treatments cancelled due to my daughter isolating.

Going through breast cancer treatment Chemotherapy
1

Hello everyone. I was due to start 9 weeks of paclitaxel chemo treatments last Friday (the 22nd) after finishing 3 EC treatments. Unfortunately, my youngest daughter tested positive for covid the day before I was due to have the treatment and I was told that as she had to isolate for 10 days my next two treatments would be cancelled. Now her isolation period is nearly up and so far none of the rest of the family have tested positive. I did ring the chemo nurses and ask them what would happen if someone else in the family tested positive and they said they might be able to arrange for me to come in anyway, but obviously if I test positive that will be a 10 day isolation period for me and 2 more treatments cancelled. The nurse indicated that there might be a cut-off point where if I miss too many treatments they won’t do anymore. Does anyone else have experience of having to miss treatments and does anyone know what the cut-off time might be? I’m finding this all pretty stressful, to be honest as I just want to get back on track with my treatment but with 3 children in school and covid everywhere it all feels a bit uncertain. Hopefully, on Friday I’ll be back on track again!

Many thanks.

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Hi Meg

I had the 3 x EC and 9 x paclitaxel too. In the last week of EC treatment, I was hospitalised for 4 days with neutropoenic sepsis but, 4 days later, in went the paclitaxel! However, halfway through the course, my oncologist cancelled a session, believing I needed a break. Then it was back for the remaining 5, regardless of a car accident and fractured sternum!!

Oncologists prefer for treatment not to be off schedule and your bc nurse is right that, after a certain amount of time, it’s considered that the treatment’s effects are ineffective so why put you through it. However, if you take my one week off plus the offer of a further week off which the oncologist said he’d prefer not to risk, that’s 21 days when I could have been off chemo. That’s comparable to your current schedule so, assuming Covid doesn’t reappear, your treatment should still be as effective.

Good luck for Friday xx