Is to safe to socialise when living with someone going through chemo ??

Hi,

My Dad has been living with lung cancer for some time now and for the last 18 months he's been doing well on osimertinib. However, after a change in his scan, the Doc is going to recommend a 12 week chemo and immunotherapy regime starting probably next week or the week after.

We are currently living with Dad while our house is renovated and I'm worried that going about my day to day activities, working, going out with friends etc, is going to put Dad at risk once he starts the chemo and I'm scared I'll bring something into the house. 

My hubby thinks I'm being a little paranoid and overly cautious but I'd just be so devastated if I was the cause of Dad getting an infection of some kind while going through treatment.. wondering if anyone has any tips/suggestions/opinions on this please?

Thanks 

  • No idea about the immunotherapy part, but good hand hygiene is usually the way to go. In hospital environments, nurses and other people constantly come and go, and he's more likely to catch something there. It's how my wife first caught covid.

    Just stay away from people who knowingly have things like colds, chickenpox, shingles etc, and it should be fine. When my wife's (she is much younger than your dad, plus her lungs weren't compromised) immune system was next to nothing, she caught shingles, but that was because the virus reactivated. Kids are usually the main source of infection, so if you have young kids, being more careful with them is probably a good idea. I know it's tough, but it's almost impossible to eliminate exposure to viruses etc unless you're in one of those sealed treatment rooms.

    But yeah, good hand hygiene is more than half the battle. Just remember what you learned during covid, and that should be enough. All that said, his cancer team would tell you if you had to keep him and yourselves isolated. We were always told it was fine. She just got told to keep away from buses, and that was just after the UK came out of lockdown.