How is the virus impacting you?

I've been getting ready, stocking the house up for about a month now, so we lack for naught.  Picked up my daughter, who is on immunosuppression, from college last Thursday night, before the other parents came, so as to decrease infection exposure.  Son's last day of school was Friday, put him on a plane to his older brother out West early Sunday morning, so that they could ride it out together.  They are both low risk, so they can get it, and frankly, son cannot come home until he's immune, or until there's a vaccine.  He took his musical instruments, schoolbooks, etc with him, so he's really out there for the duration.  I doubt he'll be back before May.

I began rituximab this week, so I am very immunosuppressed, with no B cell function, and B cells are critical in fighting viral infections.  So we are totally self-isolating.  If my husband has to go into one of our rental properties (as he does this afternoon), everyone has to leave beforehand, and he goes in gloved and masked.

My biggest fear is exposure in the cancer center, when I have to go in for treatments.  I go in masked, wash hands frequently while there.

Other than that, it's kind of nice to be home with my husband and daughter.  I cook every day, walk the dog.  I have lots of long, pleasant talks with my daughter.  I talk on the phone with friends and relatives, and spend too much time on the internet.  So for me, it's not so bad.  But I'm very worried about our tenants.  I've reached out to every one of them, helping them with information regarding applying for unemployment, and other benefits, if they've been laid off.  I know that our finances are going to take a hit, from which we may not recover, but we're in so much better shape than many others that I don't worry about that at all.  I'm also very worried about my colleagues in medicine.  We're older adults, and those who are in direct patient contact will get the virus, no question.  Some will not survive.  I consider them all heroes, the same as firemen who knowing the danger, still rush into burning buildings to save others.  I am very afraid that it is going to be worse than Wuhan here, since we are later to recognize the risk and magnitude, and our society just cannot enforce the necessary lockdown and quarantine that China was able to brutally enforce.

MA, don't worry about the retirement funds.  I don't know when the market is going to hit bottom (although I suspect it will be about 6 weeks from now, when the ICUs are overflowing, and before social distancing has a chance to stem the tide), but the market will come roaring back eventually.  It always does.  I don't think it could be like it was after 1929, because we learned from that, when government was essentially hands off and didn't try to stimulate the economy.  Look what happened after 2008 crisis.  Look what happened after 9/11.  It will be fine.

It's good that we can still be here for each other, as long as we keep our keyboards 15 feet away from each other's!

Be safe and well, everyone!

We're hunkering down at the beach, but I'm noticing more and more people down here, especially with kids. My husband golfs but he walks and uses his pull cart. I'm concerned about my son and fiancé who are working from home in Manhattan. He refuses to come home to our base house. I have appointments scheduled the week after Easter and I can't skip them but I'm assuming Fox Chase is being highly vigilant. 

They called me to postpone my scheduled appointment for port flush/lab/oncologist visit.  Said my CT last week showed "improvement" but the report isn't released where I can see it  yet.  They said they were trying to limit the number of people coming in if it wasn't necessary.  I was just glad that it wasn't necessary!  Like you, Lisa, I'm glad I'm not in chemo at this point.

Someone I know in Israel says they're asking them not to go outdoors.  I haven't heard that here, yet.  I usually walk very early in the morning and don't see more than  a handful of people out - and generally on the other side of the street.  I need to maintain my walking to protect my bone density so I'm not sure what I'll substitute if they say to stay indoors.

I work in aviation.  What a mess.  This is bad for everyone though.  I am working from home right now, but only starting tomorrow.  There were very few people in the office, thankfully we had gone to giving laptops over the years vs a desktop, so the ability to get up work from home WAS an option.  I get on calls all day, have to write up notes, and it is everyday of the week.  I dont' mind, I lived through 9-11 in aviation and I truly think this is worse.  

9-11 was "over there" in NYC and D.C.  Not so with this.  It isn't looking for one target to hit, it is out there and I hope everyone staying home can help break the illness.  I guess time will tell.  Be careful ladies (and their lovely families/partners)

My husband and I are retired and on SS and Medicare. We live in the country with woods and trails and even a river borders the land so I can walk. Our freezer is full of venison and veggies from last years garden. And the store in the nearby town is well stocked. But I can always seem to find something to worry about! I'm scheduled for a PET/CT scan this coming Monday in St. Louis. It's at Barnes S County so we don't have to go downtown. It's at 8 am and we live 200 miles away so we are driving up Sunday. My oncologist appoint meant at 11 am was confirmed in a phone call tonight. I just really want to get this scan done and find out what the next step in treatment is going to be. I do worry it will be postpone, but remind myself that it will be okay!

