Dx. 6/2021, Gleason Score 3 + 4 + 5 (Group 5), PSA 33. Started ADT: Firmagon, then Lupron + Zytiga; in Fall 2021 did EBRT and HDR Brachytherapy. I’ve been working from home for the last year+ and now being asked by our employer to go back in the office part-time (2 days/week minimum) where masking wearing will mandatory for two weeks, then no masks required. I know my boss wants to see folks back in the office. What are your thoughts and/or experiences in working during COVID?
I’m in NorCal where are positivity rates have dropped back down to 2.5% so perhaps it’s ok? I haven’t been able to get a hold of my MO to get an answer - the RN covering keeps asking if I want a note to stay remote. I do have HBP, Obesity thanks to ADT, and a previous cancer history (Lymphoma) as potential risk factors.
Should I follow the directive back into the office part time, or stick with getting a medical approval to stay remote?
Written by
EmpireGradeCyclist
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Given your risks, another booster may be in order. My primary care doc, is giving me another booster 3 months after the last. I’m aware that they’ve done this in Isreal also.
Can you effectively do your job remotely without your career suffering? Do you have a private office with a door? My husband currently works remotely. He goes in to the office late in the afternoon, wearing a KN95 mask. He has an air purifier in his office, and a door that closes. He also goes in on the weekends when no one is there. However, he has to be hyper vigilant due to chemo.
There are way too many variables to make a recommendation without knowing more about your environment. If you do wear a mask, where will you eat lunch? Your mask will be off at that time.
What percentage of your coworkers are vaccinated and boosted?
These are all things to consider. You are not on chemo, so you’re really not immune compromised right now. A booster will give you peace of mind, since it has been 5 months that’s a good idea.
Given my multiple medical issues and history, you would think that I’m 60. In reality, I just turned 48 last month. What’s even crazier is that my various oncology team have not found any genetic links via testing that could have caused either the Lymphoma or the PCa. I’ve just had some unique luck in my life.
You’re the only one who can make this decision based on your personal circumstances. Are you secure in your place of employment? Is your employer aware of your health issues? Have they shown any evidence of caring? Can your job be done remotely without seriously impacting other employees and the company’s bottom line? Unfortunately, most states are ‘right to work’, which ironically means that an employer can pretty much fire you at any time for any reason (other than obviously discriminatory reasons). Hopefully, an employer would be sensitive to the fact that you’re dealing with two types of cancer, and would cut you some slack. But there’s no guarantee.
There is a lot of wishful thinking that Covid is ‘over’. Unfortunately, it’s not. Thousands of people are still getting sick and dying every day. And who knows if another potentially even more virulent variant will present itself in the near future. This is (or should not be) a political issue; it’s a health issue. You have to decide what degree of risk you are willing to take. Just don’t make that decision based on some bizarre sense of bravado or other people’s opinions.
If you listen carefully to the scientists, especially the ones whose role is not to be spokespeople to politicians who want to tell people what they want to hear, they still don't know what's coming.
They are already tracking new variants, including a highly mutated one from deer, which has just recently made it back to humans.
Most of your fellow workers have or soon will, abandon good hygiene.
At a minimum you should continue with your own masking using 3M or Honeywell N95 masks.
If you can get a medical excuse to work from home without harming your career, you should.
What would be the reason not to do so?
..... unless you have a value system that compels you to do otherwise.
Been a Frontline worker throughout pandemic, 2 mandera, 1 booster but still will wear mask when out front being exposed to customers, where I work is behind the scenes 90 percent of the time so no mask as all have been vaccinated and boosted. Will still wear it in stores where it is crowded.
Is your employer aware you have cancer? I'm completely against working in the office and think an employer who "asks" you to come back should be viewed with suspicion, especially if you feel like you have any risk of Covid infection.
If your employer is aware you have cancer, you feel vulnerable, and you're being asked to come in anyway, IMHO, find another job ASAP.
OTOH, if you want to be in the office and you feel your risk of infection is minimal, go ahead.
I can see why you wanted to bounce this off us. Your kind of between a rock and a hard place.
Are you close enough with some of your co-workers to bounce it off them.
Maybe some of them will indicate that they will continue to mask after masks at your workplace are not required.
Even if your work environment is one of "mask freedom" if called out for wearing a mask if you don't mind you can just say " I have stage 4 cancer".
