How has the Pandemic affected you as a cancer patient/survivor

moth

wrenn, that's right, older nurses had to upgrade to BSN & the employers often paid & offered time off. My mom was a diploma nurse from bcit but she retired before the bachelor's became mandatory.

LPNs get paid less so some administrators are preferentially staffing with them, esp on regular med/surg wards, There's a whole thing about changing scope of practice for the various nurses & what they can & can't do... lots of jostling for power as you can imagine.

I have my first follow up xray tomorrow & we'll see how it's healing. I'm getting used to it. Funny how adaptable we are - everything becomes the new normal. thx for the good wishes

Chowdog

Just want to share this article.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/27/us...

MinusTwo

My best friend who graduated from HS in 1962 was an RN. Sometime in the late 90's the hospital (s) started making a college degree mandatory in addition to be a supervisor or for promotions. She was over 55 by then so just blew it off.

moth

in the previous thread and I think maybe even in this one there was some suggestion by some that vaccinated people are just as likely to be spreading the disease because they might have it and be asymptomatic.

This is wrong. There is a good article in the Atlantic explaining why this is wrong.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/...

Traveltext

Thanks to those of you who agreed to be quoted in the article on the Pandemic's affects on bc patients. Will post the link when the article is live. I'm donsting the writer’s fee to BCO.

Covid in Australia

The virus arrived here as fast as anywhere in the world. Airplane and cruise ship passengers carried it on their return from business and leisure trips. Immediately, the federal government closed the international borders. They remain shut to this day. Second, individual states put their citizens into lockdown for a month or six weeks. Those infected were quarantined or hospitalised. When things were seemingly under control, life returned to normal. That lasted a few months then individual cities locked down when infections were deemed to get ahead of the hospital system. Since later last year, the major cities have been in an out of lockdown. Some of the world’s longest lockdowns have occurred in Melbourne and Sydney. The latter is running its latest to 12 weeks now.

The aim was to put lives ahead of the economy. The government paid wage subsidies, businesses were given support, and people worked from home where possible. Shops were mostly open and takeout food always available. The construction, mining and agricultural industries carried on as usual. Obviously, national debt ballooned but the economy stayed on an even keel .

When Delta made it here it was all a matter of rinse and repeat. Just now are plans being made to open up more as vaccination rates rise. As with the United States, the situation re opening fully is patchy. We’ll see how the next few months goes. Unlike the U.S., loss of life here has been low at around 1200 people in a country of 25m.

What a wake up call the whole episode has been for the world. And how lucky were BCO folks to have our support forums in place? Then again, cancer people have seen hospitals limit non-covid patients and breast screenings have decreased. Good luck to us all!

Sadiesservant

Hi Traveltext. I don’t think I’ve posted anything article worthy on this thread but happy to contribute if you see anything.

Trishyla

Been quiet on this thread. I hope that means we're starting to see a little normalcy return to our lives.

I've been feeling a little more optimistic about where my state, California, is at this point. We're at 71% with at least one shot and 58% fully vaccinated. Add that to our verified case total of 4.73 million (which is most likely grossly understated) and we have at least 80% of our population with at least some protection. Probably closer to 90%, especially in populated areas like Los Angeles.

I rejoined the gym, but haven't gone there yet. Still a little nervous, even though I'm fully vaccinated. Anyone else feeling that way?

Hope everyone is well and getting back to their lives.

Trish

Beaverntx

Trish, absolutely feeling that way. I continue to go to the grocery store and have resumed a small group meeting at church (all members are fully masked) but not yet comfortable attending a larger worship service. Maybe after Moderna booster is approved and received?

Our county's number of active cases has just returned to the level we had two months ago. In the two months we kept seeing new record highs so it is a relief to see the numbers of active cases going down instead of up. Fingers crossed it keeps going that way, although it does appear to be following the typical delta variant pattern.

wrenn

I feel like I have stopped yacking about it because I am feeling too down. It is really getting to me lately that it just seems endless. I want to see my grand daughter but numbers here just keep going up thanks to unvaccinated people. This table makes me nervous. It is from yesterday in BC. Although I have started going into stores when they first open (not busy) I don't feel safe. I am happy to hear that it is getting better someplace though so thank you for posting good news. Gives me hope.

Trishyla

l think this past few months have been the hardest for me. When the Pandemic first hit, we hunkered down and did what we had to do to stay safe. Just one foot in front of the other and no expectation that it would end anytime soon.

But recently, when things opened up and we saw the numbers drop, I felt like we had turned a corner and would soon be back to normal. And to have that hope snatched away by the new Delta variant has been really hard on me. I have a constantly on edge feeling in the pit of my stomach; waiting for the other shoe to drop, I think. I hate it.

The other reason I'm struggling right now is financial. Both my husband and I have not worked since March of last year. Our savings took a huge hit, but we managed. And then we found out last week that my husband's union is getting ready to call a nationwide strike in the next two weeks. All film and television production will come to a grinding halt.

