I am currently at home after two rounds of intensive chemotherapy for Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) with 5-6 weeks in hospital each time. I am about to be admitted again for a ‘consolidation’ round of HIDAC (high dosage of Cytarabine, twice daily on days 1, 3 and 5) followed by several weeks stay, until my blood counts recover.

On my last stay, I was repeatedly moved between single and multi-occupancy rooms (e.g. four times in ten days) and spent half my time in a room where patients had respiratory infections.

The air conditioning in that room had failed before Christmas and was still not operational when I left the hospital four weeks later! The other patients had visitors all day, every day - some visitors refusing to wear face masks or even wash their hands.

The hospital has warned me to expect similar conditions during my next stay as it does not have enough single rooms to provide isolation for all AML patients. Is this normal/acceptable during periods of severe (or absolute) neutropenia after intensive chemotherapy?

Thanks, Tigger