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

Anonymous

Chowdog - QC public health have said the same thing. They’ve implemented policies to allow children to be exposed while unprotected. I don’t know what their reaction to the baby who just died of COVID is. It certainly can’t be that the baby had “one foot in the grave”.

Chowdog

I might be outing my tweeter handl, but so be it. I wasn't planning to say this here but thought about this and decided to, since UCSF is one of the leading breast cancer centers in the us.

I have been having issues with some of the Twitter mds from ucsf for awhile. At first it was Bob, who co-wrote that NYT oped in Jan about how us should go with age once vaccinating >55, & lottery system. I emailed him and asked him to advocate for young ladies living with stage iv cancer, only to be dismissed. If it weren't for the disability communities who got #HighRiskCovid trending, healthy ppl would have gotten vaccine priority over those of us living with stage IV cancer. And bob was the one tweeted “support" following Colin powells death, which I thought was performative.

As for Monica, yes she is the one I mentioned earlier about wanting to unmask kids 8 weeks since vaccine approval while her owns kids go to private school.

I wanted to say, during 2020, I learned quite a bit about covid, vaccine from Monica. However, once vaccine got approved, her view changed drastically. She was one of the critical supporters of the “great unmask" in may. She attended a mask cutting ceremony in one of the Bay Area counties. I tweeted to her and asked what about immunocompromised ppl. She tweeted me back and told me she was gonna tweet about immunology and immunocompromised ppl. Well she never did. For a long time I thought she just didn't care about immunocompromised ppl. Now I realize it was coz she couldn't find any immunology support for her “health ppl can unmask, immunocompromised keep masking and will be fine" thesis.

edit to add, Monica claims to be the big supporter is mental health and mental health of children, but what about the mental health of immunocompromised ppl? I guess we don’t count since we are only 5% of us population?

sorry for the long rant, but when I saw her tweet last might supporting “everyone is gonna get covid anyway", I just had enough and I quoted her tweet to ucsf and bob and asked them if that was ucsf view and if that has been something they r telling their patients.

It's a long way of saying, if one of the leading cancer institutions, doesn't give $hit about terminal cancer patients, what other hopes do we have? Their whole business is relying on those of us who are sick but believe in science & research and support clinical trials, so why dismiss us? I guess maybe they think there will always be more cancer patients, so who cares if some of them die from covid?

Mods, if you are reading, I hope you understand those of us who are living with stage iv, are at breakpoint. Cancer & the incompetence from politicians, I can sort of deal with, but the dismissive tones from leading cancer institution, no I can't deal with. I really hope BCO can be more supportive and be an advocate for those of us who don't have voices in social media and media.

illimae

A very good friend, who was living with us until recently has tested positive for covid, delta, I presume by how terrible he feels. We haven’t seen him for 2 months since DH found out he was going to bars. A few days ago he went to a small venue indoor concert, gleefully unmasked. Of course I hope he recovers ok but geez, what a stupid and risky decision. Not sure when we’ll see him again, he obviously can’t be trusted.

AliceBastable

My husband works in the state court system, and just about every week, he comes home and tells me that some co-worker in our local courthouses has tested positive. The latest was a deputy from a division in his building, and that person had just attended a (stupid, stupid, stupid) holiday party in that division. The damn virus is more manageable than the fucking idiots. They should get their own planet.

Chowdog

I guess in Biden's speech on tuesday, we might be shifting towards using hospitalization rather than total cases? Wow, what a wonderful holiday gift! What's the next level of being beyond disappointed yet not surprised at all? I think the formal President or whoever the republican candidate is laughing his ass off and all the way to 2024.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/18/politics/white-hous...

Also to add, while other countries implement public health measures, UK, Neatherland, we are going to live with omicron during the worst time possible? WTF!

Chowdog

Tonight’s snl canceled due to covid. Shit is getting real out there again.

https://twitter.com/michaeloptv/status/1472418206547689474?s=21

SmoothOperator78

when things were looking a lot better in late October, I booked a very expensive NYE hotel party experience. With the new surges and Omicron, I’m glad I can get a full refund. The data out of the Oslo holiday party where 89% of the 90+ people infected by one Omicron carrier were fully vaccinated (and all but one had symptoms). I just can’t.

Anonymous

Well, my short term goal of a beach in February is gone, but the general situation here in London is pretty bad and the media/politicians are using this as a way to play political games. The Prime Minister is about to be ousted to be replaced by someone even less competent, and possibly sociopathic, TBD. People are protesting the threat of another lockdown and the background stress level of uncertainty, anxiety, fear, and anger is very high and very unhelpful. Trust in the government and trust in social institutions is completely destroyed and now the Mayor of London says there may not be enough non-isolating critical workers like fire responders to you know, respond to fires.The same thing happened to the ambulance service (and still is) but at least you can more or less get yourself to the hospital if needed, but you can't put out your own house fire yourself!

An older friend of mine got delta a few weeks ago and was fine after a few days of nasty head cold like symptoms. I thought I had one of them the start of this week, but tested negative three times, so who knows. For the most part people seem to naturally be "isolating" themselves, at least in this area - traffic is way down, its a lot less hustle and bustle than you would expect for this last weekend before Christmas. Partner went to the larger grocery store the next town over and he said it was completely dead at 5pm when normally it would be heaving.

