Covid-19?
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Onlygirl,
Would you get your chemo at a dedicated cancer infusion center without entering the hospital? That might lessen your risk. At my center there was tons of room between patients, like 10 feet or so, and only cancer patients even went in that building. You could wipe down your chair with alcohol, wear gloves, etc, and you'd be pretty safe as they KNOW their clientele is immune compromised they are careful.
Factoid for all:
One of the things that is effective against a viral infection is High Dose IV Vitamin C. It also happens to be good against cancer. It was one of the integrative things I did during chemo: I did lots of High dose C IVs.
I mention this in case anyone decides they might want this 'double whammy.'
Anecdotally, re efficacy against viruses, I used to get cold sores -- but after chemo & High dose C, they seem to have gone away permanently. I never got sick even once during chemo.
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Shame on Rand Paul, who is a physician, for going on the Senate Floor and Senate gym while waiting for results of covid19 testing. As we know, he tested positive so now has potentially exposed the entire Senate except the 2 responsible senators who are in quarantine. If this doctor will expose others what will the average Joe do?
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santabarbarian, I have seen an article on IV vitamin C for covid19 but I wonder who would be willing to treat someone that’s contagious. And if you were in the hospital, how to get a doctor to order it for you?
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I'm still holed up out of town in a tiny apartment. I might get a ride home tomorrow. I'm not sure yet.
My WBC, lymphocytes and neutrophils from my draws in January were not great. In fact my neutrophils are significantly lower than what they were during chemotherapy and lower than my pre chemo levels.
On one hand, the population density here is half what it is where I live, I can come and go through the patio door without coming in to contact with anyone and the markets are probably better stocked. On the other hand, there are 5 confirmed cases in this town and fewer common areas than the city means greater chance of more of the town being exposed. The building I am staying in has indoor common areas, my roommates here are not nearly as vigilant about germs as I am and if one of them gets it, I will certainly get it. On top of that, one of them has a sleep disorder, which has kept me up at night, and sleep deprivation makes me more susceptible to illness.
At home, it's just me, and I've got my air filters and N95 masks I bought for chemo there, but it's a densly populated area, my neighbor with whom I share an entry area with works at the airport, my apartment is drafty, anything from outside wafts in, and people frequently walk by or hang around outside my windows.
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WC3 I think you could keep the entry area safe by disinfecting your door knobs, etc, regulalrly. I would be going nuts if cooped up with un-careful people. I hope you make it home soon. I wonder if putting something like some potted plants outside your window area might keep people back from it.
Marjen, true you'd need a doc who was willing to order it. But I bet some could be persuaded.
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Santabarbarian, I am not sure about that as we have not arrived that far into the discussion. I will definitely ask. Thank you for the suggestion.
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My whole adult life, and I’m in my early 60s now, it feels like I’ve had constant, continuous lessons on dealing with the unknown. That’s after a childhood in a large family with dysfunctional parents and no stability.
Many times, the rug’s been pulled out from under me. In my 20s, a couple of sure-fire jobs suddenly dissolved. In my 30s, my son was born prematurely. Later I had a miscarriage plus dealt with the loss of my parents within 9 months of each other. My husband had job layoffs then had to search for new work in his 40s when the steel mills tanked. And again last year in his early 60s, he had to find new employment when the power plant he worked at filed bankruptcy.
The big game changer: getting a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer in my early 50s. That’ll throw ya into a freefall for sure.
Despite all the above, you may be surprised to know I have lived a very good life. During everything, I was always aware of much abundance in my life. My life’s been very full and I’ve experienced wonderful wonderful moments and times.
So, coronavirus. Yeah. One more thing to contend with. My life experiences taught me to be prepared for the unknown. I never, ever went around claiming, “I’m blessed!” Because so many people struggle with things in life. How could I go about acting like I gota better deal than they did? What I’ve said instead is: I’m grateful. I have much to be grateful for.
I don’t like the social distancing or the stock market crashing but I have no control over these events. I must bide my time. I hope the virus isn’t tracked into my home. I don’t know the outcome of the coronavirus effects on our nation and world. It will get bad but my gosh.The American spirit always prevails. Of that, I am certain.