That usually elicits silence and a blank stare from anyone giving you hell about wearing a mask. Or just the brave old attitude: I don't care what others think.
Latest studies have shown if you are wearing a well sealed N95 you should be safe around unmasked people for 8 hours (16 hours if both people are masked) before the possibility of catching starts to occur. KN95 a little less protective.
Surgical about 3/4 of that time and cloth about an 1/8 or less of that time.
Asymptomatic spread is still a thing so unless everyone is religiously tested for peace of mind you probably want to mask or work remote. But it's your decision. We don't know the office peer pressure that you might be under and the fear of recrimination affecting your job.
Sounds like a corporate company. So if you choose remote and if there are any repercussions can HR help you? Maybe speak to HR ahead of time about your concerns?
Yes covid has been found in deer but also found to not be transmissible to humans although one scientist said of course don't lick a deer lol,
And we don't know yet where this is going. New Omicron variant found in the south U.S. more contagious than last but no info. yet on severity of infection.
We might be in a sweet spot now with low transmission or we might get lucky and are headed towards a truly endemic stage.
Lovely ha.Sure enough now that I think more about the interview the scientist said
recommends hunters use caution in handling deer, don't feed deer etc.
And she added that humorous "dont lick deer of course".
Although how she relayed that info. maybe out of caution as you mentioned in reply above ( let the public discern from what is conveyed) she said no human transmission evidence found at this time. Interview was a couple weeks ago.
It seems like the general scientific consensus is that we are now going to be facing a recurring and mutating Covid....
..... that can get worse or better every year.
But seems to leave lots of people with long term debilitating effects.
Yep. Unfortunately that's the assessment. It includes the known and unknown. And why wouldn't it be. We don't have cancer figured out. Why would we have a newly discovered mutating virus figured out.
But again since we aren't sure of the future with this if it starts to look endemic we should be able to live a bit more normally. Should eventually be able to predict a worse or better strain coming and adapt as we do with flu strains that have predictions for transmissibility and severity.
The occurrence of long term diabilatation is the wild card in some individuals. Hopefully we can find prevention of those conditions.
Everyone of us looks at Covid for their own well being. For me, I know Covid is always going to be around. I decided a long time ago to not let it run my life. I live as normally as possible. Not afraid to do or go anywhere. I stopped wearing masks months ago. I am fully vaxed. I figure if I do catch it I will be fine.
I am of the opinion that as society has advanced, most though not all, have picked up and adopted certain habits of hygiene.
Such as wearing shoes, refraining from public spitting and or the use of spittoons, refraining from chewing tobacco and smoking, and washing of hands after toileting oneself.
I submit that it is only a matter of time that the use of n95 types of masks in public will join such expected polite hygiene.
It already has in some of the more advanced areas in Asia, where not wearing a mask is considered rude, not unlike urinating in public.
Any scientist that is employed by an elected politician whom you see on TV.
But even those (excluding the wackos employed by Repub Governor's) they carefully qualify what they say to admit they don't know, but articulate in a way to permit people to interpret it the way they want and justify actions they will take anyway.
Listen real hard next time you hear one of them on TV.
Dr. Gottlieb is pretty good at letting idealogical dogmatic fools hear what they want to without making false statements of fact (as opposed to qualified opinion). Fauci is good at that as well.
Listen closely for what you don't want to hear... it's there.
Go back to work. If you were on Chemo I would stay home.. Stay as active as possible. Keep walking!!! Good luck and enjoy the friendships at work! My husband has been on chemo 3 times and has had covid 2 times with no ill effects what so ever.
Since you are vaccinated and boosted, Covid should hardly be your main concern. It’s your co morbidities that need focus. They increase your risk of serious illness from Covid yes, but there are treatments for covid now that were unavailable only a short time ago. Your existing health would need serious and prompt attention if no Covid existed.
I’m sorry for your condition, but saying you are obese ‘thanks to ADT’ is tantamount to abdicating yourself of all responsibility for your obesity. It is well within your control to eliminate it on ADT, even if not easy.
IMHO your overall health matters much more than Covid at this point.
The ability to reply to this post has been turned off.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
What happens if I keep taking Xtandi long after it stops working? 
Working with Stage IV
Lupron and Zytiga working, PSA 1000+ to PSA 0.02
Urinary/bowel issues during radiation?
Covid-19 questions. 