It's a necessary move, and we support it 100%, but man the timing sucks. We're already set to lose our health insurance at the end of October because of not enough hours, so this is just another stressor piled on top of everything else. Thank goodness for Covered California. If it weren't for Obamacare no one would insure me. At least one thing I can count on.

Hang in there, wrenn and Beaverntx. It will get better. Probably not as soon as we would like, but eventually.

Trish

wrenn

Trish my daughter is in IATSE if that is the strike you are referring to. They too took a hit. Luckily our govt steppe in at the beginning and basically paid people to stay home bit not sure what will happen now.

What I am finding is that my anger toward anti people is turning to depression. At first I thought they would smarten up and it baffles me that there are that many ignorant people. Canada is as bad as the US but fewer people.

Trishyla

Yeah, it's IATSE. Didn't realize Canada was striking, too. Fortunately, we were able to get unemployment as well as a PPP loan for my husband's sound business which kept us afloat. But now unemployment has run out and we're not sure what will happen. Stress on top of stress on top of stress.

exbrnxgrl

trishyla,

Ugh, I am so sorry that you have that stress on top of bc and any other COVID related issues. On a rational level I know life is not fair and none of us are guaranteed anything but it would be nice we could ration tsuris (Yiddish for troubles). Take care

Chowdog

My best friend and I enjoyed a nice hike and outdoor lunch on Sat. I figure we should take advantage of the dropping cases and nice weather now.

There are increasing pressure from local business owners and local media (both main stream & neighborhood independent paper) to drop the mask mandate now.

I do not understand the logic behind the hostility towards mask mandate. Decline in cases does not mean the pandemic is over. Have we learned nothing from the Delta surge? Sure, cases are dropping, but we are reporting 10x more daily new cases than the tough level in June. Our test positivity rate is still 3x than it was in June. Some restaurant owners in the financial district believe mask mandate is the reason offices haven't reopened. Well, it's not mask, it's Delta. I, personally, would feel safer to return to office with mask mandate.

We will probably see another surge in Fall/Winter, therefore what's the point to drop mask mandate now only to put it back on in a month? The same people will also complain again. It's as if nothing can please them.

ETA, I do hope our vaccination rate picks up once vaccine for kids get EUA. I know some of my friends with kids and people in my FB vaccine group are eager to have their kids vaccinated. Eric Topol said we need at least 75% of total population fully vaccinated to get covid under control.

Trishyla

Just out of curiosity, Chowdog, what part of the state are you in? Here in LA I think we're probably close to 75% of eligible people vaccinated. Plus I haven't seen anyone, outside of a few crackpots, protesting our on going indoor mask mandates. I think that's what's keeping our positivity rate so low.

Chowdog

Trish, I am in the Bay Area. relatively we have been doing well, but the delta surge definitely exceeded last summer's surge. At the peak the test positivity rate exceeded the winter surge. our testing volume was lower during the initial delta surge, which could explain the test positivity rate. We didn't ramp up more testing until late July. Before June 15, we were averaging 10 new cases/day vs like 90/day now and test positivity rate was like 0.6%. I wonder people protest mask mandate partly due to how well the Bay Area has done overall, relative to socal or other states. Also another interesting fact, we r about 74% of total population (81% of eligible population)fully vaxxed but the 25-34 group is the lowest vaccinated group. I wonder if that has something to do with all the disinformation regarding fertility. We also had more breakthrough cases among young people too.

kathindc

Was texting with DS in Japan and he was telling me they have seen an uptick in covid cases in their town. And this is a culture who believes in masking. He and his wife have decided to wait until their daughter turns 12 in February so she can get full dosing of the vaccine. And I ache to see the grandchildren in person but none of us are doing that trip yet

ChiSandy

Chowdog, that Guardian article danced around the real reason for both vaccine distrust and distrust of experts in general. They got the timeline right ("the 1980s") but they failed to mention the phenomenon that dare not speak its name: toxic libertarianism, spawned by Reagan's snarky remark that the worst thing you can hear is "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you." It resulted in distrust in & resentment of government and authority (except, of course, when that authority is wielded against "the other"). And its evil twin is malignant narcissism. (Sorry to trivialize the word "malignant" in the company of cancer patients, but it is what it is).

We've heard that term applied to OrangeJuliusCaesar, but it applies on a societal and individual level too. Libertarianism led to glorification of "rugged individualism" and "mavericks." (Of course, those who claim to be "mavericks" tend to be right-wing and anti-establishment almost exclusively--you never hear even the most extreme progressives describe themselves as "mavericks." The "establishment" these self-styled "mavericks" scorn is, of course, everything even the slightest degree to the left of them). They believe that they alone know "the truth" and that government (other than The Former Guy), academia, mainstream/legacy media (the acronym "MSM" is a "tell"), medicine, nutrition scientists and pharmaceutical companies are all "suppressing" the truth and "sitting on cures" that they can't patent and thus profit from. This begat at first amusingly wacky conspiracy theories and then not-at-all-amusing QAnon.