We are all going to probably Omicron in the end, but until the data is through in a few weeks about severity and death rates, all the media opinion pieces and fear and guesses really don't help.

Anonymous

He ended up deleting the tweet, but omicron is spreading like they want. A major hospital downtown said their ER is full. The small hospital close to me has closed its maternity ward over the weekend due to staffing issues.

ErenTo

I have to share this here, the numbers are simply staggering. This report looks at data from when vaccines became available in Canada (Dec 14, 2020) to Nov 14, 2021 period and tracks hospitalization, ICU and death by vaccination status.

Number of Covid deaths during this period in Ontario per age groups & vaccination status:

- Under 60: 6 fully-vaxxed vs. 580 unvaxxed

- 60-69: 18 vs. 713

- 70-79: 35 vs. 1146

- 80+: 119 vs. 2369

And in Ontario have a very high vaxx rate (82% with at least one dose right now). So this is even before taking that % into account.

Chowdog

Serenity, this seems to be the strategy the U.S. is heading into. There are chatters within CDC to shorten the # of isolation days for breakthrough omicron cases, particularly among HCW.

Sondra, at least it seems people in UK are "isolating". everything seems to be back to normal here. When I met with my friend for the last hike & outdoor dining yesterday, I overheard so many conversations about people's holiday plans. I warned my friend about holiday get togethers and proposed that either outdoor or bring an air purifier.

I feel like politicians have all collectively lost their damn mind. It's time like this I really wish I live in one of these Asian countries or New Zealand, where the leadership actually take public health seriously.

I couldn't sleep last night. It's just ironic, last year, around this time, my tweeter feed was filled with HCW getting vaccinated. I felt so hopeful: vaccine, new leadership actually follows sciences & no more "inject clorox" shit shows. Looking back, I was so naive.

wrenn

If not for covid I would be spending Christmas day with my daughter, her husband and 2 year old daughter with their days old infant. But because the inlaws are staying there to help with baby I can't go. The inlaws have travelled from a high infection rate city and are not old enough to be boosted yet and will be doing a lot of shopping for groceries while here. I have only done curbside shopping and even then not that often since I am nervous about the unmasked in my building.

I am so pissed at the many selfish people and our soft talking health team who do the updates. They are like the BC 70s hippies. :-)

Peace love and oh lots of hand washing advice.

Anonymous

Chowdog - QC has loosened the isolation protocols. They like to do things their own way. It’s great for the pre-COVID vaccination portal and world-class snow clearing, but terrible for the pandemic.

wrenn - I’m sorry. ❤️

I just turned down a dinner invitation with beloved friends. No one has had their 3rd shots and testing is not easy. When we all have our 3rd shots andwe can get tests beforehand, I would be open to having them here. I have more space with a better ventilation system.

After reading up on air filters, I’ll stick to our MERV-11s. MERV-13 is a little better, but they won’t fit my system as well as MERV-11. The air exchange runs continuously.

Kikomoon

SondraF,

It is quite the opposite here. DH drove around town for curbside pickups yesterday and said shopping parking lots werecompletely packed. I don't understand. I'd much rather browse on my phone and then just pick it all up rather than deal with the crowds, Covid or not.

Chowdog

Wrenn, I am sorry you can't meet your new grand baby.

So I keep tracking our local covid cases daily. well, cases gradually doubled from like 50/day pre thanksgiving to 100/day post thanksgiving. normal considering a lot of people probably tested after traveled during thanksgiving. guess what, on 12/14 (reporting lags by 5 to 7 days), cases doubled from ~100/day (on 12/13) to >200/day. hmm, omicron outbreak somewhere due to parties, if I have to make an educated case. Our peak daily case during the delta wave was ~400/day. we will see what omicron leads to us. but hey, let's shop, party, gather and keep the economy going coz it's "mild" and breakthrough cases are not a big deal. we all know CDC is not tracking non hospitalized breakthrough cases.

illimae

kikomoon, I’m seeing the same, especially in the bigger cities. Seems people are desperate to get out and about, fortunately I’ve never liked crowds. I just wish more would wears masks and use caution.

I’m still hoping that omicron, with its suspected lower severity and common cold like symptoms will stomp out delta and keep hospitalizations low.

Anonymous

In the past month our cases have quadrupled in QC while hospitalizations doubled. We’re about 80% with 2 doses.

Even if omicron causes less severe disease for most people, the higher infection rate will increase hospitalizations.

Elderberry

Just so tired of it all. So sick of the anti-mask/anti-vax folks.

Chowdog

I dislike hardcore antimask and antivax people.

TBH, the administration contributed to the antimask sentiment. They view masks as punishment, as evidenced by the great unmasking in May. Did they really not envision it will be tough to put mask mandate back once you remove it? I guess not since they didn't see Delta or Omicron coming.

Now, public health officials & businesses not only have to deal with hardcore antimask people, but also those who are vaccinated but hate masks. I have lost count how many "antimask" pieces published by our local media.

