Rejoining society after chemo—when is it safe?
Dear all,
I just finished chemo and am wondering when it is safe to rejoin society. Maybe others have the same question? I am fully vaccinated, and was before chemo started, but will still be wearing my mask, avoiding crowds, restaurants, etc. And so is my husband, to keep me safe (bless him!). Our state fully opened up, and while it is joyful to see people out, we are not ready. My MO says I should be ok since I'm vaccinated and counts have been fine, but he respects our cautiousness.
So…where in the US can we get a blood test of our COVID neutralizing antibodies to see if our memory B cells are working properly, one month after chemo, or 3 months? Better understanding of our immune response seems like a great question for a clinical study, and expect there are many of us in this situation. Does anyone know of such a study?
Any other insights? How are others dealing with this?
Many thanks everybody, best wishes and hugs.
Comments
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Hi Beet9s,
How wonderful to have the chemo behind you. That is such a milestone blessing. I was worried too, as I knew that I had a lowered immune system in this cancer fight and that we were supposedly in a "fragile" population.
I don't know what others will advise. I only know what has worked for me. I found the FLCCC Frontline Critical Covid Care doctors (flccc.net) about six months ago. These are the frontline doctors, pulmonologists, etc that have been treating people with Covid for over a year now. They know how to help people through it and created an early treatment international protocol called I-Mask+ which is downloadable in many languages on their website. They have a weekly International Zoom Webinar on Wednesdays at 4:00 Pacific where they report how they are doing with their Covid patients worldwide, and how they are treating them early, and whether the protocol is changing. People worldwide tune in. The FLCCC doctors report that their patients do very well when the infection is treated early. My own doctor follows their protocol and out of her over 2000 patients, including many compromised cancer patients like me who have come to her with cancer, none has had any problems whatsoever with Covid.
So, I tried the protocol. I take daily Vitamin D 10k IU, melatonin, a good multivitamin with Zinc, a really good bioabsorbable powdered Vitamin C (VitalityC), and 20 mg ivermectin weekly (the FLCCC protocol used to be monthly), but the frontline doctors changed it because they were seeing breakthrough cases at two weeks. They have a lot of studies backing up every item above on their protocol, all of which are directly linked from their website. IVM is on the WHO's top 10 list of the world's most essential drugs and won a Nobel Prize for its effect on humans. It has an amazing antiviral quality which is how it became repurposed and used with great success for Covid, especially if taken immediately at first symptoms. I've read the studies, not just the abstracts, and am amazed by how helpful it is, and how quickly it works.
All that to say, I am so grateful I was able to stop worrying about Covid after finding these doctors and starting my protocol. My immune system is much stronger and my stress level is way down. Once I"m done with radiation, I am going to stop taking IVM and just keep it in the medicine cabinet in case I ever feel like I"m coming down with something. It works just as well when taken within hours of feeling like you're fighting off something that might be Covid, and many vaccinated people take it prophylactically. I just wish I hadn't spent last year with an N95 suction cupped to my face because oxygen saturation is super important with cancer.
Congratulations again on getting past your chemo and into the next chapter of your journey!
Blessings,
Esther
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Thanks so much Esther, very helpful!
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I came to this thread because of concerns about when to rejoin society after having completed chemo last month (thankfully). However, I do want to note that the doctors group referenced in the thread seems to be one offering advice without evidenciary basis.
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