This leads them to distrust anything formally organized (other than what they themselves "organize"), especially the medical community, Granted, people of color have good reason to distrust a system that has disrespected them for decades. But the problem is that those who spend countless hours on the time-suck that is social media (and their antecedent "rugged individualists") have always wanted instant results, easy answers, foolproof solutions, and immutable information. It's also an outgrowth of the "MTV Generation," which prized visuals & graphics over verbiage. I recall a torts trial practice seminar I attended in the early 1990s, during which the presenter said the way to convince a jury is to "show" rather than "tell:" posters, videos and photos (later PowerPoints), not charts or graphs that need to be explained. He claimed that over the prior decade, attention spans had shortened dramatically. (Not long after that, I decided that I was already too old to be an effective litigator, and so switched to an office-based practice).

So the combination of "you can't tell me what and what not to do" and "I know more than all of you sheeple" is proving to be lethal beyond our wildest nightmares. I don't know if it can be reversed, and if so whether it'll take at least a generation.

Chowdog

ChiSandy, thanks for diving into some of the root causes. I definitely see both the "you can't tell me what to do" & "I know more than all of you" attitude among the antivaxx crowd.

Anonymous

Still frustrated with COVID here. QC is at 73.7% fully vaccinated. Over the summer we were down to less than 60 new cases a day. Today we had 655. In the past week I've read of 2 healthy men (25-39) who died of COVID. They delayed getting vaccinated because they thought they weren't at risk. We currently have mask mandates, but they'll be lifted once the kids age 5-11 get vaccinated. The public health minister stated today that they don't intend to control school outbreaks. No wonder kids have been getting sick. Guess they haven't heard of long COVID affecting kids. 🤬

https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/long-covid-19-spreads-wide-toxic-net-that-includes-kids

Chowdog

Thought this is a good tweet to share. some antivaxx/antiamask/antirestriction crowd throw out "endemic" as an excuse. well, 700,000 death sure doesn't seem like an endemic to me.

https://twitter.com/EpiEllie/status/14440888049613...

Anonymous

Ah, yes, this is the "we have to learn to live with it" idea. That's been the policy of our provincial government. It's a wonder we actually had a lockdown here. When the hospitalizations and deaths drop, they're quick to loosen restrictions. Then they rise again.

I'm getting less patient with the protesters. The mandates are working, and few people are quitting over them. Last year we were applauding HCWs and teachers. Now they're getting threatened. 🤬

Chowdog

Sadly, with the exception of a few countries like New Zealand, most of the countries seem to have given up. The us had a chance back in June when daily cases were around 11k, but we pissed away all the progress coz ppl didn't like masks and restrictions. Our government didn't want to keep sending out checks and wanted ppl to go back to work, while cdc wanted to appease to antivaxxers. On top of this, half of the countries are governed by antivax/anrimask/anti restriction narcissists.

While I understand COVID ain't going away anytime soon, I know it's not an endemic at the current case rate, and it won't become an endemic with the vaccine only strategy a lot of countries are adopting. The worst part, some public health "experts" (especially some from Stanford, UCSF, the GBDs) are advocating to ignore cases and focus on hospitalization instead. I wonder what happens when the hospitalization metric fails, should we just pivot to death instead? It's just ridiculous, and they wonder why the public doesn't trust the "experts".

I think her tweets are taking a shot at some of these "experts" who claim COVID is endemic and we should live with it.

Anonymous

Alberta is the result of living/dying with COVID. Their healthcare system is collapsing.

Portugal is doing well. They've vaccinated 98% of their eligible population. They are now lifting restrictions. I wish places would stop easing restrictions too soon.

Anonymous

The last 3 months. The increasing cases/deaths in Canada are mainly due to Alberta and Saskatchewan. Vaccinations work.

Trishyla

We hit a couple of tragic milestones today. The US death toll from Covid19 has passed 700,000 while the global death toll is now more than 5,000,000.

Hard to believe some people have characterised those deaths as acceptable collateral damage of "people with one foot already in the grave". Every one of those people meant something to someone, even if they were old or sick or poor. Their lives had meaning and should be mourned by us all.

Trish

wrenn

Lots of school age children with one foot in the grave apparently. They are mandating masks for kindergarten to grade 12 here now because of the rates of infection since school started last month.

exbrnxgrl

Thank you for noting those tragic milestones. I’m so emotionally depleted over everything that has transpired regarding Covid19, that all I could do was heave a huge sigh and shake my head. It is almost too painful to imagine.

Anonymous

That "one foot already in the grave" comment was shocking given we're all cancer patients.

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AliceBastable

Now, if only the people who need to read the last few posts will actually do it, and understand.