Serenity, give it couple of more weeks, our hospitalization will probably double too.

ErenTo

There is no easy answer, unfortunately this pandemic will be with us for the next 5-10 years until it transitions into endemic, so isolation and putting life on hold for that long isn't feasible. Now we have tools that can blunt the impact of new waves (vaccines, rapid tests, mask, targeted restrictions & personal risk assessment). I'm fed up of irrational reactionary government decisions, you'd think we've learned by now. As soon as omicron news came out, our government banned flights from 10 African countries, only to reverse them last week. This has been massively disruptive to impacted travelers during these weeks without any real science behind it. It's just one example. We have a huge immigrant population with ties abroad, we can't expect them to cut ties with loved ones. It was ok for a few months until we learned more, but not ok for 10 years. It's complicated. And international travel is in a much more controlled environment than, say, a packed restaurant.

My cousin was at a conference in Florida last month and they were the only people with mask and were getting funny looks! In most of Canada that attitude doesn't fly.

Imagine if this mindset was prevalent when we were trying to eliminate smallpox, etc. we would still have smallpox and other communicable diseases. People just saw it as their collective duty to get the shot, now it's all about me me me.... and some misguided notion of freedom. It's like a soldier refusing to go to war because he's afraid to die. Public health is and has always been about cold calculated risk/benefit analysis. Yes, the cold fact is that vaccines may kill a few individuals, but the PUBLIC will be protected at the end and the benefits far outweigh the risks.

Anonymous

From the beginning I thought it was a mistake to say that we should wear a mask for others. It reduces viral load, and minimizing one's illness would be more acceptable to those who would become anti-maskers.

QC sees lifting restrictions as a reward, so implementing them must be punishment.

ErenTo

Good point, given how selfish people are, everything should have been reframed as to what's in it for me!

Anonymous

I wonder if people who didn’t want to get vaccinated and figured others would be “sheep” enough to do it for them have changed their minds. Some may not be around because the COVID deaths are mostly among theunvaccinated.

Teedoff

This thread has become increasingly fraught. I have almost all the risk factors that put me in the highest risk for hospitalization and death. Am I vaccinated and boosted? Yes. Do I wear a mask when required/requested? Yes. Do I wish everyone would get vaccinated? Yes. Do I make personal choices to avoid risk of exposure? Yes.

Do I doubt some of the conventional wisdom about mask efficacy? Uh huh. It somehow defies logic to wear a mask outdoors with no one else around. I carry one nonetheless. I also wonder why a state like Florida that has flouted government guidance and mandates has statistically done as well or better than populous states like NY and CA and is doing so right now. No solution or hard opinion here. We all do what we gotta do. Wondering doesn't make me evil or subversive.

With apologies to Serenity Stat but her screen name made me think of the Serenity Prayer. We are fragile enough, and if outpouring of anger and frustration doesn't change things, why possibly harm your own health and well being. I guess if ranting helps, by all means let it rip. Nobody left me in charge anyway.

exbrnxgrl

elderberry, I am also exhausted by the pandemic and the anti-science idiots who are fueling it. You know what? I don’t “like” anything that I do to limit Covid19 but I darn well am going to do those things to protect others and myself! Doing the right thing is not always fun but it’s always the right thing to do.

Teedoff,

CA is doing much better than FL on Covid19 deaths if you look at it as deaths per 100,000 people. I think that’s a more precise way of looking at it.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/health/article/Florida-touts-its-low-COVID-case-rate-but-16577911.php

Salamandra

I have this fantasy of cities setting up parallel hospital spaces for the unvaccinated, staffed by the healthcare workers and other city workers who refused to get vaccinated and are on temporary leave. They can draft in the unvaccinated teachers and cops and bureaucrats and teach them basic first aid and they can help with the support. Keep them out of the regular medical system. Let it be funded by donations from the antivaxxers and minimal public funding. Doesn't matter if people are there for covid or a car accident, if they're not vaccinated, they go to the non-vax system.

Chowdog

Teedoff,

I rant here as this is the only place with people in similar health situation as me and actually understand my frustration.

I also participate Covid forums on other social media platforms, but healthy people just do not understand what I am going through. I am tired of explaining to them why they should continue wear masks to protect others, including vulnerable people like us. Most of the time, I get slammed back with things like "vulnerable people always have to be careful precovid".

If you go back a few pages, you will see I sympathize with people who fell for misinformation. I am mostly frustrated with bad actors taking advantages of the pandemic as well as the lack of leadership from politicians, some influencing MDs and social media CEOs.

Anonymous

Teedoff - My screen name is not at all from the serenity prayer. Instead it's derived from Seinfeld. The image below might explain it. You may not find value in people ranting, but do you find value in publicly questioning why they do it? If you don’t like what you’re reading, feel free to not read it.

Chowdog

this just in

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2021/12/19/cory-booker-us-senator-covid-vaccine-positive-test-new-jersey-booster/

Chowdog

Serenity, I figure that's probably where you got your screen name. we all need a lot of Serenity Now & hoochie mama!