems that cases are popping up all over.
This week many of the colleges and universities decided to suspend face-to-face classes and use only online delivery. My university was very slow in making this decision which only served to heighten my anxiety. Not to mention that, by sheer coincidence I had a local physician coming to my class as a guest speaker. He was great as he gave us a lot of facts without all the partisan hype. Basically, he said that things are fairly quiet now but a "tsunami is coming," his words, not mine. He also told me that due to my age, 58, and my MBC my chances of dying should I get the virus are about 20%! The chances were the same for him as he is in a similar age group with some type of immune disorder.
I was very happy to meet and discuss this emergency with a level-headed scientist. So, late yesterday my university finally made the announcement that we would begin teaching remotely after spring break (which begins today). It was a relief to hear the announcement because I had already decided that I would teach remotely after the break even if it meant getting a note from my oncologist. After thriving for four years with MBC, I am not going let Covid-19 be the disease that brings me down!
Best of luck to everyone and be well. And wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands.... :-)
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We were supposed to go on a cruise in two weeks, pretty sure that isn't happening now and I so needed to go, for my mental health! I need to get away and forget about cancer. We could postpone until summer but that'll cost more. This whole thing sucks quite frankly.
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All this talk about "flattening the curve" makes me think about what happened to my left breast last year.
That curve is now pretty damn flat.
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Well I am in my early seventies. Had endo cancer 7 years ago. and finished up radiation for breast cancer (lumpectomy) in October.
Now ,below the breast cancer spot, in the lungs, they have found a node (no nodes anywhere else) with a CAT scan. Other complicating health issues too.
Now arranging to go to Dana Farber for a PET scan and followup biopsy if needed. I want the results for considering pain medication and plans for pallitive care if surgery is then needed. Surgery, however, may not be recommended do to increasing a high risk factor even higher for death by Co-vid. My husband has a strong constitution, still yesterday we revised our will, and I am writing letters to the children to be delivered just in case I am no longer physically present .
I am so grateful that we live in our tiny house with a lovely porch and trees all around us. We are trying to rededicate ourselves to kindness as we realistically face what is to come.. My heart aches especially for my granddaughter cause I am one of her strongest mainstays and she is in a difficult situation. A friend has promised to stay in touch with her. I am recognizing a peace that is confounding in a way: A Peace that surpasses my understanding. We are dedicated to living in love to the end, no matter if that end is sooner and quicker with Co-vid or much longer term with reoccuring Cancers. Am doing the best to stay safe but this is out of my hands and so I am holding dear these precious moments especially with my precious husband since we are not traveling to see the grands..
So many friends are contacting me to share memories and concern for those who will need to live in this world of Covid and other diseases, with climate change and so on.. In the midst of the heartache we each see in this moment of the beauty of those who love and care, and the small bud beginning to announce that Spring in the midst of excrutiating heart pain, still sprouts in that same heart.
A long time ago, we recognized that we were Against the Odds people with seemingly insurmountable challenges, and this is another one.
Before my Dad died, I asked him if he was afraid to die. He replied "I was scared to go to my first day of school. I was scared with my first job. I was scared when I married your mother. I was scared before you children came and lots of days afterward too. And look that all worked out . This will work out too"
He also said "I hope you are happy each day, remembering of course that happiness alone is not what we are here for"
I am less scared than my Dad, but equally grateful on how my life has worked out... Against the odds.
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Maeven, what a lovely post. Thank you. Wishing you well.
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Dear mbc friends,
The Danish government has decided to close the Danish boarders (the first European country to do so), - from tomorrow noon it will only be possible for Danish citizens and residents to access Denmark. All Danes on holiday are requested to return immediately.
School, universities, museums etc. are already closed, and everybody that can work from home have been requested to do so.
All these initiatives (and more are expected) are being instigated to avoid a major breakdown of our very efficient health care sector and secure hospital capacity to treat those that require intensive care. Especially the elderly and patients at high risk (e.g. cancer patients) are vulnerable in this situation.
