How has the Pandemic affected you as a cancer patient/survivor
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Alice - Thanks for catching that. Will edit previous post.
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I live in Idaho and it is so scary to be in crisis standard of care. I just pray that no one I know is in a car accident or has a heart attack. It is so frustrating as I know people who just won’t get vaccinated, even fellow teachers. We have absolutely no Covid protocols. I am one of about 3 people who wears a mask in my school and I am just waiting for cases to spread. My friend’s daughter is in ICU with pneumonia and just got a positive Covid test, but my friend won’t admit that she has Covid, because “the hospitals say all the patients have Covid because they get more money.” This is the kind of ignorance we are dealing with here.0
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Peregrinelady - I hope your friend's daughter can recover. I don't know how your friend can be in such denial. Maybe she should get vaccinated so that the hospital is less likely to get their hands on her. 🤔
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Candy - I don't think you're a wuss! I'm with you!
Our Covid cases have been going up since the beginning of summer. With our local team winning the NBA championship and HUGE watch parties taking place all over the county since May, or local state fair, small city festivals, a huge annual music festival going on right now, not to mention our MLB team being in the number one spot in our division and the beginning of the NFL season; I don't see the numbers going down anytime soon. We're at the highest positive cases since January.
I have several family members and friends who are vaccinated and have caught this variant and have had terrible experiences and still recovering. I don't want it! I am, and will continue to be cautious.
My son is in his last semester of EMT/Fire Science (Firefighter) and has cautioned me about going out, even to the grocery store, not because he wants me cooped up, but because he wants me around for more years. I've also been conversing with a firefighter who is currently getting rads daily right after me and he is telling me that there are so many people are literally brushing off their symptoms.
So I get it! If I can get away with doing outdoor activities without being shoulder to shoulder with others I will. Otherwise, I'll continue to do my best to enjoy other activities (which are limited) that don't put me at risk.
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Interesting article in my local paper. On Sunday they have a pull out with commentaries from well respected community leaders. Today one column focused on a recent directive from our Ministry of Health. Apparently a letter went out this week to physicians encouraging them to start seeing more patients in person. It also indicated there may be changes to the fee structure for virtual visits.
What was particularly interesting to me is the columnist mentioned some patients not seeing their doctor in person for as much as 18 months, indicating that was clearly substandard care. I wondered what he would think of an MBC patient who has not seen their oncologist (or anyone at the Cancer Agency for that matter) for coming up to 21 months. I don't blame the docs - they are just following guidelines - but it’s ridiculous. How can they possibly judge the nuances of the disease when they can’t see me? They’re putting a lot on the patient to be clear about how they are feeling…
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Sadiesservant - Hope you can get an in-person visit soon. I've been seeing my MO every 4-8 weeks except once when he was in quarantine. It can be frustrating.
Had my MO appointment this morning. The same clerk had his mask hanging off his ear again. When he called me to schedule my next appointment, I paused and asked him to put it on. He grudgingly obliged. Since complaining to the charge nurse didn't work, I sent an email to the hospital ombudsman with a photo. Hope this works.
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I don't want to argue with him. Everyone else wears their masks. He seems to think he's special. In my email I asked that the whole staff be reminded. They shouldn't accept working with him maskless.
I voted early because of my appointment. 👍
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We were recently in Virginia Beach and took the trolley bus on Atlantic Avenue. There were numerous repetitive recordings over the bus loudspeaker. What I liked was one specifically said, “Masks must be worn over the nose and mouth at all times while riding the bus." I think it would help if places specifically wrote those instructions about the nose and mouth on their signs or included those specific words in their announcements when informing people masks must be worn.
They could even include, “And none of this dangling off the ear, either.That goes for you, hot shot!"
Serenity, I am often one who speaks up and always appreciate others who do, so I’m glad you wrote your email and sent photo proof.
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Divine - I got a response that they will look into it. They also included that some employees are exempt if completely blocked off by plexiglass. He is not. I have another appointment at the hospital tomorrow. I can go by the cancer centre to photograph the partial plexiglass wall he sits behind compared to the blood centre where they truly are blocked off. They're close to pissing off the wrong cancer patient. 🤬
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Just saw this 🤣
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Serenity,
I needed that laugh! However, it did bring back memories of my mom and the rectal thermometer 🥺.