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DivineMrsM,
Your post (especially the last paragraph) makes me feel better about the crazy world we are living in. Thank you for that.
Also I agree with you about blessed vs. grateful. I am definitely grateful.
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DivineMrsM, Thank you for your post. Very well said.
WC3, I hope you make it home soon. I think you will be surprised even in the city people are staying home. They shouldn't be hanging out anywhere. It almost sounds like your chances of getting the virus is worse where you are now. Make it home safe.
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EXCLUSIVE
New York hospitals treating coronavirus patients with vitamin C
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At CNN updates:
Will retired seniors also get stimulus checks?
Your questions, answered
CNN's Phil Mattingly is answering your questions on the Senate stimulus package. Many of you asked if retired seniors will get stimulus checks. Here's what Mattingly said:
So long as they are not listed as a dependent for someone else (and fall within the income thresholds), yes they will.
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Santabarbarian, here is a Clinical trial for patients with Covid-19 in the ICU and IV vitamin C treatment
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT042645330 -
Here's some good news
Nobel laureate predicts US will have much faster coronavirus recovery than expected
Stanford University biophysicist Michael Levitt correctly calculated China would get through the worst of its coronavirus epidemic earlier than most health experts estimated. Now he sees a similar outcome for the United States and other affected countries.
By
Joseph Guzman
https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/pr...0 -
marijen-- very interesting; thanks for posting.
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Here’s a tip:
If you're experiencing the symptoms of coronavirus, it's advisable to sleep on your front tonight.
Researchers from Zhongda Hospital, China, recommend the snoozing position because it may be better for the lungs.
In one study, researchers analysed 12 coronavirus patients on ventilators.
Professor Haibo Qiu, who led the study, said: "This study is the first description of the behaviour of the lungs in patients with severe COVID-19 requiring mechanical ventilation and receiving positive pressure.
"It indicates that some patients do not respond well to high positive pressure and respond better to prone positioning in bed (facing downward).
"While the study only assessed 12 patients, the researchers hope the findings will encourage people showing symptoms to re-think their body positioning in bed."
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Mar 25, 2020
WHO issues a rare public scolding, saying countries wasting time
Thomas Mulier, Corinne Gretler and Naomi Kresge, Bloomberg News
Mar.25 -- Governments should stop wasting precious time needed to fight the coronavirus after squandering an opportunity to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization's head said. Meantime, China reports an increase in imported cases and infections escalate in South East Asia and Japan. Bloomberg's Selina Wang reports on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia."
Governments should stop wasting precious time needed to fight the coronavirus after squandering an opportunity to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization's head said.
"We squandered the first window of opportunity," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "The time to act was actually more than a month ago or two months ago."
The WHO chief gave a rare, blunt admonishment Wednesday on the world's progress against the disease, which has killed almost 20,000 people and is present in almost every country. The agency generally avoids public criticism of its member states, Mike Ryan, the head of its emergencies program, has said.
The world has a second chance, as 150 countries have fewer than 100 reported cases and still have time to prepare, Tedros said. Those that have ordered lockdowns have won themselves time to implement aggressive measures to stamp out the disease. How long lockdowns must last depends on what actions countries take during them to ensure the disease is eradicated, Tedros said.
While such strict regimes impose harsh social and economic costs, "the last thing any country needs is to reopen schools and businesses only to close them again because of a resurgence in cases," Tedros said.
He gave a list of six actions every country should take:
- Expand, train and deploy healthcare workers
- Implement systems to find suspected cases
- Ramp up production of tests and increase availability
- Identify facilities that can be transformed into coronavirus health centers
- Develop plans to quarantine casesRefocus government on suppressing the virus
"The world is not ready for a pandemic," Ryan said. For example, breaks in the supply chain could threaten supplies of medical gloves, which are made from rubber that's sourced from only a few countries.
Health-care workers are facing shortages of protective gear across the world, said Maria Van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist at the WHO. People who aren't sick don't need masks, she has said, and doctors shouldn't be deprived of them because of the way a country uses them.
"This is not acceptable," she said. "Protecting our health-care workers must be the top priority."
"If there's any lesson from this pandemic, it's that we need stronger public health systems," on a national and global level, Ryan said.