I am sure other countries will follow.
We are not panicking, simply preparing for and trying to minimise the effects of this pandemic disease.
Take care,
Meja
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Thanks for the laugh blue22. It is a welcome relief to sitting in bed worrying about catching the corona virus, especially since I just found out I have some radiation damage to my lungs
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nowaldron,
That sounds scary. I also live in the Boston area. Can’t believe our mayor won’t close schools. I’m really worried about the lack of beds in our local hospitalswhen the tsunami happens. I am 57.
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Poland has shut their borders tonight too - one of my best buddies lives with a Polish girl whose mother was diagnosed with glioblastoma about three months ago. My friend is a gentle person who doesn't handle bad news or disruption well. His gf is distraught over most things in life and now even if she were to go home to visit her mom she would have to quarantine for 14 days as a citizen. So their trip at Easter is off, and the trip she wanted to take between now and then is off, and meanwhile the weeks are ticking by for her mother. This is not going to end well.
Rejoicing that we went to the Masters last year - before cancer, before all this illness. Had we won tickets for this year and it was cancelled I would have been crushed.
Ive been home for two days but will be heading out tomorrow to the pool and see what is up in town. I think my concert for next Friday is likely to be cancelled at this point. Saturdays we usually eat pizza for dinner, instead of buying I thought I would make up our own and tonight I got the dough together. Cooking something new and fun sure beats reading anxiety inducing news!
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My DD is a teacher. The regular spring break was scheduled for next week. Has been extended through March 27. My county is popular with college spring breakers, snowbirds for baseball spring training. I’m glad they closed the schools. I assume the private and religious schools will too. All the major attractions in Orlando have gone dark. Busch Garden in Tampa too.
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SondraF I just read through the last few pages of this thread and I saw that you mentioned my pneumonia in December. It's funny you brought that up because while pneumonia was the verbal dx, pneumonia has been removed from the MyChart. I had a dry cough, shortness of breath, fever and fatigue, my oxygen kept falling, and a CT Angio that showed opacity. I have wondered many many times lately that those findings are quite similar to CV. Weird.
I have set up my little piano studio to do online lessons. I am a little terrified that I will lose students but so be it. I plan to close temporarily and move to online lessons effective Monday. I have sent a large number of emails reminding parents not to send sick children to lessons but some of them just do not care. I had a sixth grader walk in with sniffles and cough this last Wednesday. When parents drop children off for lessons and go run an errand in this situation I have to either teach the lesson or have the child wait for the parent to return in the front hallway away from me. This has made children feel badly about themselves. I don't want that either. This next week I am offering free ten-minute lessons on FaceTime. If they aren't sold on it then buh bye. Teaching online when you have to actually interact with the student can be difficult. I found this out yesterday while doing a FaceTime lesson and the student's mom was clanging pots and pans in the next room.
Nearly all of my husband's farmers markets have closed. Our income is really taking a hit. Bummer, but we have enough saved to live on for awhile. Not panicking here but we are making some big changes such as using FaceTime to interact with our kids and grandkids over the next month or so, and staying home most of the time. My biggest fear is loneliness. I tend to get really down in the dumps when I spend too much time alone. I have a few projects I'd like to do but my back pain has gotten worse and I have difficulty sitting up for longer than an hour.
We live in western NYS and the counties on this side of the state seem to be dragging their feet on protocols such as closing schools. It seems as if individuals and businesses are taking things into their own hands instead of waiting for directions.
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It's annoying how fast social media becomes engulfed on the trendiness of the pandemic. Now I see articles about “what to binge watch on Netflix since you're home bound", “stock up on home clothes to wear at home because your clothes may carry the virus and you have to disinfect them" and “27 items under $50 to make your home cozy." All the emphasis is hunkering down in cushy, comfortable style.