I too worry about my kids and grandkids, but have to pray and leave it in God's hands. Prayers for all of you sweet, kind ladies!

I called my GP yesterday morning and asked if we could just do my appointment over the phone since it was just a med check based on labs. She agreed my new diabetes medication is working great and taking me off simvastatin did not cause my cholesterol to rise.

Our 55+ community here is closed for all our social activities but we've been meeting in small groups of four or five to play cards at each other's houses. However, we use hand sanitizer upon coming in and on our way out. There are some people here who are very sick and they are self-isolating. My husband is helping out by picking up groceries and medication for those who can't leave the house. Our neighbor fell and broke his arm and my husband picked him up at the hospital this morning. After he dropped him off, he "Chloroxed" the car and anyplace else he touched as he walked into the house. He went grocery shopping and could find no bread so he's going out early tomorrow to try again since several neighbors are out. He's also taking our neighbor to see an orthopedic surgeon on Monday. The guy is a widow with no children so he's pretty much alone. 

We agreed tonight that we are lucky. Last year we took all of our savings out of the stock market and put it all in CDs - we only get 2.1% but we didn't lose a cent when the market crashed. We are relatively healthy although he has asthma and I have T2 diabetes along with this d*mn cancer. Hopefully, the precautions we are taking will keep us from getting this virus although it is here in Pinellas County and several have died. 

Our son works for Humana and is able to work from home. His wife is a teacher and after spring break will teach online. Our daughter and her husband that farm are pretty self-sufficient and her two daughters are home from college and probably will not go back this year - online classes only. Our grandson is a high school freshman and will also do the online classes. I worry most about our youngest daughter. She lost her job at the end of 2019 and has been doing temp work while looking. The temp jobs have totally dried up - nobody is hiring right now. We've been helping her out and so has my sister. Luckily, she gets a decent unemployment check each week which at least plays for rent and food. But I worry it's going to be a long time before our economy gets back to normal.

Love,

Eldri

I have been self-isolating for only a week and I'm not going to lie; it hasn't been easy. I live alone but I do have a dog so we have been taking lots of walks. My grocery pick-up order was cancelled because the store was wiped out. But my daughter brought me some things to get through the next week. For now the restaurants are allowed to offer carry-out but I haven't tried that yet. I have been talking with my son and daughter daily. My son will working from home for the next two weeks and then the company will reassess.  He and his wife are expecting their first child at the end of April and they are disappointed that the hospital will not allow him into the hospital for the birth. My daughter has a five-week old and a three year old and her husband is working from home. She said it's been a challenge keeping the little ones quiet when he's conferencing. I am continuing to recover from my surgery and staying away from people. I am a big reader and have plenty of books, digital and hard copy. I have watched a lot of Netflix. I haven't stopped showering or getting dressed for the day so that's good! I do worry for the people of Dallas. There are many who are uninsured and now unemployed. We are told not to go to the hospital if we have symptoms of Covid19 but to call PCPs. But where do the uninsured go? I'm concerned there are far more ill people than being reported. I know I'll be okay. I've battled cancer for five years and I'm not throwing in the towel now!

We were concerned about the government's sluggish response to this so we started slowly stocking up a month ago, adding to the emergency supplies we already keep. We've got everything we need for a couple of months and are self-isolating now, both working full-time from home. I go out every day to hike a mountain nearby, using a trail I virtually never see anyone on and that I can move off of if I do see someone. Cooking a lot, trying new recipes, watching comedies more than usual. We miss seeing our colleagues but are keeping in touch with friends and family by phone and text, talking to neighbors from 10 feet away. It's not so bad for us and financially we're stable with good health insurance. We're a lot luckier than many.

I do feel bad about being unable to go out to help others, like I usually do in emergencies. Since I have mild asthma and had lung mets, I know I'm high risk, so I'm not going anywhere. Will see my onc via telephone in a few weeks, no scans due for 6 months.

Big hug to you all. I'm glad you're there, I'm glad you're ok. Tough times ahead for a while, I think.

Yay, officially 1 case in my city now (pop 50k-ish, but most all the cities are continuous in Los Angeles county). But of course they're hardly testing anyone unless you're very ill and ill in the "typical" way.