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I’m still flabbergasted at the many social media comments from people who think the stay at home orders in numerous states and recommended/required social distancing are ridiculous. Obviously, none of these people have any relatives or loved ones working in the medical field. Or have or know anyone they care about with underlying health issues. It smacks of selfishness and irresponsibility.
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Not only that but everyone that gets sick takes up a hospital bed or an ICU bed not to mention the medical costs, supplies, and most of all exposing the healthcare workers. Extremely selfish. I am staying in and ordering groceries, all appointments postponed or by phone. And ordering groceries from Amazon Fresh, or Wholefoods even if it takes days to arrive. I feel like if I get it, it will not be mild. I heard a party going on at the neighbors last night but I don’t read social media.
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I’m fortunate to have both my adult daughters close to me. They continue to run a well oiled machine so all three of our households are well supplied and I don’t do any shopping. I am going stir crazy and when I say that I am a true classroom, I really mean it. Distance learning will improve in the coming weeks, but so far I find being a remote teacher to first graders more exhausting than being in the classroom! I took a 40 mile drive the other day to get a vanilla milkshake. In N’Out Burger has great shakes. They also have two locations fairly close to my house but I was feeling so cooped up that I drove 40 miles south on the pretense of going out for a shake. The freeway I was on goes straight down to Los Angeles. Part of me was tempted to just keep driving so I could feel free. I know this is a situation most of us could have never imagined and we will get through it but it will take its toll in so many ways
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I ask this in another post but i will try here to :::: I'm almost 8 years out. had chemo and radiation. but are we always gonna have a weaker immune system ? is there anything we can do to Boost the immune system ? to try besides washing hands and staying away from others etc. to try and save our lives make us less weaker ?
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Vitamin C, vitamin D3, magnesium, ashrawanda, turmeric, NAC, elderberry, low dose naltrexone, zinc and astragulus.
https://ca.iherb.com/blog/the-mucous-barrier-your-...0 -
ang, you may want to take a look at the following articles from our main site too:
Cancer Treatments and Their Impact on Your Immune System
- Taking Care of Your Immune System
- Hope this helps!
- The Mods
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- Expand, train and deploy healthcare workers
- Implement systems to find suspected cases
- Ramp up production of tests and increase availability
- Identify facilities that can be transformed into coronavirus health centers
All these are being done in the USA. It is reported daily. We are coming together as a nation to fight this virus. As a retired respiratory nurse the prone position is only used when doing chest percussion therapy. This helps to loosen thick mucus in your lungs. This is impossible to do once on a ventilator. A electronic device helps vibrate the chest to do this therapy. When short of breath or when you have pneumonia you want your head as high as you can tolerate to expand your lungs. Being in the prone position is very bad advice.,
exbrnxgrl, I know what you mean!! My daughter teaches 7th graders and she is pulling out her hair!! Her 8 year old is having a hard time with all of this. I went out and bought groceries for my daughters and left the bags on their porch. I missed getting my hugs. I hope everyone can get back to normal soon.
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Here in Colorado it's still very difficult to get tested. My family and I have it, I'm 95% sure, and none of us were able to get tested. I started getting symptoms the 13th, as did my older daughter. My younger daughter and her boyfriend got symptoms the next day. Several times last week we attempted to get a test, no luck. News about this: https://kdvr.com/news/coronavirus/coloradans-still-struggling-to-find-doctors-tests-for-covid-19/
We ALL still have a fever. Mine is the highest, I'm by far the oldest (50). We're all getting better, though. The infected rate is far higher than we know and we, the United States, should have done better.
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hi SummerAngel- sorry that you and your family are sick.
I have the congestion and a cough but no fever or shortness of breath. My oncologist did not think I needed to get tested for a few reasons. 1) no fever 2) no known exposure to someone with COVID-19 and 3) my symptoms mimicking allergies, sinus infection and even the side effects from my Herceptin treatment. However because I am immune compromised (low WBC) she said that if I got worse or had fever or SOB that I needed to let her know and she would recommend testing. I have been out of work for a week and my symptoms are getting better.
