Quarantined

[Dcfrey6450]

Hi. Just wondering how everyone is handleing this cornovirus? Is anyone's Dr. telling them they can't go anywhere, socialize at all even at 6 feet with a mask?

[nanasu]

I`ve been doing what is best for me. Staying home and going out only when necessary. Had no info from my GP at all. What I have had has come from government, NHS and my haematologist. Is easier for me maybe living on my own.....only me to worry about.

If you want to go out for a walk then go, just be careful and keep your distance from other people. Wearing a mask may make you feel safer, it does me.

Take care.....look after yourself.

[Dcfrey6450 in reply to nanasu]

thank you,stay safe/

[lankisterguy Volunteer]

When I am outdoors, I wear a surgical mask to protect others (and encourage others to wear one around me), and avoid getting downwind of anyone less than 10 ft. / 3 meters away.

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I also carry a N95 mask and a face shield with me in the event I am surrounded by people not wearing masks or I must go inside a grocery store, pharmacy, etc. I put these on to protect myself from droplets and aerosols from other people. But wearing this gear for 30 to 60 minutes is exhausting.

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There seems to be more and more evidence that fine mist aerosols of COVID 19 can stay suspended for greater time and distances than previously suspected. And the transmission may be through the eyes and mucous membranes, so eye protection may be essential. So until the science is better defined, I will be prepared.

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nature.com/articles/d41586-...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

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Len

[WinJ3]

I get no guidance from my doctors.

What I do is stay at home and only go out for essential doctors appointment and medications. I have Instacart food delivery.

Stay safe.

Win

[teakbank12]

We only go out for hospital scans and face to face consultation where required and cannot be done over the phone or video call.

Wife is going for her first hair trim since March tomorrow at 8am and will be the first customer since Saturday. She and stylist will be face covered and disposable smocks and towels.

We asked how much more they were charging to cover extra costs and they replied they'll absorb it at present. We will pay extra to help them out being a small family concern as they will be doing a lot less hair styling with all the new rules.

Wife is looking forward to going out on her own and will return and strip off and shower as soon as returning.

Thursday I have another hospital CT scan for my sinus area for ENT.

We will carry on shopping online only access open outside areas when quiet which is harder to do now holiday season is here.

Dave

[LovelyLilyGirl]

I am currently in treatment that I started in March. My CLL specialist who is an amazing person told me to double mask, keep as much distance from other people and stay home as much as possible. I do go to the grocery store on off hours when there aren’t as many people there. I wear a double mask and gloves I get in and out as quick as possible and I use the self check out line.

Everyone stay safe and well

-Sally

[HopeME in reply to LovelyLilyGirl]

Hi Sally

What do you mean double mask? I haven’t heard that before.

Thanks

Mark

[LovelyLilyGirl in reply to HopeME]

I wear a blue surgical mask and on top, a quilted cloth mask. My dr says just gives me extra protection.

[HopeME in reply to LovelyLilyGirl]

OK. I understand now. Thank you.

Mark

[Smac29 in reply to LovelyLilyGirl]

I also double mask, but no gloves. I just use hand sanitizer and/or wash my hands often.

[lexie in reply to LovelyLilyGirl]

I double mask as well. When I saw doctors aboard a plane with a n95 and a surgical mask over that I decided to come as close to that as possible. Like yours that is surgical and cloth for me.

[81ue]

I'm in USA, masks and 6 ft haven't been mentioned at my appointments. They make us wear masks and distance at the appointments, so it seems they assume we understand to take those precautions for ourselves always without having to be told. I don't socialize outside of family right now except online.

[WDSmith]

Great question. We're all in a tizzy at our house about this... we have teenagers! lol

Currently we're masking and distancing when out (though in the minority); hitting stores when they open when we must go out. Order groceries for curbside pickup. We have skipped a few larger family gatherings.

But our biggest looming problem is the local schools start back in 4 weeks with no real way to distance and not requiring masks (in the Southeast US). They are offering a remote option and I guess we will explore that, but with all due respect to educators everywhere ( I am one myself) I don't see that being a great options without way overtaxing teachers, which I'm against. So I don't know if we'll pull them and homeschool or what. It's a mess...

