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

Alice - Your coughing sounds painful! Hope it gets better. My home now is modern, but I’m able to run the HVAC system continuously. Where I lived before was a 1950s house that was leaky. There are instructions on how to build an air cleaner with a box fan and some MERV-13 filters.

My daughter seems recovered. Instead of stats, she said she’s all good. I think the pulse oximeter helped. She was feeling SOB, and the pulse ox would read 94. I told her to walk and take deep breaths first. Then her pulse ox would rise above 95. Last reading was 98. I think the COVID scare was making her anxious.

The specialty pharmacy called to schedule my next Ibrance delivery. Bonus: they have rapid tests! Will deliver Thursday.

For immunocompromised Montrealers needing a safe vaccination space for 3rd/4th doses! See link for more details to contact this kind pharmacist.

https://twitter.com/balloonian/status/1480976773118574596?s=21

Our local paper had a helpful article about masks. Since the best aren't easy to find, this ranks the selections, and gives advice on what double masking works.

https://safeliving101.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/with-omicron-surging-now-s-the-time-to-upgrade-your-face-covering/article_e4ad8fb1-8731-5e4f-80ab-6fac7281f922.html

Not surprised! Wrote this in July 2020 when we had just 28 new cases in a day. We’re just had 52 deaths reported yesterday.

Yay! Hope no or few side effects.

Brilliant! 😎

Simultaneously crude and elegant!

11 being sent home from school with an at home test as a close contact as I write. I still have drains. 20 is set to go back to college on Sunday. She is hoping to at least get back into her labwork for a little bit until they shut things down...I was thinking that since numbers here are improving, she has a shot at staying in the lab.. This is too stressful.

thanks serenity. His first home test was negative, we are to redo in a few days. Stupidest thing is we don't even know if he is actually a close contact. Lab apparently lost some tubes.. ? At this point, whatever, i throw my hand up and just hope the fact that i am off ibrance because of the surgery means I have some white blood cells left.🤪🤪

"Researchers concluded vaccine hesitancy is associated with being less oriented toward the future, and more likely to choose a smaller reward today than wait for a better one later"

https://nationalpost.com/health/living-for-the-mom...

"The new study, funded in part by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, surveyed just over 2,000 people, divided about evenly between fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

Using standard psychological questionnaires, they were probed on three aspects of cognition.

One looked at so-called "delay discounting," with questions about whether the person would prefer $500 now or $1,000 at some point hours or days away. Another examined the subjects' "time perspective." They were asked, for instance, if they agreed that "living for the moment is more important than planning for the future," or "I spend a lot of time thinking about how my present actions will have an impact on my life later on."

The researchers also looked at "executive dysfunction" of the brain, asking subjects how often they felt that "I am likely to do things without considering the consequences" or "I act without thinking."

There was a weaker connection between people who scored high on the executive dysfunction scale and resistance to the COVID prevention measures, the study found.

"There is a slight, but reliable, tendency for vaccine-hesitant people to be a little more sensitive to near-term rewards," Hall said in summarizing the findings.

That conclusion is "entirely consistent" with what's been observed on the ground, said Wilson. He pointed to the uptick in vaccinations in Quebec after the province required them for buying liquor or cannabis in government stores — a short-term benefit of getting the shot — and a new Simon Fraser University study that suggested there was an average 66-per-cent increase in first-dose vaccination after vaccine mandates were announced in Canada and three other countries."

Since the new year holiday weekend, the biggest increase in first doses in QC have been in the 5-11 age group (57% to 60% with first dose). It's not clear that the booze and weed mandate made a difference. The 18-39 group still at 89% with first dose in the same time period. There seemed to be a brief uptick in adult first doses after the threat of a tax on unvaccinated.

I would prefer adding the COVID vaccine to the list of vaccines mandated for school, healthcare systems, and large businesses . For kids, offer vaccinations for all eligible family members at the same time. United Airlines followed through on its vaccine mandate. They went from having one employee dying per week to 0 deaths in at least 8 weeks. Vaccine mandates are good for the bottom line.

Vaccinations alone aren't enough. We need to apply all NPIs.

It would really help if those in charge would stop blocking the public health tools that we know work.

Here’s a Twitter account started by a parent in QC because the provincial government has not been transparent. They’ve added CO2 monitors to some schools with no improvements to ventilation/filtration. I won’t be surprised if his assumption comes true. (2633 ppm is too high.)

For those in the US, you can order covid tests at the following link:

http://special.usps.com

http://Covidtests.gov works 😁. I just put in orders for each of my semi-adult kids households as well as mine. Unfortunately 4 tests doesn't go very far in a house of 9 college girls. I suppose it's a start.

Many thanks for the heads up! Got on it right away and printed my acknowledgment. Surprisingly easy. Hope the delivery happens on schedule