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Even if the delivery driver is wearing a mask properly when you see him, it doesn't mean that it was on 10 seconds earlier. We were out on a walk a few weeks ago and passed by a delivery truck parked at the curb - I think it was Amazon but am not sure. The driver was by the open doors at the back of the truck, sorting through parcels. His mask was on his chin. He let out a massive sneeze, not covering his mouth or nose, spreading his germs all over all the packages in his vicinity. I know that they now say that Covid doesn't transfer through surfaces but that sure didn't make me feel good about all the delivery packages we receive.
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wrenn....And how precious few actually understand even a basic level of science and anatomy. It is shocking for sure.
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This is why I wash my hands after handling a delivery package.
Before the pandemic I avoided touching door handles, elevator buttons, and escalator rails. Taking public transit is gross. After the pandemic I'm keeping my masks.
Tomorrow I'm taking the commuter train for the first time since first lockdown. 🥺
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when I was getting my first infusion of chemo in august 2020, there was a nurse in the chemo infusion area who was constantly taking her mask down when she was by the nurse’s desk area or if she had her chair pushed back a foot from that desk (which put her closer to a patient getting an infusion.) at one point I heard one of the other nurses giving her a very basic explanation of how the masks work and why they were necessary. The crazy thing is that she was clearly a more senior nurse and I heard her teaching other nurses new to the infusions center how to use the equipment and make the adjustments to the machines.
Luckily, she was across the room from me and I never saw her in the infusion room after that — so I suspect someone complained. It was my first infusion and I had my port surgery immediately beforehand, so I was not in a mental place to complain, although normally it’s a fight I’m happy to have.
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It's terrifying to learn that years of medical experience doesn't mean that much in COVID times.
I'll be ready if the ombudsman claims the employee is exempt because of a little Plexiglass. He's not completely behind Plexiglass if it's possible for me to drop a balance ball on his head. I could probably get his chair with a bank shot.
ETA: Not bringing an actual balance ball. Maybe just my cousin's friend who got vaccinated. 😉
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Serenity,
Covid is airborne, so plexiglass won't help him at all.
https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(21)00869-2/fulltext
honestly, it's so tiring after 18 months, even our healthcare professionals can't get a grasp on how covid transmit.
Also, the U.S hit a milestone today, https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/20/health/us-covid-dea...
people are still debating masks and vaccine. I was just on another SM, someone complained about local mask mandate and claimed it was our vaccination rate rather than the reinstatement of in door mask mandate that brought down our cases since the recent peak in late July/early Aug.
Well, just look at Singapore,
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/singapo...
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Serenity, shots that leave our shores but don't end up in foreign arms might as well be flushed down the toilet. I know it's ideal to vaccinate the world to prevent the pandemic from worsening (and possibly allow it to begin to subside), but the sad truth is that more often than not, the ideal is the enemy of the achievable--the corollary of "the perfect is the enemy of the good." Must we sacrifice our must vulnerable on the altar of "well, our hearts were in the right place?"
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I trust that if vaccines are given to COVAX, they will be sent to locations and through systems that are equipped and ready to get those vaccines into arms.
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ChiSandy - Please stop saying that other countries in need are too incompetent or corrupt given that we can find the same people here. Also, no one is calling for the vulnerable to be sacrificed. You keep coming up with different phrases, but enough with the drama.
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Things are so very different here in Chicago!
My husband & I have re-entered most of life, but with proper precautions--even before getting our boosters. We never stopped wearing masks indoors, regardless of signs saying (it seems, in retrospect, like all of five minutes) it was "optional for vaccinated individuals." We keep them on in restaurants until we actively begin eating or drinking--and put them on (indoors or outdoors) when interacting with servers. We figure if they have to wear them we should return the courtesy. We have begun using public transit to places we can't drive, much less park.* We have been to a football and three baseballl games--all outdoors, of course, wearing our masks everywhere but at our seats (and sometimes even there--we wore our Bears masks between sips of beer). We wash our hands everytime we get home (and sanitize them upon entering & exiting stores and restaurants). We obey social-distancing floor markers & flow-direction arrows in stores. We have not canceled medical or dental appointments. Little Co. of Mary's physician dinner-dance this coming Sat, is going forward: all attendees must show proof of full vaccinations (negative test results are not an acceptable substitute). Cocktail reception is in an outdoor tent; and masks will be required indoors for dining. I get my manis and pedis--but only at the studio where everyone is masked and unmasked customers who won't don an offered mask are firmly shown the door.