My husband (the CLL patient) has even considered just staying away from the kids (if we sent them to school)... but for how long? Sheesh! He's in cycle 1 of a 24 cycle clinical trial...

Anybody else still got kids at home?

[Shedman in reply to WDSmith]

The likely reasoning starting point is considering current level, and likely trends in, local infection rates..

Homeschooling for a semester might be wise.. but the children will still want out and about..?

What a difficult / conflicted situation.. I feel for you.

[Mystic75 in reply to WDSmith]

You have my sympathy - all the best to you!

D.

[Harvist in reply to WDSmith]

Wow! I shudder to think of the problems you have. As an ex teacher I understand your concerns. Online learning can work but doesn't help with social development and can really (eventually) turn kids off their education.

As a parent of a much older son who lived at home we have faced similar problems. He chose to move out and live with a friend which has made some aspects of his job hard and we miss him greatly. But until UK and US governments implement strict rules about mask wearing and social distancing, whatever we do as individuals will be shattered by encounters with the antisocial few.

Much sympathy.

[Meamiaam10 in reply to WDSmith]

We are in the same boat!! I have a 14yr, 9yr,, 7yr old and our schools start back in a few weeks! I also have a husband that works 50-60hr a week so I have no choice but to handle some things myself. My doctor just said here in the US he doesn’t see us living much differently over the next year!! I have thought about remote learning / homeschooling - I can’t quite imagine what they will be like - even though we did it for 2 months at the end of school, from my understanding this will be quite different. We also live in the southeast & many people here don’t quite take this as seriously as others! It’s a very strange time! Best wishes to you all on your decision about schools!!!

[Billhere in reply to WDSmith]

Yes!! OMG! What a total mess!! I am the CLL patient in our family.

We have a 9 YO going into 4th and a 6 YO going into Kindergarten. Our only sanity is the ability for our two kids to play with the two kids next-door - because we have banned everything else and it really is a comedy show trying to enforce mask wearing while kids are riding bikes, climbing trees and playing games with each other. It totally proves there’s no way to enforce this at school, I mean that’s all the teacher will have time to do!!!

And then when the parents come over to sit on our porch for a glass of wine it’s the oddest thing in the world to see the two of them 6 feet away from the two of us! And with the kids going back-and-forth between the four of us with and without masks the whole thing falls apart.

We pretty much gone back to the way it was in March, but the school decision is looming!!! Word is, in the next 10 days the school is going to require a choice, distance-learning or physical attendance. My sister who has four grown children and is a nurse, was talking with us yesterday along with her husband and she emphasized the damage that keeping kids away from school causes and the critical socialization that it brings. She asked us, what if it takes three or four or five years to get this thing under control, what are you going to do - keep them home all that time? I didn’t have an answer we are just sort of frozen in fear.

Every single day is filled with details, forensic analysis and decisions. The other day we had to leave our house for the whole day because electricians had to come in to work and then we had to let it air out for an hour and then we had to wipe everything down with bleach wipes!!

The CLL Society medical board advises super-strict quarantine level for CLL patients. The published papers, only a few so far, shows the grim reaper is hot on or tails!

Sheesh!!!!

[SERVrider]

I have just completed my first month on Acalabrutinib and Co-Trimoxazole. I have asked my haematologist whether it would be safe to go to Belgium to visit my Godfather who is 93 and fading, with COPD. She has advised not until shielding comes to an end in August and also when we can return to UK without going into 14 days' isolation. He'll just have to hold on until then!

[FairweatherSailor]

I think it's a difficult question to answer because we are all different even though we all suffer from the same chronic condition. I have been on W&W for 2 1/2 years. We are in the UK and I have had great support throughout from the NHS Royal Marsden . Got the shielding letter from them right at the beginning. Then shortly afterwards I had specific advice (by email) that my consultant had reviewed my January bloods and felt it was safe for me to go outside for daily exercise (with distancing but no mask). I have now just had a telephone review with the consultant. He is very happy for me to continue as we are. We also have had a couple of BBQ's in our garden with our daughter and her partner, making sure that they distance of course and being very careful with hygiene. Have not needed to go shopping as yet but I think that we may start to think about that at quiet times , very infrequently, wearing masks, sometime soon. I do understand that what we do may not suit everyone. Good luck, it's not easy.

