Travelling in a taxi while having chemotherapy

Hi, my brother is going to be going through chemotherapy very soon as he has an aggressive lung cancer. If he travels by taxi should he wear a mask and if so can anyone tell me what the best mask is for him to use while his immune system is down. Many Thanks, Peter

Parents
  • My wife did this during her breast cancer treatment. It was right around the time the covid lockdown ended. She wore a mask, and used hand sanitizers. If you're using black taxi's, they're usually blocked off, so wearing a mask isn't really needed. Most germs enter your body via your hands touching your face (eyes, mouth and nose), so just need to keep the hands away.

    When we used private taxis, we always made it clear that the driver had to be showing no signs of having the cold etc. Tons of folk receiving treatment use taxi's.

Reply
  • My wife did this during her breast cancer treatment. It was right around the time the covid lockdown ended. She wore a mask, and used hand sanitizers. If you're using black taxi's, they're usually blocked off, so wearing a mask isn't really needed. Most germs enter your body via your hands touching your face (eyes, mouth and nose), so just need to keep the hands away.

    When we used private taxis, we always made it clear that the driver had to be showing no signs of having the cold etc. Tons of folk receiving treatment use taxi's.

Children
  • Thankyou ProfBaw for this we we're just talking about hand sanitizers so that if did have to touch someone there's at least a barrier between the skin and he can then clean his hands and put some more natural cream on. You just never think of what he will have to do and what others will have to do if they are going to see him and the black cab is something I didn't know about being closed off which will be much better and safer for him there's just so much you have to do and research just to give him the best chance of beating it.. Cheers, Peter. 

  • No problem. Black taxis have reinforced screens in place to keep the drivers safe. I think that should be the case everywhere.

    My wife was just told to keep away from buses if possible. This was just said because covid was still an unknown thing. She ended up with covid during treatment, but that was caught whilst she was in the treatment ward. She never got anything from taxis and she used them a lot. She used them every day for a month during her radiotherapy.

    Talking about Taxis, touch base with his hospital team because my wife got some of her fares reimbursed. Not them all, but she got some. Some hospitals also run a taxi type service that offer discounts. But his team should be able to point you in the direction of those who can help if his treating hospital offers these things.

    We spent around £2k on taxi fares. They can mount up fast, so do inquire if the hospital can reimburse some fares.