I get that it was necessary to declare a national emergency and fully agree with all the closures. What I specifically hate, though, are the media outlets who haul out statistics from the 1918 pandemic, “the Spanish flu". It was horrific and killed a large swath of the population—half a million in the U.S.—- but did they even have hand soap back then? The medical establishment at that time had little to work with! Our world is so vastly different today especially with the medical advances since 1918. When they start bringing up the Spanish flu, THAT'S where I say, “damn you media, you are fueling the panic."
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Divine, I agree very much with your post.
Hubby and I went out late tonight to grocery shop, around 8:30/9pm, the grocery store looked like a tornado went through it and t was still full of shoppers. We were able to grab a nice supply, but we had to really search as most things were gone or severely picked through, pet supplies, soap, toilet paper, all the veg and meat, the pastas and canned goods, tuna fish, cereal, peanut butter, no cleaning supplies whatsoever, no water, no milk, no juice.
I think my biggest concern now is the media fueled panic is causing prescription refill problems. I'm having trouble refilling a few of my palliative prescriptions. I've been waiting for almost a week and have already made a call to my MO to see what the issue is...I'm being told the pharmacies are overwhelmed. Wonderful. Anyone else having prescription refill problems because of this?
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I just refilled from the CVS app, they did have a message up about delays filling some prescriptions but I got my anastrozole and bp meds with no issue. Media was telling people to request ninety days of meds if possible, if a lot of folks did that, that might have something to do with it.
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Santa Clara County, the county with the most confirmed cases of Covid19 in CA, finally decided to close all public schools today, for the next three weeks. In my school district this brings us to spring break so we now have an unexpected month off. Well, not totally off as the district isworking on distance learning but I’m not sure when this would happen. The rhythm of the school year is so ingrained in my functioning that my brain is totally confused! My daughters have now taken over grocery shopping en masse. Younger dd has created a spreadsheet where we are supposed to log our food inventories. So if dd #1 needs bread and she sees that I have an extra loaf, she can just get it from me. There is also a separate area to list things that need to be purchased, so if anyone sees these items they can buy them. I am exempt from any shopping duties ,but am happy to watch the grandkids. No school for my second grader nor my pre-schooler and the amusing antics of a recently turned two year old. It sounds a bit compulsive for me but I’m proud of them all the same. Both dd’s live within 15 minutes of my house.
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UK government is telling us 15 weeks on this to hit the peak and get past it, which is why they are dragging their feet on closing anything. I dunno bout this behavioral science strategy they are taking, suspect it will change quite quickly from next week! See also: don't trust this government and infrastructure is not great.
My hospital may be going to phone consultations for monthly check-ins. I wonder if they will move me to three monthly script fillings so I don't have to come in more than necessary. A lot of the hospitals are limiting visitors on the wards at least.
Is BevJen still over here? The weather's been great up until today so I hope she had a good time
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Thinking of all of us as we face so much...
Thanks SchnauzerMo… for your validating words.
Sondra F. I can't be with my grandkids right now, but I did make up a shool closing box for my grand-daughter with lots of art supplies and stuff in case her school is closed. And I will order her books from Better World Books today.. Grandma's rock.
For a quick smile.. Italy shows how they do quarantine..
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My blood work is fine. However I have lung mets, and pleural effusions. That makes my respiratory status "compromised". In other words, if I catch this thing i have a very good chance of ending up on a ventilator and an almost as good a chance of ending up dead. If I was in Italy they wouldn't put me on a ventilator -- not enough life expectancy.
The ID doc I work with, who is normally a 'have a great life" person, has told me that when the cases in Boston explode I should 'lay low'. I take that to mean to stay home. MO reinforced that. My workplace is testing whether they can send everyone home so I did all my meetings as conference calls the last two days. My guess is that sometime this week they'll tell us to work from home.
Staying home is doable though it's a small apartment and not much adult conversation. Or alone time.