[Meamiaam10]

I just had an appt with my CLL doctor. He was not negative per say but he said living 6ft apart and with constant masks and not being part of even small size groups will be my life for at least the next year. I have to be honest I left his office a little defeated feeling. I have 3 children (14yr, 9yr & 7yr) and they will be going back to school in just a few weeks. I have already had to tell them no sports (our schools have already started children’s organized sports practice) and now I’m considering having to homeschool all 3 of them! (I was at one time a preschool teacher so I may be able to handle my elementary age children fine, but my oldest is in honors & advanced classes I will need some kind of assistance I’m sure & I feel bad for the teachers at school having to teach and then assist the parents who’s kids stay home !!). I don’t have the luxury of staying home all the time but I try my best. My husband works about 50-60hr a week so I do sometimes go out, but for the most part I stay home, take the kids on bike rides and hikes where we can stay far enough away from people and occasionally go into a store - masked all the time of course - but many around here (southeast US) do not & don’t seem to care much. It slightly depressing thinking I have at least another year of this if not possibly more strict over the winter months here.

[Billhere in reply to Meamiaam10]

God Bless you. We are imagining we can get through a year of this, like you basically secluded. I do think that the trade off is going to be worth it. And I do think, that the rate of discovery for medicines that work for the affected protocols and treatments, and of course the vaccine for the kids. The reason it’s important to get some time for treatments is that for those of us with damaged immune system’s - The vaccines may very well be useless because we cannot develop antibodies in many cases. We have some silver linings, some are corny and some are practical. The kids are developing a closer relationship and learning how to interact and play in a much deeper level, and of course bickering and fighting more too but we’re working on that, however their technical skills have skyrocketed. We bought two brand new Apple computer stations, and set up a classroom. We also bought new iPads. And I’m telling you I think they must have jumped at least a year in a matter of five months. Considering the entire future of how they everything operates is based on computers and technology, it’s quite possible this small detour, is going to place them very far ahead because they will have such a grasp of these important tools.

🤷‍♂️

[Big_Dee]

Hello Dcfrey6450

I live in USA and have no intention of living my life in a bunker. I don't really have to have someone tell me what to do, it's common sense. I take the same precautions I took before CV-19 came around. Carry sanitizer, wash my hands and wear mask when ever I go into store. I also do not shake hands or do hugs. My wife takes very good care of me. My wife was feeling ill Friday and called in sick to her hospital department. One of the patients who she had been working on for several weeks had been in contact with his son's girlfriend who tested positive for CV-19. My wife had to be tested for CV-19 Friday afternoon, got the results back Sunday as negative. We did hunker down with no contact outside in case she tested positive. All is well that ends well.

[otonal]

UK: I’ve been on W&W since 2016 and shielding from mid-March. I belong to 2 amateur music groups who now meet weekly on Zoom. It is possible to chat and wave but not sing/play together live because of the different delays from wifi and the internet. The work-around is for one person to lead and the rest to mute themselves and play along.

Yesterday one of the ukulele group came round and we sat in the garden side by side 3m apart to sing and play. She brought her own music stand and music and came in via our side garden entrance. Our neighbour, who is also shielding joined in from her garden.

It was lovely and I really believe that none of us were put at risk. At the same time I felt absolutely exhausted after and went to bed before 9 as I am simply not used to socialising any more.

Despite the impending finish of “shielding” at the end of the month, singing is still viewed with deep suspicion and only “permitted”for professionals following this guidance,

gov.uk/guidance/working-saf....

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

[lexie]

When I went to see a specialist at a major hospital recently I wore mask and gloves. I was told gloves are not allowed, must use sanitizer. I was quizzed about exposures, health, and whether I'd been tested for covid but they did not take my temperature to enter past the check point.

I was pretty much emerging from self isolation for this appointment and was surprised at the procedure, not as complex as I expected. Mixed feelings about the protocol.

[kathymac52]

My husband(who has CLL) is not doing any errands....works in the garden and golfs when he can. He rides alone in his golf cart and stays out of the club house. I pick up meds, go to Post Office , grocery shop and know more about the hardware store than I ever thought I would. we haven't seen our grandkids for four months...very hard....But his immune system is down, and we don't want to chance it.,,,,