We're not throwing all caution to the winds, though. We have postponed vacations, and walk out of businesses where masking is the exception rather than the rule. But Bob has to work at hospitals & clinics every day, and we are now triple-vaccinated. Also not getting my hair done--my roots are not all that visible (and if they were, it'd be fashionable); and though doing my own blowout is labor-intensive, it's not worth going to Drybar where I don't know the vaccination status of the stylist i'd be assigned. Were I on chemo or immunotherapy, or once again actively being irradiated, we (or at least I) might once again retreat to our own four walls & backyard, though.
In most cancer cases, spurning in-person imaging is truly playing Russian roulette--the risk of letting tumors spread unchecked is greater than that of catching COVID if patients & staff are properly-masked, and far greater if patients & staff are vaccinated. Virtual phone or even video consults cannot substitute for manual exams, bloodwork & scans. (How can your dermatologist do a full-skin exam via even Zoom or Doximity? No phone or webcam, however good the wi-fi or cell signal, is adequate--especially in only 2 dimensions).
Serendipity, I really feel for those of you in southern IL, especially those of you who got vaccinated and follow all mitigations but still have the majority of your fellow residents be anti-vaxer maskhole COVIDiots who value their alleged "freedom" over the health of others using up all the ICU beds in 22 counties. I can't imagine what it must be like to essentially have to keep quarantining--avoiding even outdoor dining!--due to the ignorant inconsiderate. As of today, Chicago has a 3.1 positivity level (down from last week's 3.8, and IL's 4.6 last week). I also can't imagine encountering health care workers not properly masking now (though they probably aren't divulging their vaccination status). Every
CA Gov. Newsom' kids were too young to be vaccinated, and it might have been likely that their schools were not enforcing employee vaccination mandates nor masking for everyone. But Pfizer today announced that the results of its Phase III trial of pediatric-strength vaccines showed they were safe & effective for 5-11 yr. olds; data on 2-4 yr. olds and infants 6-23 mos. old are expected in coming weeks.
*(We went to Soldier Field by train yesterday because of rolling downtown street closures--requiring proof of residence or job in the area--caused by the weeklong+ Mexican Independence Day mostly-car-based celebrations; had we been able to park & take a shuttle, were the Loop. once again clogged by cars honking horns, ignoring traffic lanes/signals/one-way signs, and revelers tossing firecrackers, we'd have had to leave our car overnight and get stuck with a huge bill this morning to pick it up--and have had to take the train for the trip home yesterday anyway).
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Chowdog - We need all layers! Masks help keep cases low. Vaccinations keep deaths low even with rising cases.
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Beesie, do we have any information on how COVAX distribution is going so far and how many nations are participating and keeping their commitments? You have been a strong advocate for worldwide shots in arms so I thought you might have some idea I’m not asking for sources, etc. Your ballpark assessment is most welcome. Thanks.
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Serenity, I know, and good ventilation too. That’s why I am so tired of all the debate. In my local sm platform, someone complains about mask or vaccine mandate every couple of weeks. I just straight report these posts as misinformation now. Even my local restaurant group got into some heated debate aboutindoor vaccine mandate and the post was finally taken down after > 300 comments.
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Serenity, I'm not saying those Third World countries are too corrupt incompetent, or dictatorial--I'm saying that the majority of their leaders are. Until the W.H.O. and wealthy nations can figure out how to get doses past those leaders and into the arms of the people who need them, it's the functional equivalent of flushing them down the toilet while saying "oh, well, we tried." We can't sacrifice practicality on the altar of soul-satisfying but unfeasible idealism. It's taken me half a century to develop that (reluctantly disillusioned) pragmatism.
Remember when I said that the language barrier (and incompetent translation) is in large part responsible for Latinx vaccine skepticism/denial? Well, it's even more far-reaching than that. I was watching MSNBC's Alicia Menendez on her show American Voices last night and she had VICE journalist Paola Ramos as a guest. Latinx people, especially women, make up a plurality of U.S. vaccine-skeptical/resisting/hestitant people. Ramos interviewed dozens, asking them why they believed social media more than they did experts on TV news, especially Dr. Fauci. The most common responses she got was "who's Dr. Fauci?" and "never heard of him."