Testing is ramping up. In theory. They keep saying that yet it doesn't seem to happen. The reason we're seeing a rise in the number of cases isn't [necessarily] more transmission, but they are finding the cases which already exist. Once we can test everyone we'll have a shot at containing it. The stories out of our local hospitals are hysterical. They've put a lot of effort into infection control protocols. Which is important. Health care workers need to stay safe. But if you don't know has the disease you don't know when to apply those protocols!
Stay safe and out of the emergency room everyone!
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My chemo was back in 2018 to early 2019. Im in a late reconstructive phase. Just got my implants. 2 weeks postop. I am considering flying 2hrs to my relatives home while my child has no school. I am working from home so can do this anywhere. I got my mask and gloves and lysol wipes for the plane. I think we will be fine long as we use the proper precautions. I just believe they are putting people in a major state of panic. Older people over 60 and people with major conditions are more at risk for more severe issues if contracted. Me and my daughter still go out. We wash our hands thoroughly and are just mindful. Life must going on.
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Two confirmed cases in my town as of yesterday.
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So many people are going nuts with shopping. I don’t like it that I am forced to join them because if I don’t get something now, there may not be anything left. So I am forced to shop with crowds, which is the worst thing. I wore a mask. There were two people there who coughed and didn’t even try to cover their mouths.
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Like you Pam, my counts are not that bad. They actually seemed to have come up since lowering my dose of Verzenio (although I suspect some of that “recovery” was due to dehydration after a major gastro episode which Verzenio is known to cause). However, I have a chronic pleural effusion which puts me at high risk if I catch the virus. I don’t have the huge amounts of fluid I had when I was first diagnosed but pockets of persistent loculated fluid.
With this in mind, I am now working from home for the foreseeable future. I feel a bit silly as we have only one local confirmed case but I expect that will change. And it’s not something I want to risk. All the hand washing in the world can’t protect us completely. I was being Uber careful at work on Thursday with door handles etc and then the empty elevator filled to capacity. All I could think was, well this is not good!
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Sondra,
Yes, we are still in London (I'm writing this Saturday night.) We leave from Heathrow tomorrow morning at 11:50. The weather has been GREAT -- the best we've ever had when we were here -- only very sporadic showers, and they really haven't affected us, and mild, as you know.
We've had a great time here. Things really haven't been bad -- the Brits are so much calmer than being in America right now. I did have my wallet stolen today at Portobello Market -- but I actually think that the person running a small store swiped it when I turned around for a moment while at the counter -- didn't discover it until later when I got in a taxi and didn't have the wallet. We went back to the store, but she insisted she didn't see it. And I sent a message to the Facebook page for the store, but the owner wrote me back and said it's no longer her store -- their lease ran out two weeks ago. My daughter thought it was some kind of a front.
Anyway, it was nice to not think about breast cancer for a while!!!
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BevJen - Sorry about your wallet, but glad you had a great time. Safe travels!
Montreal has pretty much shutdown except for the airport. We have 24 confirmed cases in Quebec, all are in the Montreal area, and includes 1 child. They're all travel related (airport is less than 20 minutes from me). One case is a pulmonologist at a large hospital downtown who saw patients before being confirmed. This person should have isolated himself for 2 weeks. His patients are the most vulnerable.
My hospital will restrict which entrances are open starting Monday. It's a huge hospital. I do have a CT scan scheduled on Friday, but it may be rescheduled as they reduce elective procedures.Canada may close its borders soon. They announced that Canadian travelers should return now. I'm glad my daughter already canceled her plans.
At least the sun is shining here.
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pajim Me too. I also have liver mets. The lung mets put me more at risk for this virus. So, I'm staying home. I also have diabetes. I wonder how long, it's pretty boring. I have a PET on 20th. I'll just have to risk it. It's at my cancer center.💞
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There are 2 lessons to be learned from the 1918 Spanish Flu:
- Tell the truth
- Social distancing works
Can't encourage 2 without 1.
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