Of course this begs the question. Many people will show no or minimal symptoms but still have the virus. We can't possibly know the full extent of the spread of this disease or how to isolate those who have it from those who don't without massive full scale testing. Something that can't be done (still have shortages of testing) or won't be done (can't let the country know how really widespread it might be). I think anyone who has symptoms should get tested. Your family deserves to know.
I hope that everyone in your family recovers well from this. I know it is a scary time
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SummerA, best wishes in your, and your family's, continued recovery. I didn't know Colorado had a shortage of tests.
Exbrnxgrl, I can so understand driving 40 minutes for a milkshake. At least we haven't had to give up going out for a drive which is what I think is one of life's simple pleasures.
I listened to a video by a doctor from a NYC hospital who said the coronavirus is caught through sustained contact, at least 15 - 30 minutes, with someone who has it. He recommends wearing gloves and a mask out so others know you take the virus seriously. He said the wearing of a mask helps remind us not to touch our face, not for protection. He said to wash hands and use hand sanitizer continuously during every day. His recommendations are based on what he sees in the hospital during this crisis.
Of course, there is so much conflicting information out there. But this doctor was calm and not alarming about the coronavirus, which I appreciated. He said go to a hospital if you have shortness of breath. Just having a fever does not mean you need to go to the hospital.
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Thank you for the well-wishes! The reason we're sure we have it is that we all have had the classic symptoms. The people I did manage to talk to when attempting to get tested said that with my symptoms I "most likely" have it and to go to the ER if I have trouble breathing. That was it. Luckily the shortness of breath, which was the scariest symptom, has mostly gone away, but my fever is still 101.8 today, and I never run fevers above 100. This is nearly two weeks after initial symptoms. My kids are in the 99-100 range now, but my younger daughter's boyfriend ran 103 for a couple of days, and he's 22 years old.
We're pretty sure we got it from my older daughter, who works as a pharmacy tech in one of Safeway's busiest pharmacies in Denver. When she first thought she might not be well she went to work anyway and her manager had her wear a mask. Within an hour and a half her store manager ordered her to remove the mask because she was "causing panic". I ended up pitching a fit to Safeway corporate about that and since then my daughter has been off work and isolating. We've all been isolating to avoid transferring it any more than we may already have. One thing I can say is that this is VERY contagious. Typically we don't spread a virus throughout our household and we were all sick before we knew it.
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summer, hopefully each day gets better soon and that you and your family are on the other side of this.
Our hospital has emptied out as much as possible for the influx of patients. My daughter is also a bedside nurse assigned to a designated covid unit in another local hospital. I cant begin to explain my fear for her. Only tested unless short of breath and requiring oxygen. So many sick patients. Such a shortage of tests in our state. Testing only inpatients and healthcare workers that meet criteria.
This will go on for awhile. Months. Am I not allowed to hug my daughter till august?? Her incubation period will never end. This is awful. She is 24. Faced bruised like the others you see on TV
Regardless of where we all live limiting contact with others is all we can do to help
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SummerAngel, I am sorry to hear that you and your family has the virus. Did your primary doctor notify the state health department? Where your daughter worked did they notify everyone she came in contact with? I wish you the best for a speedy recovery. My primary doctor sent an email explaining what we had to do if we had any of the symptoms and how we would go about getting a test.
A person who isn't sick who wears a mask is most likely going to touch their face at least 10x. Anyone who has had to wear a mask for any length of time will tell you it isn't easy. Your nose might run, your glasses might fog up, you might get an itch, and that piece of hair you pinned back is now in your face. Save the masks for those who are ill and those who are on the front lines.
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DebAL, does the AL mean you're in Alabama? I don't understand why more testing is not available.
Is there still a shortage of tests nationwide? Some places around me (the tri-state area of OH, WV, PA), you need to be assessed first and have a prescription to be tested. Other places no.
Yes, something you never thought about before is how wearing a mask all day would cause bruising. My heart goes out to your daughter. She is very young. And brave. My thoughts are with her.
Flashlight, I wouldn't be wearing a mask in the house. It would only be if I needed to get bloodwork done or some other unforeseen event where I had to be somewhere. But I've heard enough now to make up my mind that if I go out, the mask will come on.
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