Why? Because the majority of Latinx people get their news solely from social media and "the grapevine" of friends & family. And they get that "news" not on computers or TV sets but on their phones. A higher percentage of Latinx Americans own smartphones than do all other ethnic groups in America. The phones are their lifelines--especially with family members south of our border with Mexico and Mexico's with Central America. In many localities, broadcast signal depends on cable or satellite, which are costly. Even a good over-the-air signal may not be possible if one lives in multi-family housing without connection to a rooftop antenna. And those who are essential workers &/or have family members (especially multigenerational) to care for simply lack the luxury of enough time to plop down in front of a TV set.
Moreover, social media are much less likely to ban or otherwise censor COVID disinformation if it's in Spanish than if it's in English. Ony 29% of that disinformation in English makes it though Twitter's/FB's/Instagram's/What'sApp's/TikTok's content surveillance, but a staggering 70% of Spanish-language disinformation does! (Potential ad revenue, not just being "asleep at the switch," may be to blame).
Ramos suggested that Spanish-speaking (especially Latinx) scientists and physicians have a major responsibility to reach non-Anglophones via social media if that's what it takes. People tend to respect, relate, and therefore listen more, to those who look and sound like them.
Note that the above information comes not from me but from Menendez & Ramos.
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sandy,
Though it is a view I was very sad to have to adopt, my experiences with working in a third world country and travel/volunteerism puts me in a position to agree with your reluctant pragmatism. I still hold out hope that the ship can be righted but I wouldn’t bet my life, such as it is with stage IV, on it. Yup, the blame squarely falls on greedy corrupt regimes and the greedy corrupt people in power. Of course you I hope an effort is made to get vaccines to every corner of the world by NGO’s or other agencies that can get around the corruption.
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Why you choose to lump all these countries together is beyond me. Guess I wasn't clear I was talking about the leadership being incompetent and corrupt, but I was. You mentioned you had them in Illinois.
"People tend to respect, relate, and therefore listen more, to those who look and sound like them." - ChiSandy
Clearly you do.
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I really, really, really wish that what I have learned in my 65 years always lead me in the direction of optimism. While my experiences have opened my eyes to the world in a many good ways they have also exposed me to some things that were heartbreaking but on balance gave me a much more realistic and pragmatic world view. My rose tinted glasses have darkened a bit but I needed that in many ways.
I was chatting with an Afghan friend recently. We discussed all the latest and I gave her my opinion on the current situation. She made an interesting comment after I asked her if things had changed much in the years since I lived there. She commented that although many things had changed superficially, that nothing had really changed at all. I asked if she thought that my assessment of the current situation reflected how things actually were. She simply repeated that nothing had changed and she wasn’t too optimistic that much would. Normally I would say that my pre-revolutionary experience in Afghanistan 🇦🇫 was too long ago to have much bearing on how things are today but they’re not. It’s hard for most of us to even conceive of what my poor beleaguered second country is like
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I too am reluctant to use the term "Latinx" (not the least because it is difficult to pronounce--and that difficulty being especially because it's a neologism). Most people of my acquaintance who claim Latin-American heritage do not like the term--they have no problem with the gender-specific "Latina" or "Latino" or the earlier gender-neutral "Hispanic." (SCOTUS Justice Sotomayor was slammed for referring to herself in a speech as a "wise Latina"--not by those offended by the gender-specific descriptor but by white conservatives with their shorts in a knot over a SCOTUS Justice who happens to be female, brown, wise, and most tellingly, Democratic-President-appointed). Sometimes by trying to appear all-inclusive, the majority culture unwittingly offends more of the minority-group members it seeks to describe. (Then there's the reality that Spanish-speaking people from the Western hemisphere come from a myriad of nations and regions within those nations. The rhetorical gymnastics--of ascertaining and naming each specific geographic culture--can be so cumbersome that the temptation to take the rhetorical path of least resistance ends up prevailing, satisfying nobody).
The report I just described in my immediately-previous post came from two Latina women. I listen to and respect it. How anyone infers that I don't respect anyone who doesn't look or sound like an Anglo is beyond me.
BTW, I also wish there were a unique set of pronouns for the non-binary, rather than sharing the plural "they," "them" and "their." Half the time when I see those descriptors, I find myself re-reading the previous paragraphs looking for evidence of a plural I might have missed. Back at the dawn of the 1970s, we managed to come up with the marital-status-neutral "Ms." for all women. I have no problem with "Mx." (pronounced "mix"?) as a title for non-binary people--at least it signals that I'm reading about a non-binary person.
Now get off my lawn. ;-)
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Ok, Boomer.
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